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Jervis Bay Real Estate
jervisbayrealestate.com.au

New South Wales

Jervis Bay real estate

Jervis Bay is a natural harbour in southern New South Wales, about 200 km south of Sydney. The Jervis Bay Territory, an internal territory of Australia, was established in 1915 and covers 67.8 square kilometres of land.

The Yuin and the bay

Aboriginal Australian people lived over the Jervis Bay area for a long time. Between 18,000 and 7,500 years ago the sea rose and the area changed greatly. People were pushed off land that had been coastal, and the population of the region was redistributed on a dramatic scale. The Yuin people keep a link to the Jervis Bay area. In December 2016 they sought recognition of native title.

Booderee National Park takes in about 90 per cent of the territory. Its name comes from the local Aboriginal language. One meaning given is 'bay of plenty'; another is 'plenty of fish'. The Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council owns about 68 square kilometres, close to 90 per cent of the territory. The council also handles governing and representative roles for its community, under a 1986 Act about the Aboriginal land grant in the Jervis Bay Territory. A federal government department manages the rest of the territory.

Cook, Bowen and the name

Lieutenant James Cook saw the bay from HMS Endeavour on 25 April 1770. Saint George's Day had fallen two days earlier, and he gave the name Cape St George to the headland at the south. In August 1791 the convict transport Atlantic, one of the Third Fleet ships, sailed into the bay. Lieutenant Richard Bowen named the bay for Admiral John Jervis. The Matilda entered the bay in November 1791, with Master Matthew Weatherhead in charge, to carry out repairs.

Survivors of the Sydney Cove shipwreck of 1797 reached the area on foot, heading for Port Jackson. On 10 December 1797, George Bass, an explorer, reached the bay and named Bowen Island. In 1819 John Oxley, who worked as a surveyor and explorer, sailed from Sydney to look over the bay.

A port for the capital

Talks over Federation produced three main agreements about proposed federal territories. A new capital city would be built inside New South Wales. To keep the state from having too much influence on federal politics, the city and its surroundings would be separated from New South Wales as a territory of its own. And the federal government would hold direct control of at least one port.

The capital's site was not settled until 1908, and every site seriously considered lay a long way inland, so the capital and the port would be in different places. In 1909 Crown land around Jervis Bay passed from New South Wales to the federal government, in the same year that New South Wales handed over the Canberra site and its surrounding land. In 1915 jurisdiction over the Jervis Bay Territory passed from New South Wales to the Commonwealth of Australia, which gave the federal government a port close to the landlocked Australian Capital Territory. To ease the distance between the two territories, New South Wales also agreed in principle that a rail link between Canberra and Jervis Bay could be built and run by the federal government. It was never implemented.

Nuclear plans and the naval base

In 1969 the territory was put forward as the place for a nuclear power plant. The plan was dropped in 1971. A road had already been built to the spot, on the bay's southeast corner near Murrays Beach, and the ground there had been dug out and levelled. That levelled ground now serves as the car park for Murrays Beach, with the boat ramp beside it.

In 2021, most residents lived and worked at HMAS Creswell, the Royal Australian Navy college, and the navy runs the Jervis Bay Airfield next to it. The territory holds two villages: Jervis Bay Village and Wreck Bay Village, an Aboriginal community. Booderee National Park, which was once called Jervis Bay National Park, takes in the waters of the territory.

A group of buildings beside Sussex Inlet known as the Christian's Minde Settlement takes in six separate parcels of land, four of them leaseholds. The Ellmoos family from Denmark began Christian's Minde in the mid-1880s. When the guesthouse was established in the 1890s it was promoted as the first guesthouse between Port Hacking and Twofold Bay on the New South Wales south coast. Members of the Ellmoos family lived at Christian's Minde, Ellmoos and Ardath for more than 130 years, and some are buried in a cemetery in dense bush managed by the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council.

Timeline

  1. 1770Lieutenant James Cook sights Jervis Bay from HMS Endeavour.
  2. 1791The convict transport Atlantic enters the bay, and Richard Bowen names it.
  3. 1797George Bass enters the bay and names Bowen Island.
  4. 1819John Oxley sails from Sydney to explore the bay.
  5. 1908The site of the federal capital city is settled.
  6. 1909Crown land around Jervis Bay passes to the federal government.
  7. 1915Jurisdiction over the Jervis Bay Territory passes to the Commonwealth.
  8. 1969The territory is proposed as a site for a nuclear power plant.
  9. 1971The nuclear power proposal is cancelled.
  10. 2016The Yuin people apply for recognition of native title.

Living in Jervis Bay

With 67.8 square kilometres of land and 8.9 square kilometres of marine reserve, the Jervis Bay Territory is the smallest mainland state or territory in Australia. Jervis Bay itself is a natural harbour 16 km from north to south and 10 km east to west, opening east onto the Pacific Ocean. The territory lies on New South Wales's southern coast, about 200 km south of Sydney and about 250 km east of Canberra. Nowra is the nearest major town, on the Shoalhaven River about 40 km to the north, and Vincentia lies closest to the border, roughly 3 km to the north.

Much of the bay's embayment lies in Jervis Bay Marine Park, a New South Wales reserve, while the waters inside the territory are part of Booderee National Park. That park covers about 90 per cent of the territory and lies in the overlap of Australia's northern and southern climatic zones. Three small lakes lie in the territory: Lake Windermere, the largest at 31 hectares, Lake Mckenzie at 7 hectares and Blacks Waterhole at 1.4 hectares. Bowen Island, at the bay's entrance, has rookeries for the little penguin. About 206 species of birds are native to the area, with 27 mammals, 15 amphibians, 23 reptiles and 180 fish.

Questions

What is the history of Jervis Bay?
Aboriginal Australian people lived over the area for a long time, and the Yuin people remain connected to it. Lieutenant James Cook sighted the bay in 1770, and in 1791 Lieutenant Richard Bowen named the bay for Admiral John Jervis.
How did Jervis Bay get its name?
The convict transport Atlantic, one of the Third Fleet ships, entered the bay in August 1791. Lieutenant Richard Bowen named the bay for Admiral John Jervis.
Where is Jervis Bay?
The Jervis Bay Territory lies on New South Wales's southern coast, about 200 km south of Sydney and about 250 km east of Canberra. The nearest major town is Nowra, on the Shoalhaven River about 40 km to the north.
What is Booderee National Park?
Booderee National Park is a Commonwealth park in the Jervis Bay Territory, once known as Jervis Bay National Park. Its name comes from the local Aboriginal language. One meaning is 'bay of plenty'. Another is 'plenty of fish'. The park covers about 90 per cent of the territory.
What is living in Jervis Bay like?
The territory has two villages. One is Jervis Bay Village; the other is Wreck Bay Village, an Aboriginal community. In 2021, most residents lived and worked at HMAS Creswell, the Royal Australian Navy college, and the navy runs the airfield beside it.

Sources

  1. Jervis Bay Territory (Wikipedia)