COFFIN BAY YOUR FREE VISITOR GUIDE SOUTH AUSTRALIA 2015 Visit our interactive guide at coffinbay.yourvisitorguide.com.au CONTENTS welcome 3 enjoy coffin bay 4 history of old oystertown 6 oysters in coffin bay 8 history of the oyster walk 9 walks and hikes 10 national parks 12 must see and do 14 fishing 16 our neighbours 19 town map 20 district map 22 things to do and see 24 shopping, dining and services 26 facilities 29 accommodation 30 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We gratefully acknowledge the images supplied by Ian Berry Photography and Axel Stenross Maritime Museum. Designed and published by WOOF Media, Port Lincoln, for and on behalf of Coffin Bay Tourist Association. 2014 © Copyright Coffin Bay Tourist Association. unless otherwise marked. Disclaimer: All information contained in this publication was correct at the time of printing. All advertisements are accepted on the basis that their contents are true and accurate and that they are in no way misleading or otherwise contrary to the Trades Practices Act 1974, or the Fair Trading Act (SA). Coffin Bay Tourist Association and WOOF Media do not accept any liability to any person claiming they have been misled or deceived by any material contained herein. 2 WELCOME WELCOME TO COFFIN BAY Our idyllic town of Coffin Bay, surrounded catches, including crayfish, pilchards, by sea and National Parks, overlooks the ocean jackets and sharks. There are also pristine waters of Port Douglas, which professional fishermen and abalone divers is part of an extensive bay system that operating from the boat ramps. Their includes Little Douglas, Mount Dutton, catches include octopus, sea urchins, sea Kellidie, Yangie and Coffin Bays. In these snails, scallops, sand crabs, abalone, King bays you will see numerous pods of George whiting and garfish. At the main dolphins whilst some of the islands are boat ramp you will also see the oyster home to seals and sea lions plus many boats returning with baskets of the famous breeding seabirds. Occasionally you may Coffin Bay oysters from the many oyster even see a penguin. leases within the bay system. Situated on the western tip of Southern As the open ocean lies 25 nautical miles Eyre Peninsula, Coffin Bay is 46 kilometres from the main wharf, the many protected by road northwest of Port Lincoln. It bays, channels and inlets offer ideal boasts a steady growth in population and opportunities for fishing and all water industry (aquaculture), with a permanent activities. population of approximately 650, which You are welcome to take this guide with swells to over 4,000 in the summer you and if you would like to show family months. and friends where you have been, feel free Coffin Bay has an active commercial to take extra copies and enjoy your stay in wharf in the town centre where you can idyllic Coffin Bay. watch the fishing boats unload their 3 ENJOY COFFIN BAY COFFIN BAY IN A NUTSHELL Coffin Bay has all the facilities for you and your family to enjoy nature at its best. Activities on the water General facilities Enjoy fabulous fishing (boat, beach, rock, There are two general stores (food, jetty), boating, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, petrol, ice, bait, ATMs, etc), post office, surfing, water skiing, paddle boarding, motor mechanic, two bottle shops, hotel, swimming, snorkeling, diving, windsurfing, chemist, Community Health Centre, in fact all water sports. Doctors clinic, hairdresser, pizza and home - made food shop and a community Activities on the land church. There are walking trails with fabulous scenery, mini golf, playgrounds, free A meal out perhaps? public BBQs, oval with cricket pitch, You will be welcome at both the yacht tennis and basketball courts (key and nets club and the sports club for meals. The available from the general store), BMX yacht club is open on Wednesday, Friday track, lawn bowls, indoor bowls or join the and Sunday evenings and the sports kangaroos and emus for a round of golf club opens on Sunday evenings. The on the picturesque nine hole golf course. Coffin Bay Hotel and Oyster Bar are great hospitality options and are open most Sun showstopper days/evenings. If you don’t feel active, then just sit back and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of Indoor entertainment options Coffin Bay - be sure to take in one of our In the local hall indoor bowls is held spectacular sunrises or sunsets. on Friday afternoon; the library is open Saturday mornings and markets held twice monthly on Sundays. 