Jervis Bay on the New South Wales South Coast is one of the most beautiful and unspoilt parts of Australia’s coastline. From Berry to North Durras, this stretch is bathed in a particularly brilliant light, cooled down by seabreezes, is rich in natural beauty and brimming with inspired people and their character homes.
The landscape? 100 ocean, bay and lakeside beaches, verdant rolling pastures, craggy mountains and bush trails. 300,000 hectares of National Parks and State Forests are criss-crossed by rivers, coastal lakes, estuaries and miles of navigable waterways.
It was back in 1770 that Captain James Cook sighted Jervis Bay and named it St George’s Head (it was St George’s Day April 1770) and called Point Perpendicular ‘Long Nose.’
21 years later, the bay was named ‘Jervis Bay’ by Lieutenant Bowen of the Atlantic in honour of Admiral Sir John Jervis under whom he had served.
Soon after devastation struck the local Aboriginal community, when in 1822 they were displaced by Alexander Berry’s takeover of land. They were moved to Wreck Bay however the introduction of smallpox and syphilis significantly reduced local populations.
Fast forward to 2012, Jervis Bay can be reached from Sydney by car and rail within 2.5 hours. 160 kilometres of the whitest sand in the world is found here, not to mention those magnificent migratory humpback whales, playful dolphins and laughing kookaburras: the ideal Australian bush-by-the-sea backyard…