Jervis Bay(/ˈdʒɜːrvɪs,ˈdʒɑːr-/)[2][3][4]is a 102-square-kilometre (39 sq mi)[5]oceanicbayand village in theJervis Bay Territoryand on theSouth CoastofNew South Wales,Australia.In theDhurga languageof theAboriginalinhabitants of the area, it is called Booderee, which translates as "bay of plenty".[6]
| Jervis Bay | |
|---|---|
 Hyams Beach, Booderee National Park & the Jervis Bay Marine Park | |
  Jervis Bay Location off the coast ofNew South Wales | |
 Jervis Bay from orbit | |
| Location | Jervis Bay Territory New South Wales |
| Coordinates | 35°03′55″S150°44′05″E/ 35.06528°S 150.73472°E[1] |
| Type | Oceanicbay |
| Primary outflows | Tasman Sea |
| Basincountries | Australia |
A 70-square-kilometre (27 sq mi) area of land around the southern headland of the bay is a territory of theCommonwealth of Australia,known as theJervis Bay Territory,which is administered by, but is not a part of, theAustralian Capital Territory.[7]The Territory includes the settlements ofJervis Bay VillageandWreck Bay Village.TheRoyal Australian Navy(RAN) base,HMASCreswell,is in the Jervis Bay Territory betweenJervis Bay VillageandGreenpatch Point.
History
editArchaeologicalfinds atBurrill Lake,55 kilometres south of Jervis Bay, provide evidence of Aboriginal occupation dating back 20,000 years.[8]
Jervis Bay was sighted byLieutenantJames CookaboardHMSEndeavouron 25 April 1770, two days afterSaint George's Day,and he named the southern headland Cape St George.[9][10]
In August 1791, LieutenantRichard Bowen,aboard the convict transport shipAtlantic,part of theThird Fleet,sailed into the bay and named it in honour ofAdmiral John Jervis,under whom he had served.[9][11][12]In November 1791 Master Matthew Weatherhead entered the bay aboardMatilda,which had also been part of the Third Fleet, in order to undertake repairs to the ship.[11]
In mid 1797, survivors of the wreck ofSydney Covepassed through the area on foot, while undertaking an arduous trek of 600 kilometres in an attempt to get toPort Jackson(Sydney) – only three of them completed the journey.[11][13]
ExplorerGeorge Bassentered the bay on 10 December 1797 and namedBowen Island.[14]
Alexander Berry'stakeover of land in theShoalhavendisplaced the Aboriginal inhabitants, who were moved toWreck Bayin 1822.Smallpoxandsyphilissignificantly reduced their population.[15]A separate population of Aborigines, whom settlers called "the Jervis Bay tribe" — theWandandianpeople[16]— remained on their traditional lands on the bank of Currambene Creek, nearHuskisson,and around St Georges Basin, until well into the 20th century.[17][18][19][20]
In 1841, the private township of South Huskisson on Jervis Bay was founded as a seaport and terminus ofThe Wool Road.[21]It was renamedVincentiain 1952.[22]
The bay was a base for whaling in 1912 and 1913. The vessels involved were the factory shipLoch Tayand her two catchersCampbellandSorrell.[23]
!n 1915, the land now comprising the Jervis Bay Territory was surrendered to the Commonwealth Government by the state ofNew South Wales.[24][25]It was proposed that it would become a seaport for the new federal capital under construction atCanberra,which would be Australia's only inland capital.[26]
In the late 1960s, Australia'sfirst nuclear power plantwas proposed for the area, and a site was prepared, but the project did not proceed.[27]
In 1995, Jervis Bay National Park and Botanic Gardens were handed back to the Wreck Bay Aboriginal community. In 1997, the community, who jointly manage the park with the Commonwealth Government, decided to rename itBooderee National Park and Botanic Gardens.[28]
Geography
editGeology
edit
Jervis Bay is adrowned river valleyand formed 15,000 years ago, at the end of thelast ice age.[29]The bay took on its present appearance around 4000 BC after the sea levels had risen 120 metres (390 ft), and as sand dune barriers created the southern peninsula.[30]Much of the rock in Jervis Bay is part of theSydney Basinsandstone formation, which is 280-225 million years old, although lower areas are overlain withTertiary-era sediments.[30]
Several features at Jervis Bay have been used as evidence that the Australian coast experienced many gianttsunamisprior to European colonisation.[31]
Description
editIn the Jervis Bay Territory on the southern side of the bay are the settlements ofGreenpatch,Hyams Beach,andBowen Island.From north to south on the New South Wales shore of the bay areCallala Beach,Callala Bay,HuskissonandVincentia.Beecroft Peninsula,on the northern side of the bay, has been used as abombing rangeby the RAN.[32]Point Perpendicularforms the southern end of the peninsula. Jervis Bay is approximately a three-hour drive south ofSydney.A door-to-door shuttle service is available betweenSydney Airportand theSouth Coastevery day.[33]
Environment and protected areas
edit
Significant areas of the Jervis Bay natural environment have been established asprotected areas,includingBooderee National Park,Jervis Bay National Park (NSW)and theJervis Bay Marine Park.
