Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01818:front:0:p130
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01818
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 373623–376580

crafts, and in the respect for country. Through strong family ties, Koori people of Wreck Bay have maintained their traditional association with the area by passing on the ancestral stories and creation stories relating to the area. Parents recite such stories today to their children.

The place contains a large number of prehistoric Aboriginal sites. Rock shelters, stone-flaking sites and axe-sharpening grooves and shell middens demonstrate the length of Aboriginal occupation of the area. Ceremonial BUNAAN or BORA grounds, used for initiation, are known only from the immediate hinterland of Wreck Bay, and nearly all known grinding groove sites are in the catchments of Mary and Summercloud Bays. These sites demonstrate past cultural practices and are important to the Wreck Bay community.

The fish bones and fishing implements in the middens document changing fishing practices over the last 3,000 years. There is a concentration of middens towards the eastern end of Wreck Bay. The high density of midden sites in this area reflects the preferred fishing zones of the present community demonstrating a continuity of use despite changing lifestyles. The continuing importance of marine resources to the Wreck Bay Community is also reflected in their choice of Booderee, an Aboriginal word from the Dhurga language meaning 'bay of plenty' or 'plenty of fish', as the name for the jointly managed National Park.

The clear waters of Jervis Bay Territory support substantial beds of seagrass strapweed (Posidonia australis) west of Bowen Island and along the northern shore of Bherwerre Peninsula. The beds are significant in terms of macroinvertebrate species richness and provide a valuable nursery, spawning ground and feeding ground for many fish species.

The bay itself is an unusual geological formation, formed by downfolding of the earth's crust and subsequent flooding as sea levels rose. This is in marked contrast to other bays of comparable size in eastern Australia, which were formed by the flooding of river valleys. The coastline of Jervis Bay Territory is noted for the variety of marine environments, including the highest sea cliffs found along the New South Wales coast (135m at Steamers Beach), sea caves, vertical gutters, intertidal rock platforms, deepwater seagrass beds and sub littoral rocky reefs.

The Jervis Bay Territory supports a high number of significant fauna species, including the nationally endangered eastern bristle bird (Dasyornis brachypterus), Gould's petrel (Pterodroma leucoptera leucoptera) and the nationally vulnerable giant burrowing frog (Heleioporus australiacus).

The Wreck Bay Settlement was established by Koori initiatives in the early 1900s. They favoured the area because of strong traditional and cultural ties, its closeness to both the bush and the sea for collection of food and other resources, and its distance from non-Aboriginal settlements. The settlement, the graveyard and other