Mt. Warning was named by the English captain, James Cook, on his voyage of discovery along the east coast of Australia in the 1770s. The peak is visible from the sea and soon after observing it, the Endeavor encountered a dangerous reef. Cook then named the peak "Mt. Warning" so that future sailors would take care when passing along this portion of the coastline. Wollumbin was the aboriginal name for the peak. It now is used as the name of the national park that includes Mt. Warning.
Many of the natural features along the east coast were named by Cook and the names have been retained. Some of you may know of Botany Bay in southern Sydney. Cook landed here along with his aristocratic botanist, Joseph Banks. Banks was overwhelmed by the incredible diversity of the plants and how different they were from anything he encountered before. He named the place "Botany Bay" because of this. One of my favourite genera, Banksia, was named after Joseph Banks and his contribution to the knowledge of Australian plants.
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