The Gymea Bay is a

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 upper estuarine

Port Hacking Port Hacking Estuary ( Aboriginal Tharawal language: ''Deeban''), an open youthful tide dominated, drowned valley estuary, is located in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia approximately south of Sydney central business district. Po ...

River, fed by the Coonong Creek in

southern Sydney Southern Sydney, also commonly referred to as the Southern suburbs, is the southern metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Southern Sydney is a title for the regions and neighbourhoods which fall dire ...

, in the state of New South Wales, Australia

Location and features

The bay, the locality, suburb of and the adjacent suburb of Gymea, were named after the

Gymea Lily ''Doryanthes excelsa'', commonly known as the gymea lily, is a flowering plant in the Family (biology), family Doryanthaceae that is Endemism, endemic to coastal areas of New South Wales near Sydney. It has sword-like leaves more than long an ...

''Doryanthes excelsa'', a tall perennial (up to 6m) that is prevalent in the area. The plant was called "Gymea" by the local

Eora The Eora (; also ''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as ...

people and became the inspiration for the suburb's name, by government surveyor W.A.B. Geaves in 1855. The Gymea Lily has been adopted as a symbol of the area and features on the crest of many local organisations. Development in the area has eradicated most of these lilies but some can still be found, a few kilometres south in the

Royal National Park The Royal National Park is a state park, protected national park that is located in the Sutherland Shire local government area in Southern Sydney and in the City of Wollongong local government area in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Au ...

Recreation

Gymea Bay is home to the heritage-listed Gymea Bay Baths, at the shore of Gymea Bay Baths Reserve at the intersection of Gymea Bay Road and Ellesmere Road. Gymea Bay Amateur Swimming Club has been using the baths for over 40 years. The bay and Port Hacking estuary are used extensively for watersports such as

wakeboarding Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboarding ...

and

water skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on one or two skis. The sport requires sufficien ...

Gallery

References

Bays of New South Wales {{Sydney-geo-stub