Some 158 km2(61 sq mi) of the land on both sides of the bay have been identified byBirdLife Internationalas anImportant Bird Area(IBA) because the coastalheathlandsupports the largest sub-population of theendangeredeastern bristlebird,isolated from other sub-populations.[34]
Jervis Bay has been recorded as having the whitest sand in the world.[35]
Recreation
edit
Jervis Bay is known for recreational fishing,kayaking,paddleboarding,sailing[36]andscuba diving,with tour operators departing from Huskisson and amateurs using boat ramps at bayside towns and camp sites. Popular diving sites include The Labyrinths, Gorgonian Wall,Point Perpendicular,a submergedFairey Fireflyaeroplane,scallopbeds, Middle Ground, Ten Fathom Reef, and Bowen Island.[37]
Jervis Bay is also known forwhale watching,because whale migration, both north and south, can be observed as the animals pass the entrance to the bay, frequently entering the sheltered waters to rest. The majority of whales sighted at Jervis Bay arehumpbacks,which migrate along Australia's east coast from June to November.Southern right whalesare also showing a slow but steady increase in recent years as they re-colonise former habitats, having been extensively hunted in the 19th and 20th centuries. Other species sighted have beenfalse killer whales,orcas,minke whalesand, on one occasion, ablue whale.[citation needed]
Tourism
editTourism in Jervis Bay is one of the most important avenues of income for many of the local residents, with many businesses orienting themselves towards it. The Jervis Bay Visitors Information Centre is at Huskisson, and is part of the Lady Denman Maritime Museum and Gallery.[38]Local council-managed visitor information centres are atNowraandUlladulla.
Aquaculture
editThe first commercialaquaculturelicence for an area in the bay was granted in 2015, for an enterprise which started growingblue mussels.They also found abundantAngasi oystersandscallopsgrowing on the lines which they dropped at first, but the industry focus is on the blue mussels, which have a high ratio of meat to shell. The first full-scale commercial harvest of blue mussels was scheduled for November 2020. The potential of growingseaweedsfor commercial use is also being explored, andShoalhaven City Councilis investingA$2.3 millionto develop a wharf, boat maintenance facility and other infrastructure needed to service the industry. It is hoped that the industry will create up to 1,000 jobs.[39]
Climate
editJervis Bay experiences anoceanic climate(Köppen climate classification:Cfb), with average maximum temperatures varying from 16 °C in winter to 25 °C in summer tempered by sea breezes. Since 2001, the highest recorded temperature is 42.1 °C on 1 January 2006, and the lowest 4.7 °C on 13 August 2005. Hot summer evenings are often relieved by a front of rapidly moving cool air known as asoutherly buster.
