Batemans Bay (New South Wales)

This article is about the waterbody. For the town, see Batemans Bay.

Batemans Bay
File:Batemans Bay Aerial.JPG Aerial photo, looking west, 2008.
Location	South Coast, New South Wales
Coordinates
Type	Bay
Primary inflows	Clyde River
Primary outflows	Tasman Sea, South Pacific Ocean
Catchment area	28 km2 (11 sq mi)
Basin countries	Australia
Surface area	34.5 km2 (13.3 sq mi)
Average depth	11.1 m (36 ft)
Water volume	383,484 megalitres (13,542.6×10^6 cu ft)
Frozen	never
Islands	Snapper Island, Tollgate Islands
Settlements	Batemans Bay
References

Batemans Bay is an open oceanic embayment that is located in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The bay forms the mouth of the Clyde River and its primary outflow is to the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean.

Location and features

Batemans Bay is fed by the Clyde River and its tributaries, drawing its catchment from the eastern slopes of the Budawang Range and the Great Dividing Range from within the Budawang, Clyde River, Bimberamala, and Monga national parks. Cullendulla Creek also flows into Batemans Bay, between the townships of Surfside and Longbeach, west of Square Head.

The total catchment area of the bay is approximately 28 square kilometres (11 sq mi) and the bay holds an estimated 383,484 megalitres (13,542.6×10^⁶ cu ft) of water at an average depth of 11.1 metres (36 ft). The surface area of the bay comprises 34.5 square kilometres (13.3 sq mi) and generally stretches from the confluence of the Clyde River with the bay east of the town of Batemans Bay, near Snapper Island; to its mouth with the Tasman Sea at the Tollgate Islands, located between North Head and Circuit Beach.

History

The traditional custodians of the land surrounding Batemans Bay are the Indigenous Australian Yuin people of the Walbunja clan. A number of sites surrounding the bay are considered culturally significant to the Aboriginal peoples.

On 22 April 1770, European explorer, Captain James Cook first sighted the bay when navigating his way around Australia on his ship, HMS Endeavour. Cook may have named the bay in honour of Nathaniel Bateman; the captain of HMS Northumberland at the time when Cook was serving as her master from 1760-62. Alternatively, the name was chosen in honour of John Bateman, 2nd Viscount Bateman, a former Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty in the 1750s.

See also

• List of lakes of Australia