Location
Jervis Bay is a 102-square-kilometre oceanic bay and village on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, said to possess the whitest sand in the world.
A 70-square-kilometre area of land around the southern headland of the bay is a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia known as the Jervis Bay Territory. The Australian Navy base, HMAS Creswell, is in the Jervis Bay Territory between Jervis Bay Village and Greenpatch Point. (wikipedia)
History
Archaeological evidence at Burrill Lake, 30 kilometres south of Jervis Bay, shows Aboriginal occupation dating back 20,000 years.
Jervis Bay was sighted by Lieutenant James Cook aboard HMS Endeavour on 25 April 1770 (two days after Saint George’s Day) and he named the southern headland Cape St George.
In August 1791 Lieutenant Richard Bowen, aboard the convict transport ship Atlantic, part of the Third Fleet, sailed into the bay and named it in honour of Admiral John Jervis, under whom he had served. In November 1791 Master Matthew Weatherhead entered the bay aboard Matilda, which had also been part of the Third Fleet, in order to undertake repairs to the ship.
In mid 1797, survivors of the wreck of Sydney Cove passed through the area on foot, while undertaking an arduous trek of 600 kilometres in an attempt to get to Port Jackson (Sydney).
Explorer George Bass entered the bay on 10 December 1797 and named Bowen Island.
Alexander Berry’s takeover of land in the Shoalhaven displaced Aboriginal people who were moved in 1822 to Wreck Bay. Smallpox and syphilis significantly reduced local populations.
The land now comprising the Jervis Bay Territory was surrendered by the state of New South Wales to the Commonwealth Government in 1915 to provide a seaport for the new Federal capital under construction at Canberra, which would be Australia’s only inland capital.
In the late 1960s, Australia’s first nuclear power plant was proposed for the area, and a site was prepared. However, the project did not proceed. (wikipedia)
Places of Interest
No Data Uploaded