Rainfall is fairly evenly distributed throughout the seasons, with a bias to the first half of the year, due to prevailing easterlies. Short high intensity rainfall events may happen at any time of the year and can lead to local flooding. Jervis Bay also experiences thunderstorms during the warmer months bringing lightning, heavy rain and occasionally hail. With an annual rainfall around 1,200 mm, it is wetter than other areas in theSouth Coastdue to its exposed eastward location on apeninsulafacing theTasman Sea,thus making it more susceptible to moist easterly flows. Yearly rainfall is influenced by theEl Niño-Southern Oscillation.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record high °C (°F) | 42.1 (107.8) |
38.3 (100.9) |
37.4 (99.3) |
32.3 (90.1) |
26.1 (79.0) |
23.2 (73.8) |
25.4 (77.7) |
25.6 (78.1) |
32.6 (90.7) |
35.7 (96.3) |
38.9 (102.0) |
36.1 (97.0) |
42.1 (107.8) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 25.0 (77.0) |
24.3 (75.7) |
23.5 (74.3) |
21.5 (70.7) |
18.8 (65.8) |
16.6 (61.9) |
16.1 (61.0) |
17.0 (62.6) |
19.2 (66.6) |
20.9 (69.6) |
22.2 (72.0) |
23.5 (74.3) |
20.7 (69.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 18.6 (65.5) |
18.6 (65.5) |
17.7 (63.9) |
15.4 (59.7) |
12.7 (54.9) |
11.0 (51.8) |
10.0 (50.0) |
10.3 (50.5) |
12.0 (53.6) |
13.7 (56.7) |
15.3 (59.5) |
16.9 (62.4) |
14.4 (57.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 13.1 (55.6) |
12.6 (54.7) |
11.9 (53.4) |
9.1 (48.4) |
7.1 (44.8) |
5.8 (42.4) |
5.1 (41.2) |
4.7 (40.5) |
6.1 (43.0) |
7.7 (45.9) |
8.3 (46.9) |
10.5 (50.9) |
4.7 (40.5) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 94.7 (3.73) |
145.0 (5.71) |
143.3 (5.64) |
140.0 (5.51) |
112.1 (4.41) |
151.1 (5.95) |
111.6 (4.39) |
77.5 (3.05) |
63.3 (2.49) |
84.3 (3.32) |
83.0 (3.27) |
77.8 (3.06) |
1,282.2 (50.48) |
| Average rainy days | 11.3 | 12.9 | 14.1 | 13.7 | 10.1 | 11.5 | 10.1 | 9.0 | 9.8 | 12.1 | 12.0 | 12.4 | 139.0 |
| Source:Bureau of Meteorology[40] | |||||||||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^"Jervis Bay (NSW)".Gazetteer of Australiaonline.Geoscience Australia,Australian Government.
- ^Macquarie Dictionary(Fourth ed.). Melbourne: The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. 2005.ISBN1-876429-14-3.
- ^The Australian Broadcasting Commission Standing Committee on Spoken English; Mitchell, AG;Australian Broadcasting Commission(1957),A guide to the pronunciation of Australian place names,Sydney:Angus & Robertson,p. 61,retrieved17 June2013
- ^"You say Jervis, I say Jarvis…".2 October 2013.
- ^Crabb 2007,p. 1.
- ^"Our history".Booderee National Park.Parks Australia.Retrieved30 April2024.
- ^"Jervis Bay Territory governance and administration".Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts,Australian Government. 11 November 2023.
- ^"Aboriginal culture and history".Department of Environment, Government of Australia.Retrieved16 March2016.
- ^abReed 1973[page needed]
- ^Crabb 2007,p. 4.
- ^abcCrabb 2007,p. 5.
- ^Antill, Robert G. (1982).Settlement in the South: a record of the discovery, exploration, and settlement of the Shoalhaven River Basin, 1803-1982.Weston). [Place of publication not identified]: [publisher not identified].ISBN0-9593149-0-3.OCLC10696671.
- ^"The Sydney Cove".www.parks.tas.gov.au/.Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service.Archived fromthe originalon 8 March 2017.Retrieved31 August2014.
- ^Crabb 2007,p. 6.
- ^"Jervis Bay Territory History".Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, Government of Australia.Retrieved16 March2016.
- ^Organ, Michael (1990).Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1850.Aboriginal Education Unit Wollongong University. p. 401.ISBN0-86418-112-4.
