Geography of Jervis Bay Territory
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The Jervis Bay Territory (; JBT) is an internal territory of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. It was established in 1915 from part of New South Wales (NSW), in order to give the landlocked Australian Capital Territory (ACT) access to the sea. It was administered by the
Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
(and later by the Department of the Capital Territory) as if it were part of the ACT, although it has always been a separate Commonwealth territory. The perception that it is part of the ACT stems from the fact that under the terms of the Jervis Bay Territory Acceptance Act 1915, the laws of the ACT apply to the Jervis Bay Territory. In 1989, when the ACT achieved self-government, the Department of the Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories took over responsibility for the JBT's administration; it has since been administered by various Commonwealth departments responsible for territories.


History

Jervis Bay has a long history of indigenous Australian settlement. Booderee, the name of the national park that covers the majority of the Jervis Bay Territory, means 'bay of plenty' or 'plenty of fish' in the local Aboriginal language. The Yuin people have a strong and continuing connection to the Jervis Bay area. It was decided in December 2016 to apply for Native Title, to recognise the long and ongoing connection. The bay was sighted by Lieutenant
James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...
aboard on 25 April 1770 (two days after Saint George's Day) and he named the southern headland Cape St George.''Place Names of Australia'' (Reed, 1973). In August 1791, the bay was entered and named by Lieutenant Richard Bowen aboard the convict transport ship ''Atlantic'' of the Third Fleet in honour of Admiral John Jervis, under whom he had served. In November 1791 Master Matthew Weatherhead aboard the entered the bay to undertake repairs. Survivors of the ''Sydney Cove'' shipwreck in 1797 reached the area by foot, heading to Port Jackson. Explorer George Bass entered the bay on 10 December 1797. He named Bowen Island.
John Oxley John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1784 – 25 May 1828) was an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He served as Surveyor General of New South Wales and is perhaps best known for his two exp ...
, an English explorer and surveyor, travelled from Sydney by sea to explore the bay in 1819. During the negotiations that led to Federation, three major agreements were reached regarding proposed federal territories, including (in particular) the capital city of the proposed federation. Firstly, it was decided that a new, purpose-built city, located within the borders of New South Wales (NSW), should become the federal capital. Secondly, to allay fears that such a location would give NSW too much influence on federal politics, it was also agreed that an area including the new city would be exclaved from NSW – to become a small, separate federal territory. Thirdly, it was also considered desirable, at the time, that the responsibilities and powers of the federal government should include direct control of, and jurisdiction over, at least one port and, therefore, an area of coastline. Although the site of the capital city was not decided until 1908, most of the proposed sites were relatively long distances from the sea; hence it was also acknowledged (if only implicitly) that the capital and the port would be in separate, non-contiguous areas. In other words, it would have been onerous and unreasonable for NSW to have surrendered a single, contiguous area large enough to accommodate both port and capital. It was decided subsequently that Jervis Bay was the most practical location for a federally-controlled port. Ownership of
Crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...
in the area was transferred from the New South Wales government to the federal government in 1909 (at the same time that ownership of the site of Canberra and the surrounding area was also relinquished by NSW). In 1915, jurisdiction over the Jervis Bay Territory was also transferred from NSW to the Commonwealth. To reduce the practical difficulties presented by the physical separation of the two territories, although this was never implemented. At the , 391 people lived in the territory, the majority working and living at the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base HMAS ''Creswell''. The area of land and water owned by the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council in the JBT is approximately , which is about 90% of the land. The remaining land in the JBT is managed by the
Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Cities was an Australian Public Service department of the Government of Australia that existed between December 2017 and May 2019, charged with the responsibility for infrastr ...
. There is an Aboriginal community at
Wreck Bay Village Wreck Bay Village, formerly Wreck Bay Aboriginal Reserve, is an Aboriginal village in the Jervis Bay Territory, Australia. At the 2016 census the population was 152. It is mainly an Australian Aboriginal community, run by the Wreck Bay Aborigi ...
in Booderee National Park. That Council not only holds the majority of land in the Territory, it exercises certain governance and representation functions for its community under the Aboriginal Land Grant (Jervis Bay Territory) Act 1986 Vincentia is the nearest town, roughly north of the border.


