Vivonne Bay (french: Baie Vivonne) is a bay 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 ...

located on the south coast of

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

about from Kingscote, the island's main town, and which was named by the members of Baudin expedition to Australia who visited the bay in January 1803. In a survey of 10,000 beaches by Professor Andrew Short, director of Sydney University's marine studies centre, the beach at Vivonne Bay was adjudged as the best in Australia.

Description

Location

Vivonne Bay is located on the south coast of the Kangaroo Island in South Australia overlooking the body of water known in Australia as the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

and by international authorities as the

Great Australian Bight The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia. Extent Two definitions of the extent are in use – one used by the International Hydrog ...

about south-west of the municipal seat of Kingscote.

Extent

Vivonne Bay has been described in an American source as being "a bight in the coast" between Point Ellen in the west and the Eleanor River in the east which is referred to as being the ‘Mary River’ and which is located about north-northeast of Point Ellen. While the American source does nominate an eastern extremity, the official Australian source does not.

Depth

The depth of water within the bay is reported as being in the range of . The bay is reported as being suitable as an anchorage where there is a need to shelter from northerly and westerly winds. However, the bay is considered to be unsuitable as an anchorage in the case of "fresh SE winds" as "there is no space to get underway if the wind increases and a sea is raised."

Coastline

The bay’s coastline consists of a curved sandy beach of about in length with a western end relatively sheltered from wave action by Point Ellen and an eastern end that is subject to "higher wave energy" with the result of "well-developed offshore bars" being formed and the Eleanor River being "constricted due to the large volumes of marine-sourced sand" being recycled and trapped in its mouth. Point Ellen is described as being "a grassy mound 8.5m high" that is "bordered by low rocks at its base" and is formed of a "

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

aeolianite Eolianite or aeolianite is any rock formed by the lithification of sediment deposited by aeolian processes; that is, the wind. In common use, however, the term refers specifically to the most common form of eolianite: coastal limestone consisting ...

, i.e. a "dune

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

." Two rivers, the Harriet and the Eleanor, flow into the bay with the Harriet being located at the west end and the Eleanor located at the east end. The Harriet River has an estuary coastal lagoon system at its mouth due to the local absence of the "bedrock cliffs" that dominate Kangaroo Island’s coastline.

History

European discovery

The bay was named by a member of the Baudin expedition to Australia in January 1803 after one of the following persons -

Louis Victor de Rochechouart de Mortemart Louis Victor de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Duke of Mortemart (25 August 1636 – 15 September 1688) was a French nobleman and member of the ancient House of Rochechouart. His father Gabriel de Rochechouart de Mortemart was a childhood friend of ...

(1636-1688), a

Marshal of France Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished ( ...

Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet (1588 – 2 December 1665), known as Madame de Rambouillet, was a society hostess and a major figure in the literary history of 17th-century France. {{French literature sidebar Life Born in Rome, she w ...

(1588-1665), a member of the French nobility. Two sources state that the bay was named by

Nicolas Baudin Nicolas Thomas Baudin (; 17 February 1754 – 16 September 1803) was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer, most notable for his explorations in Australia and the southern Pacific. Biography Early career Born a comm ...

while a third source states that Baudin himself did not visit the southern coast of Kangaroo Island and that it was explored by the ''

Casuarina ''Casuarina'' is a genus of 17 tree species in the family Casuarinaceae, native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, islands of the western Pacific Ocean, and eastern Africa. It was once treated as the sole genus in the fa ...

'' commanded by

Louis de Freycinet Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (7 August 1779 – 18 August 1841) was a French Navy officer. He circumnavigated the earth, and in 1811 published the first map to show a full outline of the coastline of Australia. Biography He was born at ...

and a fourth which states that the bay was named by

François Péron François Auguste Péron (22 August 1775 – 14 December 1810) was a French naturalist and explorer. Life Péron was born in Cérilly, Allier, in 1775, the son of a tailor (not a harness maker as is frequently asserted). Although intended for ...

and Freycinet.

2011 drownings

Vivonne Bay is recognised as having a significant undertow and at times a sizeable swell, and is therefore suited only to experienced swimmers. In April 2011, two Australian tourists drowned when a large wave swept them out to sea as they posed for a photograph with their backs to the water at Point Ellen at the western end of the bay.

Fires

Vivonne Bay was impacted by bushfires in January 2020 which necessitated the evacuation of Vivonne Bay township and surrounding areas on Thursday 9 January 2020

Settlements and port infrastructure

There is some evidence that a shore-based bay whaling station operated in the bay in the 1840s. A settlement known as Vivonne Bay is located on the coastline near the mouth of the Harriet River. Port infrastructure within the bay consists of a

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 some ...

located on the west side of the bay adjoining Point Ellen and having a length of . As of 2014,

navigation aid Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

s within Vivonne Bay consisted of a light on Point Ellen.