It is the southern entrance point for the natural harbour known as Port Lincoln. The cape is described by one source as being "the N[orth] extremity of a peninsula which extends 4 nautical miles (7.4 kilometres; 4.6 miles) N[orth] from the coast", that "this extension forms the E[ast] side of Spalding Cove" and that "about 0.5 nautical miles (0.93 kilometres; 0.58 miles) S[outh] W[est] of the cape, the land rises to a wooded summit, 53 metres (174 feet) high."[3][2]
It was named by the Royal Navy officer, Matthew Flinders, on 25 February 1802 reportedly after "his native village in Lincolnshire". The land around Cape Donington was first used for agricultural purposes in 1875. A navigation aid consisting of a light was installed in 1905 and was subsequently replaced by a lighthouse.[4][5][6][7]
^Royal Australian Navy Hydrographic Service Hydrographic Department (1983). Port Lincoln and approaches (chart no. Aus 134).
^ abBoating Industry Association of South Australia (BIA); South Australia. Department for Environment and Heritage (2005), South Australia's waters an atlas & guide, Boating Industry Association of South Australia, p. 215, ISBN978-1-86254-680-6