Jervis Bay is a 102-square-kilometre (39 sq mi) oceanic bay and village in the Jervis Bay Territory and on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. In the Dhurga language of the Aboriginal inhabitants of the area, it is called Booderee, which translates as "bay of plenty".

A 70-square-kilometre (27 sq mi) area of land around the southern headland of the bay is a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia, known as the Jervis Bay Territory, which is administered by, but is not a part of, the Australian Capital Territory. The Territory includes the settlements of Jervis Bay Village and Wreck Bay Village. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base, HMAS Creswell, is in the Jervis Bay Territory between Jervis Bay Village and Greenpatch Point.

History

Archaeological finds at Burrill Lake, 55 kilometres south of Jervis Bay, provide evidence of 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) – only three of them completed the journey.

Explorer George Bass entered the bay on 10 December 1797 and named Bowen Island.

Alexander Berry's takeover of land in the Shoalhaven displaced the Aboriginal inhabitants, who were moved to Wreck Bay in 1822. Smallpox and syphilis significantly reduced their population.[15] A separate population of Aborigines, whom settlers called "the Jervis Bay tribe" — the Wandandian people — remained on their traditional lands on the bank of Currambene Creek, near Huskisson, and around St Georges Basin, until well into the 20th century.

In 1841, the private township of South Huskisson on Jervis Bay was founded as a seaport and terminus of The Wool Road. It was renamed Vincentia in 1952.

The bay was a base for whaling in 1912 and 1913. The vessels involved were the factory ship Loch Tay and her two catchers Campbell and Sorrell.

!n 1915, the land now comprising the Jervis Bay Territory was surrendered to the Commonwealth Government by the state of New South Wales. It was proposed that it would become 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, but the project did not proceed.

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 it Booderee National Park and Botanic Gardens.

Geology

Cliff faces and vegetation at the Booderee National Park

Jervis Bay is a drowned river valley and formed 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. 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. Much of the rock in Jervis Bay is part of the Sydney Basin sandstone formation, which is 280-225 million years old, although lower areas are overlain with Tertiary-era sediments.

Several features at Jervis Bay have been used as evidence that the Australian coast experienced many giant tsunamis prior to European colonisation.

Description

In the Jervis Bay Territory on the southern side of the bay are the settlements of Greenpatch, Hyams Beach, and Bowen Island. From north to south on the New South Wales shore of the bay are Callala Beach, Callala Bay, Huskisson and Vincentia. Beecroft Peninsula, on the northern side of the bay, has been used as a bombing range by the RAN. Point Perpendicular forms the southern end of the peninsula. Jervis Bay is approximately a three-hour drive south of Sydney. A door-to-door shuttle service is available between Sydney Airport and the South Coast every day.