Encounter Bay is on the south central coast of South Australia, some 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Adelaide, South Australia. It is named after the encounter on 8 April 1802 between Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin, both of whom were charting the Australian coastline for their respective countries (Britain and France). The encounter between the scientists was peaceful, even though their countries were at war at the time.
Traditionally the land of the Ramindjeri clan of the Ngarrindjeri people, the bay is a wide curve of coastline extending from Newland Head along the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula and southeast to Cape Jaffa, a distance of 180 km. Settlements along the bay include Victor Harbor, Port Elliot, Middleton, Goolwa and Kingston SE. The Murray, Inman and Hindmarsh Rivers drain into the bay, and a long stretch of the shore south of the Murray Mouth borders the Coorong National Park.
Famous quotes containing the words encounter and/or bay:
“Whenever we encounter the Infinite in man, however imperfectly understood, we treat it with respect. Whether in the synagogue, the mosque, the pagoda, or the wigwam, there is a hideous aspect which we execrate and a sublime aspect which we venerate. So great a subject for spiritual contemplation, such measureless dreaming—the echo of God on the human wall!”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“The very dogs that sullenly bay the moon from farm-yards in these nights excite more heroism in our breasts than all the civil exhortations or war sermons of the age.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)