Bay of Fires

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Orange-hued granite rocks in Bay of Fires Bay of Fires-15.jpg
Orange-hued granite rocks in Bay of Fires

The Bay of Fires (palawa kani: larapuna) [1] [2] is a bay on the northeastern coast of Tasmania in Australia, extending from Binalong Bay to Eddystone Point. The bay was given its name in 1773 by Captain Tobias Furneaux in Adventure, [3] who saw the fires of Aboriginal people on the beaches.

Contents

Bay whaling activities were carried out in the area in the 1840s. [4]

The Bay of Fires is a region of white beaches, blue water and orange-hued granite (the colour of which is actually produced by a lichen). The northern section of the bay is part of Mount William National Park; the southern end is a conservation area. [5]

A wide range of activities can be pursued in the Bay of Fires area, including camping, beach activities, boating, bird watching, fishing, swimming, surfing and walking. [6] [7] [8]

Tourism

In the 2000s, the Bay of Fires received several tourism accolades. In 2005, it was named as the world's second best beach by Condé Nast. [9] In 2008, it was named the world's "hottest" travel destination for 2009 by international guide book Lonely Planet. [10]

Panorama of Bay of Fires Panorama Bay of Fires.jpg
Panorama of Bay of Fires

History

The Bay of Fires was a meeting place for Aboriginal family groups such as Panpe-kanner, Leener-rerter and Pinter-rairer. [11]

Pictures

Related Research Articles

Protected areas of Tasmania consist of protected areas located within Tasmania and its immediate onshore waters, including Macquarie Island. It includes areas of crown land managed by Tasmanian Government agencies as well as private reserves. As of 2016, 52% of Tasmania's land area has some form of reservation classification, the majority is managed by the Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service. Marine protected areas cover about 7.9% of state waters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasman National Park</span> Protected area in Tasmania, Australia

The Tasman National Park is a national park in eastern Tasmania, Australia, approximately 56 kilometres (35 mi) east of Hobart. The 107.5-square-kilometre (41.5 sq mi) park is situated on part of both the Forestier and Tasman peninsulas and encompasses all of Tasman Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">River Derwent (Tasmania)</span> River in south east Tasmania, Australia

The River Derwent is a river located in Tasmania, Australia. It is also known by the palawa kani name timtumili minanya. The river rises in the state's Central Highlands at Lake St Clair, and descends more than 700 metres (2,300 ft) over a distance of more than 200 kilometres (120 mi), flowing through Hobart, the state's capital city, before emptying into Storm Bay and flowing into the Tasman Sea. The banks of the Derwent were once covered by forests and occupied by Aboriginal Tasmanians. European settlers farmed the area and during the 20th century many dams were built on its tributaries for the generation of hydro-electricity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruny Island</span> Island off the coast of Tasmania

Bruny Island is a 362-square-kilometre (140 sq mi) island located off the southeastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island is separated from the Tasmanian mainland by the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, and its east coast lies within the Tasman Sea. Located to the island's northeast Storm Bay, is the river mouth to the Derwent River estuary, and serves as the main port of Hobart, Tasmania's capital city. Both the island and the channel are named after French explorer, Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux. Its traditional Aboriginal name is lunawanna-allonah, which survives as the name of two island settlements, Alonnah and Lunawanna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flinders Island</span> Island to the north of Tasmania, Australia

Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a 1,367-square-kilometre (528 sq mi) island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Today Flinders Island is part of the state of Tasmania, Australia. It is 54 kilometres (34 mi) from Cape Portland and is located on 40° south, a zone known as the Roaring Forties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Helens, Tasmania</span> Town in Tasmania, Australia

St Helens is the largest town on the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia, on Georges Bay. It is known as the game fishing capital of Tasmania and is also renowned for its oysters. It is located on the Tasman Highway, about 160 km east of Tasmania's second largest city, Launceston. In the early 2000s, the town was one of the fastest growing areas of Tasmania, and reached a population of 2049 at the 2006 census. By the time of the 2021 census, it had a population of 2,206.

Marion Bay is a rural / residential locality in the local government area (LGA) of Sorell in the South-east LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 27 kilometres (17 mi) east of the town of Sorell. The 2016 census recorded a population of 72 for the state suburb of Marion Bay. Marion Bay is also a large bay on the south-east coast of Tasmania. Its south-western shore is contained by the Marion Bay Important Bird Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Furneaux Group</span> Island group in Tasmania, Australia

The Furneaux Group is a group of approximately 100 islands located at the eastern end of Bass Strait, between Victoria and Tasmania, Australia. The islands were named after British navigator Tobias Furneaux, who sighted the eastern side of these islands after leaving Adventure Bay in 1773 on his way to New Zealand to rejoin Captain James Cook. Navigator Matthew Flinders was the first European to explore the Furneaux Islands group, in the Francis in 1798, and later that year in the Norfolk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Barren Island</span> Island in Tasmania, Australia

Cape Barren Island, officially truwana / Cape Barren Island, is a 478-square-kilometre (185 sq mi) island in Bass Strait, off the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the second-largest island of the Furneaux Group, with the larger Flinders Island to the north, and the smaller Clarke Island to the south. The highest point on the island is Mount Munro at 715 metres (2,346 ft). Mount Munro is named after James Munro, a former convict turned sealer who, from the 1820s, lived for more than 20 years with various indigenous women on nearby Preservation Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Island</span> Island off the eastern Tasmanian coast

