Marion Bay is a rural / residential locality in the local government area (LGA) of Sorell in the South-east LGA region of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. The locality is about east of the town of Sorell. The 2016 census recorded a population of 72 for the state suburb of Marion Bay. Marion Bay is also a large bay on the south-east coast of Tasmania. Its south-western shore is contained by the Marion Bay Important Bird Area.

History

Marion Bay is a confirmed locality.

European discovery

Abel Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New Z ...

first anchored just north of a small island in the southern part of this large bay in 1642, and landed in the area he named Frederick Henricx Bay (made up of what is now called Blackman Bay, Marion Bay and North Bay). The name

Frederick Henry Bay Frederick Henry Bay is a body of water in the southeast of Tasmania, Australia. It is located to the east of the South Arm Peninsula, and west of the Tasman Peninsula. Towns on the coast of the bay include Lauderdale, Seven Mile Beach, Dodges ...

was mistakenly moved to its present location by Captain

Tobias Furneaux Captain Tobias Furneaux (21 August 173518 September 1781) was an English navigator and Royal Navy officer, who accompanied James Cook on his second voyage of exploration. He was one of the first men to circumnavigate the world in both direction ...

. Subsequently, Frederick Henricx Bay was later named Marion Bay after the Breton navigator

Marion du Fresne Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne (22 May 1724 – 12 June 1772) was a French privateer, East India captain and explorer. The expedition he led to find the hypothetical ''Terra Australis'' in 1771 made important geographic discoveries in the sout ...

, who arrived in his ship ''Mascarin'' with ''Marquis de Castries'' in March 1772. Marion recorded that "One sailor found numbers of crayfish, lobsters and huge crabs, and the oysters there are good and abundant". Marion's landing is the first recorded sighting and description of the

Aboriginal Tasmanians The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...

by Europeans. One of the Aboriginal men was shot dead by Marion's men. Marion then sailed to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

where he was killed by

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

in the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for its ...

Geography

The waters of Blackman Bay and Marion Bay form the eastern to southern boundaries.

Road infrastructure

Route C337 (Marion Bay Road) runs through from west to south.

Festivals

Marion Bay was host to the first Tasmanian

Falls Festival Falls Music & Arts Festival (commonly known as Falls) is a multi-day music festival held annually in Lorne (Victoria), Marion Bay (Tasmania), Byron Bay (New South Wales) and Fremantle (Western Australia), Australia over the New Year's Eve ...

in December 2003. It attracted more than 10,000 people and has become an annual event, as has the festival's counterpart in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Fremantle and latterly Byron Bay. The Bream Creek Show has been taking place in Marion Bay for more than a century. Noted for a display of large pumpkins, the show was first hosted in 1897 in the pavilion at Coppington. It is held every year in March and includes rides for children, wood chopping and other family entertainment.

Army worm infestation

In December 2008, an infestation of army worms in Marion Bay was reported in the national media. Despite the problems residents encountered, infestations of this sort are apparently common wherever the worms are. In October 2008 a general alert was sounded that such an infestation was likely to occur.News report
TAS Country Hour, ABC Rural

References

{{authority control East Coast Tasmania Towns in Tasmania Bays of Tasmania Localities of Sorell Council