Gulf St Vincent | |
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Location | Australia |
Coordinates | 35°S138°E / 35°S 138°E |
Type | Gulf |
River sources | Bungala, Dry Creek, Field, Gawler, Gilbert, Light, Little Para River, Onkaparinga, Patawalonga, Port, Sturt, Torrens, Wakefield |
Basin countries | Australia |
Max. length | 138.9 km (86.3 mi) [1] |
Max. width | 61.15 km (38.00 mi) [1] |
Surface area | 6,800 km2 (2,600 sq mi) [2] |
Average depth | 21 m (69 ft) [2] |
Max. depth | 40 m (130 ft) [3] |
Islands | Garden Island Troubridge Island Torrens Island |
Settlements | Adelaide |
References | [4] |
Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger Spencer Gulf, from which it is separated by Yorke Peninsula. On its eastern side the gulf is bordered by the Adelaide Plains and the Fleurieu Peninsula.
The St Vincent basin is formed from Cenozoic sediments deposited over, and surrounded by, Proterozoic and Paleozoic rock. [5] Around 55 million years ago Gondwanaland broke up and Australia separated from Antarctica, causing a number of basins to form along the southern Australian coastline. Around 40 million years ago a number of blocks formed with the Mount Lofty Ranges rising to the east of the St Vincent basin. At the end of the Last Glacial Maximum around 10,000-15,000 years ago, the sea levels rose and covered the St. Vincent basin. [6]
To the south it is defined by a line from Troubridge Point on Yorke Peninsula to Cape Jervis on Fleurieu Peninsula. Its entrances from the southwest are from Investigator Strait, and to the southeast from Backstairs Passage, which separate Kangaroo Island from the mainland. [2] Adelaide lies midway along the gulf's east shore. Other towns located on the gulf, from west to east include Edithburgh, Port Vincent, Ardrossan and Port Wakefield and Normanville.
The Aboriginal name given to it by the original inhabitants of the area, the Kaurna people was Wongajerla, [7] also spelt Wongga Yerlo [8] or Wonggayerlo, meaning "western sea". [9]
It was named Gulph of St. Vincent by Matthew Flinders on 30 March 1802, in honour of Admiral John Jervis (1st Earl of St Vincent) [10] who won a naval victory off Cape St. Vincent, Portugal. It was shortly afterwards (after his meeting with Flinders at Encounter Bay on 8 April 1802) mapped by Nicolas Baudin, who named it Golfe de la Mauvaise [7] or Golfe de la Misanthrophie. [11] In the following year Louis de Freycinet renamed it Golphe Josephine to honour Josephine Bonaparte. [12] [7]
Due to Flinders' lengthy imprisonment on Mauritius during his return to England, the publication of Baudin's map preceded that of Flinders by three years.
The Adelaide Desalination Plant which is located on Gulf St Vincent's eastern shore in Lonsdale, supplies the Adelaide metropolitan area with desalinated water from the gulf. It officially opened in 2013. [13] [14]
The Gulf teems with crustacea and polychaeta, as well as various species of sea squirts and sea urchins. The benthos is a soft sediment shelf, with species of zosteraceae around the mouth of the Port River. The cardinalfish genus Vincentia takes its name from Gulf St Vincent where the type specimen of its type species was collected. [15]
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The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and Eyre Peninsula in the west to Cape Spencer and Yorke Peninsula in the east.
The Fleurieu Peninsula is a peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia located south of the state capital of Adelaide.
The Yorke Peninsula, known as Guuranda by the original inhabitants, the Narungga people, is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Strait.
The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north.
The Port River is part of a tidal estuary located north of the Adelaide city centre in the Australian state of South Australia. It has been used as a shipping channel since the beginning of European settlement of South Australia in 1836, when Colonel Light selected the site to use as a port. Before colonisation, the Port River region and the estuary area were known as Yerta Bulti by the Kaurna people, and used extensively as a source of food and plant materials to fashion artefacts used in daily life.
Cape Jervis is a town in the Australian state of South Australia located near the western tip of Fleurieu Peninsula on the southern end of the Main South Road approximately 88 kilometres (55 mi) south of the state capital of Adelaide.