- ^"ABORIGINAL QUEEN DIES NEAR NOWRA MORE THAN 100 YEARS OLD".Sydney Morning Herald (NSW: 1842 - 1954).27 February 1928. p. 11.Retrieved26 February2019.
- ^"An Interesting Character".Nowra Leader (NSW: 1909 - 1939).6 May 1927. p. 3.Retrieved26 February2019.
- ^Crittenden, Madeline (24 October 2018)."Aboriginal 'King of Jervis Bay' believed to be buried at Husky Church".South Coast Register.Retrieved26 February2019.
- ^"Photograph: King of Jervis Bay and his wife Mary, Nowra, New South Wales, approximately 1905".nla.gov.au.Retrieved26 February2019.
- ^"St Georges Basin Heritage".stgeorgesbasin.info.Retrieved9 January2021.
- ^"Shoalhaven Family Local and Cultural History Fair NSW".Archived fromthe originalon 16 July 2015.Retrieved16 August2014.
- ^Colwell, Max (1969).Whaling around Australia(First ed.). Adelaide: Rigby. pp. 125–6.
- ^Jervis Bay Territory Acceptance Act 1915(Cth)
- ^"Seat of Government Surrender Act (NSW) Act 9 of 1915".This document, assented to by the Governor-General in 1915, provided for the transfer of 28 square miles of land at Jervis Bay to the Commonwealth, in addition to the areas surrendered under the Seat of Government Acceptance Act 1909 and the Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909.Museum of Australian Democracy.Retrieved17 January2013.
- ^"Map Showing Jervis Bay and the Most Suitable Area for Commonwealth Purposes".Documenting a Democracy.Museum of Australian Democracy.Retrieved7 July2014.
- ^"Nuclear reactor and steelworks plan once considered for pristine beaches of Jervis Bay".ABC News.11 August 2019.Retrieved13 August2019.
- ^"Aboriginal name for Jervis Bay National Park".Parliament of Australia.Retrieved30 April2024.
- ^"Jervis Bay Landscape and Geology".NSW National Parks and Wildlife.
- ^abGeology and GeomorphologyArchived19 February 2013 atarchive.today,Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council.
- ^Bryant, Edward A; Young, RW; Price, DM; Wheeler, DJ; Pease, MI (1997)."The impact of tsunami on the coastline of Jervis Bay, Southeastern Australia".Physical Geography.18(5): 440–459.Bibcode:1997PhGeo..18..440B.doi:10.1080/02723646.1997.10642629.
- ^Crabb 2007,p. 53.
- ^Australia, Tourism (13 December 2017)."Guide to Jervis Bay, New South Wales - Tourism Australia".www.australia.com.Retrieved14 March2018.
- ^"IBA: Jervis Bay".Birdata.Birds Australia. Archived fromthe originalon 6 July 2011.Retrieved13 July2011.
- ^"Gazing onto the world's whitest sands".Sydney Morning Herald.Fairfax Media.1 January 2006.Retrieved8 July2011.
- ^"Jervis Bay".Retrieved14 March2018.
- ^"Jervis Bay".VisitNSW.com.Retrieved17 January2013.
- ^"Lady Denman Heritage Complex".Lady Denman Heritage Complex. Archived fromthe originalon 24 November 2012.Retrieved17 January2013.
- ^Murphy, Sean (11 October 2020)."Jervis Bay mussels in on key seafood markets with conservation-friendly farm".ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).Retrieved27 November2020.
- ^"Jervis Bay (Point Perpendicular) AWS".Climate statistics for Australian locations.Bureau of Meteorology.Retrieved17 November2023.
Sources
edit
- Byron, Tom (1985).Scuba Divers Guide to Jervis Bay.Aqua Sports.ISBN978-0-949490-02-5.
- Barker, A (1996).What Happened When.Sydney:Allen & Unwin.ISBN1-86373-986-6.[page needed]
- Crabb, Peter (2007).The Jervis Bay Region 1788 to 1939 an Emptied Landscape.Huskisson: Lady Denman Heritage Complex.ISBN978-0-9586447-3-0.
- Reed, AW(1973).Place Names of Australia.Sydney: Reed Books.ISBN978-0-589-07115-8.