diff --git a/clutter/cogl/cogl-matrix.h b/clutter/cogl/cogl-matrix.h
index 2c8003b50..c8396cf44 100644
--- a/clutter/cogl/cogl-matrix.h
+++ b/clutter/cogl/cogl-matrix.h
@@ -35,8 +35,15 @@ G_BEGIN_DECLS
  * w_new = wx * x + wy * y + wz * z + ww * w
  * </programlisting>
  * Where w is normally 1
+ *
+ * Note: You must consider the members of the CoglMatrix structure read only,
+ * and all matrix modifications must be done via the cogl_matrix API. This
+ * allows Cogl to annotate the matrices internally. Violation of this will give
+ * undefined results. If you need to initialize a matrix with a constant other
+ * than the identity matrix you can use cogl_matrix_init_from_array().
  */
 typedef struct _CoglMatrix {
+
     /* column 0 */
     float xx;
     float yx;
@@ -92,7 +99,7 @@ void cogl_matrix_init_identity (CoglMatrix *matrix);
  * @b: A 4x4 transformation matrix
  *
  * This function multiples the two supplied matricies together and stores
- * the result in #result
+ * the result in @result
  */
 void cogl_matrix_multiply (CoglMatrix *result,
 			   const CoglMatrix *a,
@@ -163,22 +170,22 @@ cogl_matrix_transform_point (const CoglMatrix *matrix,
                              float *w);
 
 /**
- * cogl_matrix_init_from_gl_matrix:
+ * cogl_matrix_init_from_array:
  * @matrix: A 4x4 transformation matrix
- * @gl_matrix: A linear array of 16 Glfloats (column-major)
+ * @array: A linear array of 16 floats (column-major order)
  *
- * This initialises @matrix with the contents of @gl_matrix
+ * This initialises @matrix with the contents of @array
  */
-void cogl_matrix_init_from_gl_matrix (CoglMatrix *matrix, const float *gl_matrix);
+void cogl_matrix_init_from_array (CoglMatrix *matrix, const float *array);
 
 /**
- * cogl_matrix_get_gl_matrix:
+ * cogl_matrix_get_array:
  * @matrix: A 4x4 transformation matrix
  *
- * This casts a CoglMatrix to a GLfloat array which can be directly passed to
+ * This casts a CoglMatrix to a float array which can be directly passed to
  * OpenGL.
  */
-const float *cogl_matrix_get_gl_matrix (const CoglMatrix *matrix);
+const float *cogl_matrix_get_array (const CoglMatrix *matrix);
 
 G_END_DECLS
 
diff --git a/clutter/cogl/common/cogl-matrix.c b/clutter/cogl/common/cogl-matrix.c
index 26b6b926d..a99473da9 100644
--- a/clutter/cogl/common/cogl-matrix.c
+++ b/clutter/cogl/common/cogl-matrix.c
@@ -141,13 +141,13 @@ cogl_matrix_transform_point (const CoglMatrix *matrix,
 }
 
 void
-cogl_matrix_init_from_gl_matrix (CoglMatrix *matrix, const float *gl_matrix)
+cogl_matrix_init_from_array (CoglMatrix *matrix, const float *array)
 {
-  memcpy (matrix, gl_matrix, sizeof (float) * 16);
+  memcpy (matrix, array, sizeof (float) * 16);
 }
 
 const float *
-cogl_matrix_get_gl_matrix (const CoglMatrix *matrix)
+cogl_matrix_get_array (const CoglMatrix *matrix)
 {
   return (float *)matrix;
 }
diff --git a/clutter/cogl/gl/cogl.c b/clutter/cogl/gl/cogl.c
index 8073ad10f..3443f7121 100644
--- a/clutter/cogl/gl/cogl.c
+++ b/clutter/cogl/gl/cogl.c
@@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ _cogl_add_stencil_clip (float x_offset,
 void
 _cogl_set_matrix (const CoglMatrix *matrix)
 {
-  const GLfloat *gl_matrix = cogl_matrix_get_gl_matrix (matrix);
+  const GLfloat *gl_matrix = cogl_matrix_get_array (matrix);
 
   GE (glLoadMatrixf (gl_matrix));
 }
@@ -1130,7 +1130,7 @@ cogl_get_modelview_matrix (CoglMatrix *matrix)
   /* Since it's internal to Cogl and CoglMatrix doesn't currently have
    * any flag members, we could avoid this extra copy if it really
    * bothers anyone */
-  cogl_matrix_init_from_gl_matrix (matrix, m);
+  cogl_matrix_init_from_array (matrix, m);
 }
 
 void
@@ -1141,7 +1141,7 @@ cogl_get_projection_matrix (CoglMatrix *matrix)
   /* Since it's internal to Cogl and CoglMatrix doesn't currently have
    * any flag members, we could avoid this extra copy if it really
    * bothers anyone */
-  cogl_matrix_init_from_gl_matrix (matrix, m);
+  cogl_matrix_init_from_array (matrix, m);
 }
 
 void
diff --git a/clutter/cogl/gles/cogl.c b/clutter/cogl/gles/cogl.c
index f096a3775..49f6335f5 100644
--- a/clutter/cogl/gles/cogl.c
+++ b/clutter/cogl/gles/cogl.c
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ _cogl_add_stencil_clip (float x_offset,
 void
 _cogl_set_matrix (const CoglMatrix *matrix)
 {
-  const GLfloat *gl_matrix = cogl_matrix_get_gl_matrix (matrix);
+  const GLfloat *gl_matrix = cogl_matrix_get_array (matrix);
 
   GE (glLoadMatrixf (gl_matrix));
 }
@@ -687,7 +687,7 @@ cogl_get_modelview_matrix (CoglMatrix *matrix)
   /* Since it's internal to Cogl and CoglMatrix doesn't currently have
    * any flag members, we could avoid this extra copy if it really
    * bothers anyone */
-  cogl_matrix_init_from_gl_matrix (matrix, m);
+  cogl_matrix_init_from_array (matrix, m);
 }
 
 void
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ cogl_get_projection_matrix (CoglMatrix *matrix)
   /* Since it's internal to Cogl and CoglMatrix doesn't currently have
    * any flag members, we could avoid this extra copy if it really
    * bothers anyone */
-  cogl_matrix_init_from_gl_matrix (matrix, m);
+  cogl_matrix_init_from_array (matrix, m);
 }
 
 void
diff --git a/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt b/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt
index 432ef75bf..78b3eb2e9 100644
--- a/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt
+++ b/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt
@@ -322,6 +322,8 @@ cogl_matrix_multiply
 cogl_matrix_rotate
 cogl_matrix_translate
 cogl_matrix_scale
+cogl_matrix_init_from_array
+cogl_matrix_get_array
 </SECTION>
 
 <SECTION>