Towra Point

The Towra Point Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve that is located in Sutherland Shire, southern Sydney, New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The reserve is situated on the southern shores of Botany Bay at Kurnell, within the Sutherland Shire. The reserve is protected under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance as an important breeding ground for many vulnerable, protected, or endangered species. The Towra Point Aquatic Nature Reserve is located in the surrounding waterways.

History

Kurnell was inhabited by the Dharawal people, and there are three middens and one relic that still remain today at the Towra Point Nature Reserve.

Captain Cook mapped Botany Bay when he landed in 1770, including Towra Point. Early European colonialists ran horses and cattle on Towra Point, despite the poor condition of the land for such a purpose. In 1827, "Towra Point" and "Towra Bay" were recorded as local names by the surveyor Robert Dixon. Another name known for the area was "Stinkpot Bay". In 1861, Thomas Holt bought Towra Point, and divided it into paddocks for grazing or growing corn. Sheep grazing was particularly disastrous, and many thousands of sheep died of footrot and are buried at Towra Point. In the late 1870s, Thomas Holt began oyster farming at Weeney Bay in Towra Point. In 1935, the Parks and Playgrounds Movement of NSW opposed an application to mine for shell at Towra Point. During World War II, a radar station was established, and a causeway built. In 1946, Towra Point was considered as a location for a second Sydney airport.

In the 1960s, movement began to preserve Towra Point led initially by the President of Sutherland Shire, Arthur Gietzelt, and Tom Uren, the then Federal Minister for Urban Affairs. In 1965 Ian Griffith, state MP for Cronulla, praised the idea, but was met by community backlash. In March 1969, the then Prime Minister, John Gorton ruled out Towra Point as a potential site for a second airport, citing community noise problems. The opening to Botany Bay was dredged in the 1970s to assist shipping, but this refracted the wave patterns in the bay, focusing them on Towra Point, causing erosion. The building of the revetment wall in Port Botany was also thought to contribute to the changed wave patterns. In 1974 and 1975, the waves off Towra were so strong that teens surfed there.

Following lobbying by Ray Thorburn, the reserve was bought by the Government of Australia in 1975, attempting to fulfil obligations to JAMBA, which would come into force in April 1981. This was the first time that the Australian Government had bought land for nature conservation purposes within a state. On 10 September 1979 the oil tanker ''World Encouragement'' spilled approximately of crude oil into Botany Bay. Mangroves at Quibray Bay, Weeney Bay and Towra Point were impacted – of mangroves were affected, and died.

In 1981, another oil spill occurred at the Matraville refinery, causing more damage to the mangroves. In 1982, Towra Point was officially made a nature reserve. In 1983 Towra was suffering from erosion – the Elephant's Trunk, a peninsula of Towra had shrunk to 3 metres wide. The seagrasses were also being eaten by sea-urchins – the population had exploded from 20,000 per hectare in 1979 to 80,000 by 1983. It was declared a Ramsar site