Penneshaw is a township in the Australian state of South Australia located on the northeast coast of the Dudley Peninsula on Kangaroo Island about 107 kilometres (66 mi) south of the state capital of Adelaide. It is the island's main ferry port with regular services from Cape Jervis. Penneshaw features a Maritime and Folk Museum, and evening tours to a colony of little penguin, the only species of penguin to breed in Australian waters. At the 2011 census, Penneshaw had a population of 276.
The District Council of Yankalilla is a local government area centred on the town of Yankalilla on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia.
Carrickalinga is a small coastal town in South Australia about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Adelaide on the Fleurieu Peninsula overlooking Gulf St Vincent. The town has no shops, with the nearest being in Normanville, one kilometre away. Haycock Point separates two beaches, sometimes referred to as North Carrickalinga and South Carrickalinga beaches, both on Yankalilla Bay. Carrickalinga Creek discharges into the sea south of the town.
Investigator Strait is a body of water in South Australia lying between the Yorke Peninsula, on the Australian mainland, and Kangaroo Island. It was named by Matthew Flinders after his ship, HMS Investigator, on his voyage of 1801–1802. It is bordered by the Gulf St Vincent in the northeast.
Yankalilla is an agriculturally based town situated on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, located 72 km south of the state's capital of Adelaide. The town is nestled in the Bungala River valley, overlooked by the southern Mount Lofty Ranges and acts as a service centre for the surrounding agricultural district.
Cape Spencer is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located on the south west tip of Yorke Peninsula in the gazetted locality of Inneston. It was named after George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer by Matthew Flinders during March 1802. It has been the site of an operating navigation aid since 1950 and has been located within the Innes National Park since 1970.
The geography of South Australia incorporates the south central part of the continent of Australia. It is one of the six states of Australia. South Australia is bordered on the west by Western Australia, to the north by the Northern Territory, Queensland to the northeast, and both New South Wales and Victoria to the east. South Australia's south coast is flanked by the Great Australian Bight and the Southern Ocean.
The Backstairs Passage is a strait in South Australia lying between Fleurieu Peninsula on the Australian mainland and Dudley Peninsula on the eastern end of Kangaroo Island. The western edge of the passage is a line from Cape Jervis on Fleurieu Peninsula to Kangaroo Head on Kangaroo Island. The Pages, a group of islets, lie in the eastern entrance to the strait. About 14 km wide at its narrowest, it was formed by the rising sea around 13,000 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene era, when it submerged the land connecting what is now Kangaroo Island with the Fleurieu Peninsula. Backstairs Passage was named by Matthew Flinders whilst he and his crew on HMS Investigator were exploring and mapping the coastline of South Australia in 1802.
Price is a town and locality on Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. It is within the Yorke Peninsula Council local government area and is 131 kilometres (81 mi) north west of the centre of state capital, Adelaide.
Troubridge Island is an island located in the south west corner of Gulf St Vincent in South Australia near the eastern edge of the Troubridge Shoals off the east coast of Yorke Peninsula about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) southeast by east of the town of Edithburgh It is notable for being a site of an operating lighthouse from 1856 until 2002 and as a site for a sea bird rookery. Since 1982, the island has been part of the Troubridge Island Conservation Park.
The Pages is an island group in the Australian state of South Australia consisting of two small islands and a reef located in Backstairs Passage, a strait separating Kangaroo Island and the Fleurieu Peninsula. The island group has been located with the protected area known as The Pages Conservation Park since 1972.
Troubridge Point is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located on the south coast of Yorke Peninsula about 11 kilometres south west of Edithburgh. It is the western end of the opening to Gulf St Vincent.
Cape Jervis is a headland located at the most westerly part of the Fleurieu Peninsula on the east coast of Gulf St Vincent in South Australia about 0.7 kilometres west of the town of the same name, Cape Jervis. It is the eastern end of the opening to Gulf St Vincent.
In South Australia, one of the states of Australia, there are many areas which are commonly known by regional names. Regions are areas that share similar characteristics. These characteristics may be natural such as the Murray River, the coastline, desert or mountains. Alternatively, the characteristics may be cultural, such as common land use. South Australia is divided by numerous sets of regional boundaries, based on different characteristics. In many cases boundaries defined by different agencies are coterminous.