Twofold Bay - History

History

The original inhabitants of the area surrounding Twofold Bay were Aborigines of the Thaua clan of the Yuin nation. The first recorded visit to the bay by a European was by George Bass. Bass' diaries show that he noted the bay on the south-bound leg of a voyage to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in December 1797 and took shelter in it on the return journey in February 1798 . Bass named the place where he sheltered "Snug Cove", a name by which the bay is still known .

On 7 October 1798 Bass and Matthew Flinders set out from Port Jackson in the Norfolk on a voyage to determine whether or not Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania) was attached to the mainland of Australia. Accompanying them on this voyage was the Nautilus. Two days later a survey of Twofold Bay was commenced. This very accurate survey has required little subsequent modification apart from the addition of water depths and of shore-to-shore distances between important landmarks . They also made their first contact with the local Thaua people .

The bay is mentioned in the logs of many ships which sheltered in it from the storms battering that part of the New South Wales coastline. Some of these ships were shipwrecked in the bay including the Mary (1821) and the Sophia (1825).

Quarantine Bay, 3km south of Eden, is so named because a sailing ship with a smallpox epidemic amongst the people on board took refuge in this (then) isolated area. Many people died and were buried on shore in a communal grave.

In 1843 Benjamin Boyd purchased land in Twofold Bay with the aim of transporting cattle from the district . Soon afterwards he started to build the Seahorse Inn adjacent to what is now called Boydtown Beach. Boydtown Beach lies on the western shore of Twofold Bay just south of the entrance to the Nullica River, which is located at the southern end of Quarantine Bay. The Seahorse Inn is still used for tourist accommodation. Nearby are the ruins of the church which Ben Boyd had constructed.