4 Day trips in the region How to get there There are also plenty of half day trips Coffin Bay is almost a 700 km drive that you can enjoy to such places as from Adelaide via Port Augusta or a Coffin Bay National Park, Kellidie Bay, daily 45 minute flight from Adelaide to Wangary, Mount Dutton Bay, Farm Beach, Port Lincoln Airport. REX Airlines and Little Douglas, Gallipoli Beach (site of Qantaslink fly regular flights to Port the filming of Gallipoli with Mel Gibson), Lincoln at competitive prices. Most major Frenchmans, Coles Point, Greenly Beach, car rental companies have vehicles that Port Lincoln, Cummins, Todd Reservoir, can be picked up at Port Lincoln airport, the animal farm, tuna farms, museums, which is a 35 minute drive to Coffin Bay. wineries, etc. with full day trips to Point Sir Isaac (4WD only), Lincoln National Park, Coffin Bay’s weather Whalers Way, Halls Bay, Lake Hamilton, Coffin Bay experiences a delightful Sheringa, Locks Well, Elliston, Talia Caves, Mediterranean climate with summers in Venus Bay and many more. the high 20ºs, lovely autumns, ranging from high teens to mid 20ºs. Where to stay Winter temperatures are in the mid- There are many types of accommodation teens, while spring is generally sunny available from motel to various standards with some afternoons being quite breezy, of apartments/holiday homes to the temperatures ranging from high teens to caravan park and quaint holiday shacks low 20ºs. on the foreshore. Refer pages 30-39. Average rainfall is about 500mm, falling mainly during the winter months. 5 HISTORY OF OLD OYSTERTOWN It is widely believed that in the year 1849 were then bedded down, live, in the there were up to thirty cutters dredging waters of Kellidie Bay until market day, native Angasi oysters in the bays near held every fortnight, when Oystertown Kellidie Bay. This settlement soon became would became a hive of activity. known as Oystertown. Up to thirty bullock wagons from Port This small town was established rather Lincoln, each drawn by four or six quickly. Huts were constructed for the bullocks, two abreast, would travel the fishermen and their families who brought 48kms to Oystertown. Loaded with up various animals and other necessities, to 25 bags of oysters, each bag holding needed for their survival. approximately 350 oysters, the wagons would then return to Port Lincoln with The oyster fishermen of Oystertown the oysters for local consumption and worked all day long, most days until shipment to Port Adelaide, to feed dusk, cleaning the oysters of the foreign consumers in the new city of Adelaide. matter that grew on their shells, probably discarding them on shore. The oysters 6 HISTORY OF OLD OYSTERTOWN Sadly, as a result of over fishing, the and grow. In addition to this, spat oyster fishery faced an official closure for passing through the dredge would likely seven out of nine years between 1882 and have been covered and smothered in 1891, probably contributing to the likely dredge silt. These two issues could have end date to this semi-permanent small contributed to the sudden decline in the settlement. native oyster population. It is unclear why this native Angasi oyster Oystertown has left little evidence of its never recovered. Some marine biologists existence in the 1840’s, and the land is suggest a probable cause is that the now part of the Kellidie Bay Conservation fisherman may not have returned their Park. There are currently two modern dead oyster shells to the sea, as they shacks situated on the site where would only dredge them up next time, Oystertown once existed. and they probably discarded them on In 2009 the Oyster Walk was extended shore. In natural events, dead shells on to Old Oystertown. Refer Oyster Walk on the ocean floor would provide a solid town map, page 20-21. surface for young oyster spat to attach 7 OYSTERS IN COFFIN BAY The oyster industry in South Australia grown on them. The majority of the leases started not long after the colony was first are situated 15 kilometres from the town established, when native oysters were of Coffin Bay on the sand banks south dredged from various bays around the of Point Longnose in the waters of Port state and shipped to Adelaide to be kept Douglas. Up to 40 oyster boats can be in beds adjacent to hotels, and then sold seen plying the waterways each day with to the public. approximately 100 people being employed either on the leases or on shore in the In 1849 the price in Adelaide for a dozen sorting sheds. Coffin Bay oysters was one shilling and sixpence. By 1870 thirty sailing vessels Oysters start their lives in hatcheries and were dredging for native oysters in the oyster farmers buy their spat (or seed) from Coffin Bay area. However, over-fishing the hatcheries. Each oyster at this stage is caused a decline in catches and by 1890 four to six millimetres long and a million the fishery had all but ceased. Following seeds only weigh 20kg. In a good year this the demise of the oyster fishery, attempts seed can increase to weigh 100 tonnes.