Wreck Bay Village, formerly Wreck Bay Aboriginal Reserve, is an Aboriginal village in the

Jervis Bay Territory The Jervis Bay Territory (; JBT) is an internal territory of Australia. 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 b ...

, Australia. At the 2016 census the population was 152. It is mainly an

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

community, run by the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council.

Geography

Wreck Bay Village is at the northeast corner of

Wreck Bay Wreck or The Wreck may refer to: Common uses * Wreck, a collision of an automobile, aircraft or other vehicle * Shipwreck, the remains of a ship after a crisis at sea Places * The Wreck (surf spot), a surf spot at Byron Bay, New South Wales, Aus ...

between the small

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

s called

Mary Bay Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

and Summercloud Bay. It is in the south of the territory. It is about south of

Jervis Bay Airfield Jervis Bay Airfield is a military aerodrome in the Jervis Bay Territory in Australia. It is the only aerodrome in the territory and is located about east of Sussex Inlet; and about south of Jervis Bay Village and HMAS ''Creswell''. It was ...

and by road from

Jervis Bay Village Jervis Bay Village is a village in the Jervis Bay Territory, Australia. HMAS ''Creswell'' Royal Australian Navy base is located in the town. Apart from the navy base there is an Aboriginal community in the town. It is the largest town in the Je ...

History

The first European settlement around Jervis Bay started in the early 1880s. Wreck Bay forms part of the Jervis Bay Territory, which became Commonwealth territory in 1915 so that the national government based in Canberra could have access to the sea. Wreck Bay is so called because the waves are generally quite high and it is easy for a ship to be destroyed.

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 ...

started a small settlement at Summercloud Bay around the early 1900s. They favoured the area because of strong cultural ties, its closeness to both the bush and the sea for collection of food and other sources and because of its distance from European settlements. This area later became an

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...

known as the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Reserve that was put under control of a mission manager. The decision to create this permanent settlement has enabled cultural practices to survive. The of land was officially handed to the Aboriginal community in 1995 by the Australian Government, including

Booderee National Park and Botanic Gardens Booderee National Park and Botanic Gardens, formerly Jervis Bay National Park and Jervis Bay Botanic Gardens, are located in the Jervis Bay Territory of Australia. The reserve is composed of two sections: * the Bherwerre Peninsula, on the souther ...

. In 2021

Nikita Ridgeway Nikita Ridgeway (born 1986) is a Bundjalung/Biripi tattoo artist and graphic designer from Australia, who was awarded the a BBC 100 Women Award in 2015 in recognition of her entrepreneurial work and advocacy for Aboriginal graphic design. Biogr ...

created indigenous artwork used to decorate two fire trucks used by Wreck Bay (Australia) Rural Fire Brigade. The brigade is owned and managed by the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council.

Booderee

The Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community owns and co-manages (with

Parks Australia Director of National Parks is a government-owned corporation of the Australian government responsible for the management of a portfolio of terrestrial and marine protected areas proclaimed under the ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Cons ...

), the

. It includes Australia's only Aboriginal-owned and managed

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

Current status

The Wreck Bay Village is now private land and no public access is available.

References

Indigenous Australian communities {{NewSouthWales-geo-stub Towns and villages in the Jervis Bay Territory