Coffin Bay

Coffin Bay, originally Coffin's Bay,[9] is a town at the southern extremity of the Eyre Peninsula, a wheat growing area of South Australia. At the 2016 census, Coffin Bay had a population of 611.[2]

Coffin Bay
South Australia
View down Coffin Bay Channel
Coffin Bay
Coordinates34°37′28″S 135°28′11″E[1]
Population611 (2016 census)[2]
Established1952 ("shack area")[3]
1957 (private town)[3]
2003 (locality)[4]
Postcode(s)5607[5]
Time zoneACST (UTC+9:30)
 • Summer (DST)ACST (UTC+10:30)
Location
LGA(s)District Council of Lower Eyre Peninsula[1]
RegionEyre Western[1]
CountyFlinders[1]
State electorate(s)Flinders[6]
Federal Division(s)Grey[7]
Mean max temp[8] Mean min temp[8] Annual rainfall[8]
21.3 °C
70 °F
11.3 °C
52 °F
389.8 mm
15.3 in
Localities around Coffin Bay:
Coffin Bay (waterbody) Wangary Wangary
Coffin Bay (waterbody)
Ocean
Coffin Bay Wangary
Uley
Ocean Ocean
Uley
Uley
FootnotesAdjoining localities[1]

The town is situated on the western side of the southern tip of Eyre Peninsula about 46 km from Port Lincoln. The population swells during holiday seasons to more than 2,000 people due to its proximity to the Coffin Bay National Park.

It is a popular location for boating, sailing, swimming, water-skiing, skindiving and wind-surfing, as well as fishing (rock, surf, angling and boat).[10]

Oyster farming is conducted in the quiet waters of Coffin Bay.

Coffin Bay is in the District Council of Lower Eyre Peninsula local government area, the state electoral district of Flinders and the federal Division of Grey.[1]

History

British naval explorer Matthew Flinders named the bay on 16 February 1802 in honour of his friend Sir Isaac Coffin, who was Resident Naval Commissioner at Sheerness, where the Investigator was fitted out.[11][10] The same year, French explorer Nicolas Baudin provided the alternative French name of Baie Delambre.[12]

The bay remained uncharted until explored in March 1839 by Captain Frederick R. Lees (d.1839) in command of the brig Nereus. Lees' thorough charts became a standard reference for mariners through until the electronic era.[13]

In November 1952 and again in October 1955, the state government surveyed a "shack area" on crown land from which allotments were available for leasing.[3] In 1957, the private town of Coffin Bay was laid out by Stanley Germain Morgan on section 132 of the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Lake Wangary.[3]

In 1966, BHP opened the Coffin Bay Tramway between a site 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south-east of the town and Port Lincoln to convey lime sands.[14] It was closed in 1989, with the track removed in 2001.

On 16 October 2003, boundaries were created for the locality includes the full extent of the Coffin Bay Peninsula and land to the east bounded in the north in part by the channel connecting to Kellidie Bay and by the Coffin Bay Road, and in the east by the eastern boundary of the Hundred of Lake Wangary. The locality which was given the "long established name" includes the private town, the Coffin Bay Shack Site and the Coffin Bay National Park.[1][4]

The Parnkalla people occupied the area prior to European settlement in the 1830s.

The historic former Coffin Bay Whaling Site at Point Sir Isaac lies within the locality and is listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.[15]

Population

In the 2016 Census, there were 611 people in Coffin Bay. 81.0% of people were born in Australia and 93.8% of people spoke only English at home. The most common response for religion was No Religion at 44.3%.[2]

See also

References

  1. "Search results for 'Coffin Bay, LOCB' with the following datasets selected - 'Suburbs and localities', 'Counties', 'Hundreds', 'Local Government Areas', 'SA Government Regions' and 'Gazetteer'". Location SA Map Viewer. South Australian Government. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Coffin Bay (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 30 October 2018. Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
  3. Manning, Geoffrey. "South Australian Names - C" (PDF). Manning Index of South Australian History. State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  4. Weatherill, Jay (16 October 2003), "GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES ACT 1991, Notice to Assign Boundaries and Names to Places (within the District Council of Lower Eyre Peninsula and the City of Port Lincoln)" (PDF), The South Australian Government Gazette: 3796, retrieved 24 October 2019
  5. "Postcode for Coffin Bay, South Australia". postcodes-australia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  6. "District of Flinder Background Profile". Electoral Commission SA. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  7. "Federal electoral division of Grey" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  8. "Monthly climate statistics: Summary statistics NORTH SHIELDS (PORT LINCOLN AWS) (nearest weather station)". Commonwealth of Australia , Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  9. "The Situation of the New Colony". The Sydney Monitor (NSW : 1828 - 1838). NSW: National Library of Australia. 11 April 1832. p. 4 Edition: Afternoon. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  10. UBD street directory Gregory's South Australia and Northern Territory., Universal Business Directories Pty. Ltd., Universal Publishers, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7319-2696-1, OCLC 829213142CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. "Place names of South Australia". The Manning Index of South Australian History. State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 6 May 2006.
  12. Property Location Browser V2 Archived 12 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine Government of South Australia, Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure Archived 12 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2014-01-01.
  13. Lees, Frederick : Sailing directions for South Australia (Sydney, 1839). Mitchell Library, NSW, Call No DSM/656/L.
  14. Buckland, J.L. (August 1977). "A standard gauge railway in mothballs (Coffin Bay tramway of BHP Co. Ltd.)". Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin. Australian Railway Historical Society. 28 (478): 184–189. This mineral railway was opened in 1966 to bring lime sands 39 km from Coffin Bay to Proper Bay, near Port Lincoln. The operation was visited by an ARHS SA Div tour on 13 Nov 1976. (Citation details via the nswrail.net website)
  15. "Former Coffin Bay Whaling Site (designated place of archaeological significance) Coffin Bay National Park". South Australian Heritage Register. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
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