Smoky Bay

History

Smoky Bay's coastline was first sighted and mapped by the British navigator, Matthew Flinders, in 1802, who named it "Smoky Bay" after the amount of smoke from fires lit by the area's Aboriginal people. Whalers were the first Europeans to inhabit the coastline near the current site of the town, just north of Pt. Collinson. Recently, dune erosion has uncovered parts of the ruins of their camps, with pieces of whale bone and three one-hundred gallon cooking pots discovered. The historic Port Collinson Whaling Station remnants are listed on the South Australian Heritage Register. 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. 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 and local magistrate for Smoky Bay. After nearly ten years on Eyre Peninsula, Heath returned to Adelaide and rejoined the civil service. 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, repeating station and living quarters had been built. The town continued to grow, with a school and hall opened in 1909.…

Geography

The town of Smoky Bay lies on the bay of the same name, north of Streaky Bay. The bay is shielded from ocean 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. Offshore lie a number of small, granitic islands which are home to many seabirds and tiger snakes that feed on the birds. The Nuyts Archipelago 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, sandflats, mudflats, as well as numerous channels or "creeks" that allow boat access, with slightly deeper water. Surrounding the bay is a mixture of mangroves to the south and coastal sand dune vegetation 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 matter. The town itself is situated on a long, sandy beach that ends at the boat ramp. Inland is dominated by agricultural land, used for cropping and grazing of sheep. The bay is home to a large variety of seabirds, as well as many fish species, including great white sharks, which are frequent visitors from the offshore islands. Seals also enter the bay, providing further incentive for sharks to enter the bay.

Most-observed species

• Singing Honeyeater

  Gavicalis virescens (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  65
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  60
• Pacific Gull

  Larus pacificus Latham, 1801 · Aves
  49
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  48
• Pied Cormorant

  Phalacrocorax varius (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  45
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  44
• Australian Pelican

  Pelecanus conspicillatus Temminck, 1824 · Aves
  42
• Great Crested Tern

  Thalasseus bergii (M.H.K.Lichtenstein, 1823) · Aves
  36