Champion Bay is a coastal feature north of

Geraldton, Western Australia Geraldton ( Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldton had an urban population of 38,595. Geraldton is the seat of ...

, facing the port and city between Point Moore and Bluff Point. Champion Bay was named by Lieutenant

John Lort Stokes Admiral John Lort Stokes (1 August 1811 – 11 June 1885) was a Royal Navy officer who served onboard for almost eighteen years.Although 1812 is frequently given as Stokes's year of birth, it has been argued by author Marsden Hordern that Stok ...

of , who surveyed the area in April 1840. He named it after the colonial schooner ''Champion'', in which

George Fletcher Moore George Fletcher Moore (10 December 1798 – 30 December 1886) was a prominent early settler in colonial Western Australia, and "one fthe key figures in early Western Australia's ruling elite" (Cameron, 2000). He conducted a number of exploring ...

had travelled to the region and first located the bay in January of that year. The locality at the bay was also called Champion Bay. The townsite of

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

was surveyed in 1850, named after Captain

Charles Fitzgerald Charles Fitzgerald ( – 29 December 1887) was an officer in the British Royal Navy and Governor of The Gambia from 1844 until 1847, then Governor of Western Australia from 1848 to 1855. Son of Robert Fitzgerald and Lucinda Jackson of K ...

, 4th

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch, King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional, ceremonial and commun ...

. The area around Champion Bay was traditionally inhabited by an Aboriginal people who spoke the

Nhanhagardi language The Nhanhagardi language, also written Nana karti, Nanakarti, Nanakarri, Nanakari, and Nanakati, and also known as Wilunyu, Wiri, Minangu, Barimaia and Jaburu (meaning "northern peoples"), is an Aboriginal Australian language of the Champion ...

. In 1877 a lighthouse was with a diptric lens was built at Bluff Point in Champion Bay. The upper square portion was 7.5 metres high while the lower octagonal base was 11.3 metres high.Lighthouses of the World, AG Findlay, 1879,

References

Mid West (Western Australia) Bays of Western Australia {{WesternAustralia-geo-stub