South Coast NSW: Eurobodalla: Land of Many Waters (formerly 'Nature Coast')- Batemans Bay, Moruya, Narooma

Eurobodalla: the 'Land of Many Waters' formerly known as 'Nature Coast'

South Coast NSW

Batemans Bay

Batemans Bay so named by Lt James Cook* RN in 1770 from his ship HMS Endeavour, after Nathaniel Bateman a fellow naval officer with whom Cook had previously served as Master. Cook never set foot on land here, and Bateman never saw it; the latter became First Lord of the Admiralty.

 

Today, Batemans Bay truly is the beautiful and sought-after location it is made up to be; situated amid the 'Land of Many Waters' in the Eurobodalla local government area, on the South Coast of New South Wales.  The two other major Eurobodalla towns are: Moruya and Narooma.
 
The particular area northwards, is known as the Clyde Coast and includes the Shoalhaven towns: Durras, Nelligen, Bawley Point, Termeil and Lake Tabourie.

From where ever, and in what ever direction one looks, one has a surfeit of resplendent natural beauty! South Coast New South Wales holidays will rank amongst the best you have.
 

Being the closest coastal town to Canberra, and on the mouth of the spectacular Clyde River, Batemans Bay gets lots of visitors — as the crayfish and oysters don't get any better elsewhere! Temperatures average around 25c during summer and 18c during winter.

 

Notes on the Eurobodalla's Human & Natural History:

We have a rich cultural heritage from both the Koori and European (White) sources and a vast array of Natural History preceding both cultures; and our fascinating Geological History beats every other contender - at least in the 'Time' stakes.

 

In human experience 60 000 years is still a long time, for archaeology reveals it's about that long that Aboriginal People have inhabited Australia (Terra Australis).

 

Many indigenous Australians prefer the term 'Koori' (sometimes 'Koorie') to denote an Aborigine or young Aboriginal woman.  So I use it here.

 

The Koori who lived here (long before White settlement named  our Shire the 'Eurobodalla') were the Djuwin of the Walbanga, Brinja-Yuin and Djirringanj. These people speak the Dhurga and Djirringanj languages.  Umbarra, the 'Black Duck', is the totem of the Yuin People of Wallaga.


The Shire of Eurobodalla, (‘Land of Many Waters’) is a place of spectacular natural beauty encompassing from the eastern side of the Great Divide to the coast including Montague Island, and the magnificent eucalypt forests, patches of rainforest, and rivers in between. It shares the larger area known as the ‘Far South Coast’ with the Sapphire Coast (also known as the 'Bega Valley Shire').
 
This Land is rich in European cultural heritage and, for the Koori people who have a mysterious spiritual bond with the Land (understood by the mythological language of Dreamtime or Dreaming), it is particularly significant going back millennia before any White settlement. ‘Eurobodalla’ is derived from a Koori word meaning ‘Land of Many Waters’ and one quickly appreciates why it was so called.
 
Blessed with beautiful beaches and bays, estuaries, lakes and rivers – such as the Clyde, Moruya, and Tuross; and, with a temperate climate and varied landforms, the Eurobodalla supports a wide biodiversity in fauna and flora.


To the hinterland and further west, are the rugged wilderness areas of the Deua, Gulaga and Wadbilliga national parks, with the geology largely determining the varied vegetation patterns.

 

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All content © EurobodallaBiz 2006

 

*  HMS Endeavour sailed from Plymouth, England on 26 August 1768 under the command of the recently commissioned Lt James Cook RN (then almost 40 years of age - dob 27 October 1728).

 

Lt Cook had been chosen by the Royal Society of London to undertake a scientific journey to Tahiti (17° 52S 149º 56W) to observe and document the planet Venus as it passed between the earth and the sun. Cook's observations were to help scientists calculate the distance of the earth from the sun.

 

Following those observations, additional Admiralty orders instructed Lt Cook 'to proceed to the southward in order to make discovery of the Continent...there is reason to imagine that a Continent or Land of great extent (Terra Australis)... until you arrive in the Latitude of 40°, unless you sooner fall in with it. But not having discover'd it or any Evident signs of it in that Run, you are to proceed in search of it to the Westward between the Latitude before mentioned and the Latitude of 35° until you discover it, or fall in with the Eastern side of the Land discover'd by Tasman and now called New Zealand.'

 

Lt Cook claimed eastern Australia for the Crown of Great Britain in early 1770; it would be officially settled as a British colony on 26 January 1788.

 

Clyde River Batemans Bay

Clyde River, Batemans Bay.  Photo from a nearby lookout

 

Mt Dromedary Gulaga National Park South Coast NSW

Mt Dromedary so named in 1770 by Lt James Cook RN

('Gulaga' as the Koori call it).  Photo from within Deua National Park

looking South towards Narooma

 

 

Deua National Park Eurobodalla Nature Coast

Rugged wilderness of Deua National Park Eurobodalla Nature Coast

 

Batemans Bay South Coast NSW pelicans feeding

Pelicans, Batemans Bay photo by 2BC'n Photography