Coffin Bay - Places to See

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This was published 15 years ago

Coffin Bay - Places to See

Point Avoid and Yangie Bay
However a trip out to Point Avoid and Yangie Bay is well worthwhile. The views of the rugged and lonely beaches on the western shoreline of the park and the dramatic view across Coffin Bay which is offered at Yangie Bay lookout point are truly breathtaking. The size of the huge sand dunes in the area (some are over 100 metres high) bears grim witness to the seas, driven by the Roaring Forties and uninterrupted on their journey across the Great Australian Bight, which batter this section of the Australian coast.

Fishing at Coffin Bay
Over the years the whole Coffin Bay area has gained a reputation as a haven for fishermen. Consequently everyone from rock fishermen, to surf fishermen, people keen to fish from boats, and jetty fishermen (there are special fishing jetties near Coffin Bay township at Crinolin Point and Schnapper Point) are all attracted to the area. Fish caught in the area include whiting, salmon, trevally, garfish, tommy ruffs, snapper and flathead. The Enjoy Coffin Bay brochure available around town provides details about the kind of fishing available around the bay.

For those who like other people to do their fishing for them there is the Coffin Bay Oyster Farm which is open from 8.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m. It sells fresh oysters, prawns and lobsters as well as a range of local fish.

Old Hotel at Wangery
The Old Hotel at Wangary, on the Flinders Highway near Coffin Bay, is one of the very few pubs in Australia actually to boast to the passer-by 'No Beds-No Beer'. This is not something new. The pub hasn't had a liquor licence since 1933. Instead it operates as a general store and is proud of its pasties and cakes.

No one is exactly sure where the word 'wangary' came from with sources claiming that it is a corruption of the local Aboriginal word 'wangara' which could variously mean 'talk' or 'to have a corroboree'.

The Hotel, which was built in 1871, is now the only building of any significance in the tiny settlement. Its great moment (a true brush with fame) came when someone found an old horse carriage in a shed out the back which was being used by the hotel's fowls. Closer investigation found the motto 'Crede Biron' on the carriage and it was discovered that its original owner had been the famous English poet Lord Byron. Apparently Byron had sent the carriage to Lady Charlotte Bacon in Adelaide. It had subsequently been bought by the owners of Wangary Station and eventually found its way into a shed behind the hotel. The owner of the hotel, oblivious to the value of the carriage, sold it to a blacksmith in Port Lincoln who dismantled it and sold it off as souvenirs to tourists. A piece of the carriage found its way to the museum at Koppio (see Tumby Bay).

Apart from The Old Hotel, Wangary has the historic ruins of the old Post Office, Coach House and Bakery and, surprisingly for such a small settlement, it has is a very fine oval.

Mt Dutton Bay Woolshed and Jetty
The road from Wangary to Farm Beach passes a turnoff to Dutton Bay where an old woolshed and restored jetty stand as reminders of an era when this entire stretch of coastline, from Dutton Bay to Elliston, was privately leased to Price Maurice who built the woolshed in 1875 utilising local stone and wooden trusses from Oregon in the United States. It is estimated that over 20 000 sheep were shorn each year at the woolshed's peak of activity with the fleeces shipped from the jetty to overseas markets. It only ceased to function as a woolshed in the 1970s, later being used as a storage shed for broom grass (used in making brooms).

Now restored, the shed functions as a museum displaying hundreds of items relating to local economic history, centring on shearing, farming and fishing. The wool press dates from the early 19th century. The shearer's quarters, which also date from 1875, once housed 14 blade-shearers as well as four roustabouts and two cooks.

Bunk-style hostel accommodation is available, and there is a stone cottage (c.1875) offering more private accommodation. Coffin Bay Caravan Park (http://www.coffinbay.net/caravanpark/) is also available. There are also function facilities. The museum is open from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. daily (except Christmas Day and Boxing Day). There is a small entry fee. For further information check out: http://www.duttonbay.com/dutton%20bay/default.htm

Farm Beach
Only 10 km from Wangary is Farm Beach, a tiny settlement which is really nothing more than a caravan park and launching point for dozens of small fishing boats. It is, however, a must for anyone who wants to see a truly fascinating and bizarre 'tractor museum'. On the weekends, and during holidays, the beach and foreshore are crowded with fishermen who use old tractors to get their boats over the mountains of seaweed which are washed up onto the beach. The result is a parking area where, at any one time, there may be up to 50 tractors, all of them ancient and rusty.

At the south end of Farm Beach, just near the main launching point, there is a rough dirt road which leads to the beach where the invasion scenes in the movie Gallipoli was filmed. Unfortunately all of the trenches, sandbags and the dugouts have to be removed. This eccentric local council decision has meant that something which could have become a major tourist attraction in the area has been returned to its natural state. The only thing left to see is a bay which approximates to the famous shoreline where the ANZACs came ashore at Gallipoli. The section of the coastline is now named Gallipoli Beach.

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