Maria Island or wukaluwikiwayna in palawa kani is a mountainous island located in the Tasman Sea, off the east coast of Tasmania, Australia. The 115.5-square-kilometre (44.6 sq mi) island is contained within the Maria Island National Park, which includes a marine area of 18.78 square kilometres (7.25 sq mi) off the island's northwest coast. The island is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) in length from north to south and, at its widest, is about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) west to east. At its closest point, Point Lesueur, the island lies approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) off the east coast of Tasmania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarke Island (Tasmania)</span> Island in Tasmania, Australia

The Clarke Island, part of the Furneaux Group, is an 82-square-kilometre (32 sq mi) island in Bass Strait, south of Cape Barren Island, about 24 kilometres (15 mi) off the northeast coast of Tasmania, Australia. Banks Strait separates the island from Cape Portland on the mainland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mewstone</span> Island in Tasmania, Australia

Mewstone is an unpopulated island, composed of muscovite granite, located close to the south coast of Tasmania, Australia. The 13.1-hectare (32-acre) island has steep cliffs and a small flat summit and is part of the Pedra Branca group, lying 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southeast of Maatsuyker Island, and 22 kilometres (14 mi) off the south coast of Tasmania. Mewstone comprises part of the Southwest National Park and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site.

Port Davey is an oceanic inlet located in the south west region of Tasmania, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Binalong Bay</span> Town in Tasmania, Australia

Binalong Bay is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of Break O'Day in the North-east LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north-east of the town of St Helens. The 2016 census recorded a population of 290 for the state suburb of Binalong Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anderson Island (Tasmania)</span> Island in Tasmania, Australia

The Anderson Island, also known as Woody Island, part of the Tin Kettle Island Group of the Furneaux Group, is a 166-hectare (410-acre) granite island, located in Bass Strait, lying northeast of Tasmania, in south-eastern Australia. Anderson Island lies between Flinders and Cape Barren Islands and is partly a pastoral lease used for grazing sheep and cattle. The island is joined at low tide to nearby Little Anderson and Tin Kettle Islands by extensive intertidal mudflats. The island is supposed to be named after John Anderson, a sealer living on the island by 1842.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babel Island</span> Island in Tasmania, Australia

The Babel Island, part of the Babel Group within the Furneaux Group, is a 440-hectare (1,100-acre) granite island, located in Bass Strait, lying off the east coast of Flinders Island, Tasmania, south of Victoria, Australia. The privately owned island was named by Matthew Flinders from the noises made by the seabirds there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Friars (Tasmania)</span> Island in Tasmania, Australia

The Friars are four steep dolerite rocks, with a combined area of about 17 ha, in south-eastern Australia. They are part of the Actaeon Island Group, lying close to the south-eastern coast of Tasmania, at the southern entrance to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel between Bruny Island and the mainland. They form part of South Bruny National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cockle Creek (Tasmania)</span> Location in Tasmania, Australia

Cockle Creek is the farthest point south one can drive in Australia. It is located on Recherche Bay on the edge of the Southwest National Park, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Oyster Bay</span> Bay in Tasmania, Australia

Great Oyster Bay is a broad and sheltered bay on the east coast of Tasmania, Australia which opens onto the Tasman Sea. The Tasman Highway runs close to the West Coast of the bay with views of the granite peaks of the Hazards and Schouten Island of the Freycinet Peninsula which are incorporated in the Freycinet National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasmanian temperate forests</span> Ecoregion in Tasmania, Australia

The Tasmanian temperate forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in Australia. The ecoregion occupies the eastern portion of the island of Tasmania, which lies south of the Australian mainland.

References

  1. Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre Inc. (2015). "Healthy Country Plan 2015" (PDF).
  2. "Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre – Official Aboriginal and Dual Names of places". tacinc.com.au. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  3. Sprod, Dan (2005). "Furneaux, Tobias (1735 - 1781)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN   1833-7538 . Retrieved 5 May 2008.
  4. Evans, Kathryn (1993). Shore-based whaling in Tasmania historical research project: Volume 2; site histories. Hobart: Parks & Wildlife Service. p. 66.
  5. Fitzgerald, Nick; Bay of Fires Coastal Preservation Lobby (Tas.); North-East Bioregional Network (Tas.) (2009), The Bay of Fires a new national park for Northeast Tasmania, North-East Bioregional Network, retrieved 10 January 2013
  6. "Bay of Fires". North East Tasmania. Archived from the original on 9 January 2008. Retrieved 13 January 2008.
  7. "Bay of Fires Conservation Area". Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania. Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2008.
  8. Richardson, Garry (2006), The Bay of Fires, St Helens and the Hinterland : a brief history and activities to enjoy, G. Richardson,c[2006], retrieved 10 January 2013
  9. "Bay of Fires named world's second-best beach". ABC News . 12 June 2005. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  10. "Tasmania's Bay of Fires world's top spot: Lonely Planet". Sydney Morning Herald . 20 October 2008. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  11. "Bay of Fires Conservation Area | Parks & Wildlife Service Tasmania". parks.tas.gov.au. Retrieved 18 April 2021.

41°08′13″S148°18′29″E / 41.137°S 148.308°E / -41.137; 148.308