Wreck Bay Village, formerly Wreck Bay Aboriginal Reserve, is an Aboriginal village in the

Jervis Bay Territory The Jervis Bay Territory (; "JBT") is an internal states and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. It was established in 1915 by the transfer of jurisdiction from the state of New South Wales to the federal Commonwealth of Australia ...

, Australia. At the 2021 census the population was 152. It is mainly an

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

community, run by the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council.

Geography

Wreck Bay Village is at the northeast corner of Wreck Bay between the small

cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

s called

Mary Bay Hydrothermal explosions occur when superheated water trapped below the surface of the Earth rapidly converts from liquid to steam, violently disrupting the confining rock. Boiling water, steam, mud, and rock fragments are ejected over an area of ...

and Summercloud Bay. It is in the south of the territory. It is about south of

Jervis Bay Airfield Jervis Bay Airfield is a military aerodrome in the Jervis Bay Territory in Australia. It is the only aerodrome in the territory and is located about east of Sussex Inlet, New South Wales, Sussex Inlet; and about south of Jervis Bay Village, J ...

and by road from

Jervis Bay Village Jervis Bay Village is a village in the Jervis Bay Territory, Australia. HMAS ''Creswell'' Royal Australian Navy base is located in the village. Apart from the navy base there is an Aboriginal community in the village. It is the largest settleme ...

History

The first European settlement around Jervis Bay started in the early 1880s. Wreck Bay forms part of the Jervis Bay Territory, which became Commonwealth territory in 1915 so that the national government based in Canberra could have access to the sea. Wreck Bay is so called because the waves are generally quite high and it is easy for a ship to be destroyed.

Aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

started a small settlement at Summercloud Bay around the early 1900s. They favoured the area because of strong cultural ties, its closeness to both the bush and the sea for collection of food and other sources and because of its distance from European settlements. This area later became an

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...

known as the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Reserve that was put under control of a mission manager. The decision to create this permanent settlement has enabled cultural practices to survive. The of land was officially handed to the Aboriginal community in 1995 by the Australian Government, including

Booderee National Park and Botanic Gardens Booderee National Park and Botanic Gardens, formerly Jervis Bay National Park and Jervis Bay Botanic Gardens, are located in the Jervis Bay Territory of Australia. The reserve is composed of two sections: * the Bherwerre Peninsula, on the souther ...

. In 2021

Nikita Ridgeway Nikita Ridgeway (born 1986) is a Bundjalung/ Biripi graphic designer from Australia, who was awarded the a BBC 100 Women Award in 2015 in recognition of her entrepreneurial work and advocacy for Aboriginal graphic design. Biography Ridgeway wa ...

created indigenous artwork used to decorate two fire trucks used by Wreck Bay (Australia) Rural Fire Brigade. The brigade is owned and managed by the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council.

Booderee

The Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community owns and co-manages (with

Parks Australia Director of National Parks is a Commonwealth corporate entity responsible for the management of a portfolio of terrestrial and marine protected areas proclaimed under the ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (''EP ...

), the

. It includes Australia's only Aboriginal-owned and managed

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

Current status

The Wreck Bay Village is now private land and no public access is available.

References

Indigenous Australian communities {{NewSouthWales-geo-stub Towns and villages in the Jervis Bay Territory