Bittangabee Bay is a tiny, picturesque

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

on the rugged and remote stretch of coastline south of Eden in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The bay is located in Beowa National Park, and there is a campground nearby. The facilities are maintained by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Merimbula office. It can be reached by an unsealed road from the Princes Highway. The bay is the only haven between Twofold Bay and Mallacoota Inlet, and passing yachts are seen anchored for the night there most evenings. It is fed by Bittangabee Creek.

History

Bittangabee Bay was significant for the indigenous people of the region, and early European settlement. Bittangabee Bay was known as 'Pertangerbee' by the original occupants of the area, the Thaua/Thawa/Thauaira people of the

Yuin The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...

( Murring) nation, who have lived there for over 6,000 years.Lighthouses of Australia Inc Bulletin 4/2004 - July/August 2004
Naa-chi (now Nadgee Nature Reserve), on the other side of Green Cape to Bittangabee Bay, is the resting-place of their

Rainbow Serpent The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the Creator deity, creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many List of Australian Aboriginal group names, different Aborigina ...

, the most important totem of most Aboriginal people. Some stone ruins near the shore of the bay date from 1844. In 1977, in his book ''The Secret Discovery of Australia'', Kenneth McIntyre suggested the ruins were of Portuguese origin, and that romantic notion quickly gained credence before it was proven incorrect by historian Michael Pearson.

References

{{Bays of New South Wales , state=autocollapse Bays of New South Wales South Coast (New South Wales)