1 month ago
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January 21, 2026 — 10:35am
A magnificent aurora australis dazzled Victorians overnight, triggering a rush of traffic to coastal areas and a safety warning.
Hundreds of stargazers flocked to the southern tip of the Mornington Peninsula overnight to view the southern lights, which were also visible in Mildura, Geelong, Werribee, Williamstown and the Docklands.
Cars full of aurora watchers crammed into the Cape Schanck car park to photograph the sky, prompting social media users to warn others to stay away from the area due to congestion. Photos show lines of vehicles clogging a normally quiet Cape Schanck Road.
Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Anthony Marsh said he’d never seen an aurora before, and headed down to the popular spot at midnight to catch a glimpse. But his first view of any lights was a sea of flashing red and blue.
“Cape Schanck is our most southern point, so I went down there, and it was just chaos. Absolute chaos,” he said.
Emergency services were called to the area just before 10pm after reports that a person had fallen from a cliff. Paramedics treated a man in his 20s for injuries before he was taken to Frankston hospital in a stable condition.
Police said neither air support nor a winch was required in the rescue.
“I’ve never seen so many cars there in my life,” Marsh said. “There were 13 trucks that had been called out, and before you could see anything else, all you could see was blue and red lights everywhere.
“There were just hundreds of cars and traffic banked up. People were all over the place, but it [the aurora] was amazing when you did get to see it.
“I think in terms of tourism, it’s awesome if people come to the peninsula to experience natural beauty, but we’re not keen on people climbing over hills and getting hurt in the middle of the night.
“If people want to come down and celebrate the night sky, that’s great. You could see a little bit with your own eyes, but when you put it through a camera, it was really crazy.”
The southern lights dazzled sky watchers across Victoria, Tasmania, NSW and South Australia into the early hours of Wednesday morning. The natural phenomenon was so strong that it was even visible in parts of WA and Queensland.
Dr Rebecca Allen, co-director at the Swinburne Space Technology and Industry Institute, said it was likely the aurora would light up the skies again on Wednesday night, but it may not be as strong.
“We could expect definitely again tonight to see some aurora,” she said. “It doesn’t look like it would be as strong as the ones last night, but still quite up there.
“We’re still seeing a lot of activity from the sun, so for people that really want to get out and try to see the lights again, especially if the weather wasn’t so favourable, or they didn’t get have time to get down to the beach, tonight does offer decent conditions again.”
Allen said not to be discouraged if you couldn’t see the bright colours that are being shared in photos online with the naked eye: instead, it’s worth looking through a camera lens to see the full beauty.
“Our eyes are not the best way to see the aurora because the way our eyes are made, we have trouble in the dark detecting colours.
“This is where you really want to use your phone, especially the new phones with amazing cameras, because they’re able to detect those colours that our eyes cannot. Your phone will pick up more of those colours.”
A solar maximum in the sun’s activity cycle has triggered several sightings of the southern lights visible in Australia, including major episodes last November, and in May and October 2024.
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