There are many middens and rock shelters which indicate that Aborigines have been living in the area for at least 20 000 years. Given that the Bay is thought to have been formed only 11 000 years ago, after the last ice age, it is likely that the Aborigines have been there from the beginning.
It is a comment on the continuity of Aboriginal settlement that one community still lives in a protected area near Wreck Bay on the southern peninsula and the Jerringa people still live in an unprotected area on the northern peninsula.
The archaeological evidence indicates that the original inhabitants moved regularly from place to place within the area. They tended to camp in the open on headlands or along the beaches, though sometimes in more secluded rock shelters.
A few eucalypt trees in the area still bear ancient scars from those occasions when bark was stripped for shelters and canoes. Their diet consisted of shellfish, fish from the estuaries and small marsupials, penguins and mutton birds from excursions to Bowen Island. Tools for cutting, chopping, scraping, sewing and killing were made of Captain Cook sighted the Bay in April 1770 while sailing north along the coast. In his diary he wrote of a 'point of land which I had discovered on St George's Day, and which therefore I called Cape George' [Cape St George].
While in the vicinity Cook noted 'smoke in several places near the beach'. Arriving at the Bay he recorded that it 'promised shelter from the north east winds, but as the wind was with us, it was not in my power to look into it without beating up, which would have cost me more time than I was willing to spare'. He named the northern point of the bay 'Long Nose', the whole resembling a face in profile.
The bay became 'Jervis Bay' in August 1791 when Lieutenant Richard Bowen, named it Port Jervis after naval officer and, later, admiral of the British fleet, Sir John Jervis under whom Bowen had served.
Whalers from Twofold Bay began to frequent Jervis Bay in the 1790s using it for anchorage. In 1801 naturalist and explorer George Caley arrived aboard Lieutenant James Grant's Lady Nelson and between them they made favorable reports of the flora, fauna and safety of the harbour.
Governor Macquarie landed on Bowen Island in 1811 and subsequently recommended a settlement at the Bay. In 1818, he sent explorers Charles Throsby and Hamilton Hume to seek a route from the southern tablelands to Jervis Bay. Throsby completed the journey. In 1819 the surveyor-general John Oxley sailed to the Bay. He reported that there was not 'the smallest inducement for the foundation of a Settlement on its shores, being ... for the most part Barren and generally deficient in Water'.
The first land grants were issued in 1827. It was the cedar in the area that provided the initial industry though dairying soon developed. When wool prices soared at the outset of the 1840s Governor Gipps sent 70 convicts to cut a track that has become known as The Wool Road from Braidwood to the Bay so that wool could be shipped to Sydney. As a result there was great optimism about the future of the district, and the settlement of Huskisson was established on the western shore of the Bay in 1840. A hotel, wharf and wool store were soon erected at South Huskisson and wool shipments were made to Sydney and London. Coastal steamers and whaling ships were regular visitors.
The combination of projecting headlands, steep cliffs, rocky shoreline, currents and strong easterly winds proved a hazard to sailing vessels. Cape St George Lighthouse was constructed in 1860. However it was erected at the wrong spot, several kilometres north of Cape St George. As a result it was imperceptible to ships coming from the south and, ironically, proved a navigational hazard by day. Consequently, Point Perpendicular Lighthouse was built at the southern tip of the northern peninsula in 1899 and the earlier structure was used as target practice by the Navy. The ruins of the base, part of the tower and the outbuildings remain.
There have been a number of shipwrecks around Jervis Bay over the years. The first to be recorded was the 20-ton sloop Nancy in 1805, at the cost of one life. In 1876 40 men died when the steamer Dandenong went down. In 1927 the wreck of the SS Merimbula marked the end of passenger services by sea along the south coast. Most dramatically of all, in 1964, the HMAS Melbourne collided with the HMAS Voyager in 1964 during a naval exercise and 82 men were killed.
After Federation occurred in 1901 plans were set in motion to create a city (ultimately Canberra) within an independent territory (the ACT) wherein the new Federal Government could sit. The subsequent Seat of Government Act (1908) declared that access to the sea was imperative. Thus 7400 hectares of land at the southern end of Jervis Bay were officially handed over from the NSW to the Commonwealth Government to be developed as a port and naval base. Work began in 1913 and, in 1915, the Royal Australian Naval College opened at Captain Point under Federal administration as HMAS Creswell. The Royal Australian Naval College no longer exists as it was absorbed into the Australian Defence Force Academy but some officer training still occurs at Jervis Bay. A majority of the original buildings remain.
Adventurer Sir Francis Chichester, who later became the first person to sail around the world single-handed, landed his aeroplane in Jervis Bay in 1931 at the end of what was the first east-west flight over the Tasman Sea from New Zealand to Australia.
The Wreck Bay area was designated a reserve in 1928 but, by the time it was gazetted in 1952, the extent of the reserve had shrunk considerably. In 1971 two-thirds of the Territory (4470 hectares) was declared a natural reserve. Five years later the whole was classified by the National Trust of Australia in recognition of its conservation, scenic, scientific, historical and recreational value. Cape St George Lighthouse, Bowen Island and HMAS Creswell have been included on the Register of the National Estate.
Today the National Park attracts nearly a million visitors a year. In December 1995 it was handed over to the Wreck Bay Aboriginal community as part of the reconciliation process. The agreement saw the land leased back to the Federal Government for 99 years in return for a share of the income the park generates and a majority presence on the management board. The current occupants are all descended from or related to the original inhabitants. Many of the sites are of great significance to them, especially the Reserve Cemetery, fishing spots at Summercloud Bay and Mary Bay, as well as traditional lookouts, meeting places and camping areas. As part of the process the name of the reserve has been changed from Jervis Bay National Park to Booderee National Park
If you want to fully explore the entire coastline around the Bay it is important to realise that the land which surrounds it is actually cut by Currambene Creek which reaches the shores of Jervis Bay just north of Huskisson.
Access to the southern section is via Jervis Bay Road, 10 km south of Nowra. To go from Huskisson to Myola - the next beach north - you have to either swim across the creek or drive back to the Highway and head north, taking Currarong Road through Currambene State Forest, or return to Nowra and take the sealed road east and then turn south.
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