Smoky Bay (formerly Wallanippie) is a town and locality located in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

on the west coast of the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...

. Previously used as a

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

, the town is now a residential settlement and popular

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

destination known for its recreational

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, with a boat ramp and

jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

located in the town. At the 2016 census, the locality of Smoky Bay had a population of 279 of which 217 lived in the town of Smoky Bay.

History

European discovery and settlement

Smoky Bay's

coastline The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

was first sighted and mapped by the British navigator,

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...

, in 1802, who named it "Smoky Bay" after the amount of

smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product ...

from

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

s lit by the area's

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. Whalers were the first

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

s to inhabit the coastline near the current site of the town, just north of Pt. Collinson. Recently,

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

has uncovered parts of the

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

of their camps, with pieces of

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

bone and three one-hundred gallon cooking pots discovered. The historic Port Collinson Whaling Station remnants are listed on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...

. In the early 1860s pastoralists arrived in the district. Former Adelaide civil servant Charles Francis Heath (1832–83) established a sheep grazing property which he named Wallanippie Station after the Aboriginal name of a waterhole near his homestead at the back of Point Brown promontory. A feud took place in 1865 between two Aboriginal men at Wallanippie Station, resulting in one being speared and the other charged with

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

. Heath was required to attend the Supreme Court in Adelaide as a witness. The trial was notable in that it was an instance of British law intervening in traditional Aboriginal law. Following that the government decided that the developing district needed established law and order. On 16 November 1865, Heath was appointed the first

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and local

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

for Smoky Bay. After nearly ten years on Eyre Peninsula, Heath returned to Adelaide and rejoined the civil service.

Establishment of the government town

In the early 1900s the town area was opened up, with the first building a tin hut erected in 1905. Scrubcutters cleared the area by 1906, and by 1911 a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, repeating station and living quarters had been built. The town continued to grow, with a

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

and

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

opened in 1909. A

was proposed for erection in 1908, and finally completed in 1913. The town of Smoky Bay was surveyed in 1913 under the name of Wallanippie, along with the aforementioned jetty and a Harbour's Board reserve. A large galvanised iron goods shed and a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line extending to the far end of the jetty were established, allowing the town to operate as a port. The town's original name of "Wallanippie" was officially changed to "Smoky Bay" in 1940, after continued use of this name by locals since the town's establishment. The town became less important throughout the mid-1900s, and its capacity as a port was diminished, leaving the town as a residential, as well as an agricultural centre for the surrounding community. The growing of

oysters Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

was established in the bay in 1988, providing a new economic facet for the town, and adding to the town's promise as a

destination. During the 2002/2003 summer, a ban on taking all shellfish from the waters of the bay was imposed after a deadly biotoxin was discovered in the shellfish.

Geography

The town of Smoky Bay lies on the bay of the same name, north of

Streaky Bay Streaky the Supercat is a fictional superhero cat that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #261 (February 1960) and was created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney. He is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Su ...

. The bay is shielded from

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

swells by a small promenade of land that leads to Point Brown. Around 10 km offshore lies "Eyre Island", a small, sandy island that also protects the

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

. Offshore lie a number of small,

granitic A granitoid is a generic term for a diverse category of coarse-grained igneous rocks that consist predominantly of quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar. Granitoids range from plagioclase-rich tonalites to alkali-rich syenites and from quart ...

islands which are home to many

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

s and tiger snakes that feed on the birds. The

Nuyts Archipelago The Nuyts Archipelago is an island group located in South Australia in the Great Australian Bight to the south of the town of Ceduna, South Australia, Ceduna on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula. It consisting of mostly granite, grani ...

lies to the west, the islands of which are not easily accessible. Inside the bay, the calm waters are dominated by shallow stretches of

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

, sandflats,

mudflats Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...

, as well as numerous channels or "creeks" that allow

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

access, with slightly deeper water. Surrounding the bay is a mixture of

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

to the south and coastal

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...

to the north. The mangroves tend to give the water in some parts of the bay a yellow stain, presumed to be from tannins and decaying

leaf A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

matter. The town itself is situated on a long, sandy

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

that ends at the boat ramp. Inland is dominated by

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

land, used for

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponic ...

ping and

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

. The bay is home to a large variety of

s, as well as many

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

species, including

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...

s, which are frequent visitors from the offshore islands.

Seals Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...

also enter the bay, providing further incentive for sharks to enter the bay.

Economy

The town has long since ceased function as a

, but since 1988 has experienced a surge in the

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

. The initial area allocation was of 85 ha within Smoky Bay, with individual farms having a maximum size of 10 ha. This has since been increased to 165 ha (including 40 ha of

subtidal The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...

or deepwater culture). Smoky Bay oysters are well recognized within

, along with other producers such as

Coffin Bay Coffin Bay, originally Coffin's Bay, is a town at the southern extremity of the Eyre Peninsula, a wheat growing area of South Australia. At the 2016 census, Coffin Bay had a population of 611. Material was copied from this source, which is avai ...

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

has been a rapidly expanding sector of the town's economy, with a

caravan park Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals *Convoy, a group of veh ...

and numerous

side

shack A shack (or, in some areas, shanty) is a type of small shelter or dwelling, often primitive or rudimentary in design and construction. Unlike huts, shacks are constructed by hand using available materials; however, whereas huts are usually ru ...

s established. Recreational

is the largest draw to the town, with the

and boat ramp heavily used in the summer holidays. Other water based sports such as

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

snorkelling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters, a ...

are popular, with a large shark proof cage constructed on the side of the jetty. Swimming outside of this enclosure can be risky, as evident by a recent death caused by a large shark in the bay. The local

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

industry has been the source of tourist attractions also, with guided tours now established.

Community

The town has around 200 permanent residents, with that number swelling to around 1000 in the peak summer months. The small town has a very basic general store and

petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

and

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

are occasionally available. There is a sporting club north of the

with an

oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...

and

tennis courts A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

. The club serves meals and is open to the general public. There is a single

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

, of the Uniting denomination opposite the caravan park. The town has a recently constructed boat ramp with a fee payable to Ceduna Council for its use. The old jetty, which has been shortened due to

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmos ...

damage still stands, with the remnants of the original structure still standing off the end of the jetty. Marilyns Country Music Festival is a unique annual event held in Smoky Bay, It is the only music event in the world using an Oyster Barge as a stage, Held in September this event attracts artists and patrons from all over Australia.

Transport

Smoky Bay is accessed from the Flinders Highway, which runs along the coast of the

Peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

. Stateliner

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

services also run buses to the town, with the town's station located opposite the general store. The

and

Ceduna Ceduna may refer to: *Ceduna, South Australia, a town and locality *Ceduna Airport Ceduna Airport is a public airport in Ceduna, South Australia. The airport, which is owned by the District Council of Ceduna is located adjacent to the Eyre ...

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

s also offer flights to the area, however another form of transport must be found to get down to Smoky Bay.

References

;Notes ;Citations

External links

Ceduna Business & Tourism Association > Smoky Bay
Accessed 9 April 2014.
South Australian Tourism Commission > Eyre Peninsula
Accessed 9 April 2014.
Eyre Peninsula Map
Accessed 9 April 2014. {{authority control Coastal towns in South Australia Eyre Peninsula Bays of South Australia