Administration

The Jervis Bay Territory is administered by the federal
Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Cities was an Australian Public Service department of the Government of Australia that existed between December 2017 and May 2019, charged with the responsibility for infrastr ...
. However, it is counted as part of the ACT for the purpose of the ACT's representation in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
; it forms part of the Division of Fenner for House of Representatives purposes. For most purposes, the territory is governed under the laws of the Australian Capital Territory, by the Jervis Bay Administration, which handles matters normally concerned with local or state government. It also provides primary school teachers and
Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...
staffing. Residents have access to the courts of the ACT, but are not separately represented in the
ACT Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly) is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Sq ...
. Although they are subject to ACT law and some services are contracted by the Australian Government to nearby (New South Wales) councils, Jervis Bay Territory residents have no voting rights at ACT Assembly or NSW local elections. They do however have access to the decision-making process through community organisations. Further, Aboriginal persons who are registered members of the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council have voting rights both at meetings of the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council, and to elect the executive of that Council. Section 61 of the
Defence Force Discipline Act The ''Defence Force Discipline Act 1982'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia, that set the foundation of modern military law in Australia. It governs the Australian Defence Force in its discipline of defence members, powers of service p ...
(DFDA) makes all Australian Defence Force members and "Defence Civilians" subject to the criminal laws of the Jervis Bay Territory regardless of where the offence occurred. This is a legal mechanism that makes Defence personnel subject to the ''Crimes Act 1914'' (Cth), the ''Criminal Code Act 1995'' (Cth) and offences against the criminal law of the ACT, as military law, even if the offence is committed elsewhere outside Australia. The Commonwealth contracts the ACT government to provide various services like courts, education and welfare, the
Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...
for rural fire services and community health, Shoalhaven City Council for waste collection and library services, and commercial providers for electricity and water supplies.


Geography

Having of land and marine reserve, Jervis Bay Territory is the smallest of all the mainland states and territories of Australia. Jervis Bay is a natural harbour north to south and east to west, opening to the east onto the Pacific Ocean. The bay is situated about south of the city of
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, on the southern coast of New South Wales. The nearest city is Nowra, about on the
Shoalhaven River The Shoalhaven River is a perennial river that rises from the Southern Tablelands and flows into an open mature wave dominated barrier estuary near Nowra on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Location and features The Shoalhaven ...
to the north. The majority of Jervis Bay embayment is part of Jervis Bay Marine Park (NSW State) but the waters within JB Territory are part of Booderee National Park (Commonwealth). Booderee National Park was formerly known as Jervis Bay National Park (Commonwealth). A wide variety of flora and fauna are native to the Booderee (''Aboriginal: bay of plenty'') National Park with approximately 206 species of birds, 27 species of mammals, 15 species of amphibians, 23 species of reptiles and 180 species of fish native to the area. The park itself encompasses approximately 90% of the territory of Jervis Bay and covers the overlap between Australia's northern and southern climatic zones. Ancient sand dunes overlay the sedimentary bedrock formations formed from upheaval of the surrounding marine environment 280–225 million years ago. There are three small lakes within the territory: Lake Windermere, the largest, with an area of , Lake Mckenzie, , as well as Blacks Waterhole . Bowen Island, at the entrance to the bay north of Governors Head, is in area. It has rookeries for the
little penguin The little penguin (''Eudyptula minor'') is a species of penguin from New Zealand. They are commonly known as little blue penguins or blue penguins owing to their slate-blue plumage and are also known by their Māori name . The Australian lit ...
''Eudyptula minor''.


Villages

There are two villages in the Jervis Bay Territory. They are both covered by postcode 2540. Listed from north to south, they are: * Jervis Bay Village (pop. 189) *
Wreck Bay Village Wreck Bay Village, formerly Wreck Bay Aboriginal Reserve, is an Aboriginal village in the Jervis Bay Territory, Australia. At the 2016 census the population was 152. It is mainly an Australian Aboriginal community, run by the Wreck Bay Aborigi ...
(pop. 152) There are four private leasehold properties in the Jervis Bay Territory, within but not part of Booderee National Park. Among these leasehold properties is the historical, heritage-listed Christian's Minde settlement, which was founded in 1880 by the Ellmoos family from Denmark. Christian's Minde was the first guesthouse on the NSW south coast between Port Hacking and Twofold Bay. The properties Christian's Minde, Kullindi and Ellmoos have been consistently inhabited and looked after by descendants and relatives of the first settlers. Many members of the family are buried in a cemetery on a hill, surrounded by dense bush near the settlement.


HMAS ''Creswell''

Within the Booderee National Park is HMAS Creswell, the Royal Australian Navy College named after Sir William Rooke Creswell, the Director of the Commonwealth Naval Forces which later became the RAN. The Jervis Bay Airfield is adjacent, operated by the RAN to support its BAE Systems Kalkara (Storm Petrel) pilotless target aircraft. Kalkaras are launched from the airfield and later recovered by parachute into the water and thence by boats maintained at HMAS ''Creswell'', after target-towing exercises off the coast with ships or aircraft. Control equipment is sited at Bherwerre Ridge overlooking the sea to the east.


Proposed reactor site

The territory was once the proposed location for a nuclear power plant. The project, which was to be on the south east corner of the Bay near Murray's Beach, was cancelled in 1971. This was after preparatory excavation and levelling had been done and an access road constructed between the site and the territory border. The levelled area is now the car park for Murray's Beach and its adjacent boat ramp.


See also

* * * South Coast Pipe (famous surf break)


References


External links

*
Jervis Bay Territory Governance and Administration

Jervis Bay – VisitNSW.com
{{Authority control Enclaves and exclaves City of Shoalhaven South Coast (New South Wales) States and territories established in 1915 1915 establishments in Australia