Grand Visions for Jervis Bay is the newest permanent exhibition at the Lady Denman Heritage Complex. This exhibition features the largely untold story of Jervis Bay and the Grand Visions which were proposed for the development of Bay’s foreshores.

Over the past two hundred years there have been several Grand Visions to make use of the Jervis Bay harbour and establish a port, with associated urban and industrial development. Had some earlier visions been realised, the Jervis Bay we know today, with its pure white sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and abundant wildlife, would not exist.

The first vision for Jervis Bay happened during the 1840s, when the newly completed Wool Road, which ran from the Southern Tablelands to South Huskisson (Vincentia), had reduced the overland distance for wool drays from the Southern Tablelands to Sydney. In anticipation of a real estate boom on the Bay, several proposals for new urban developments were proposed and if they had of been successful would have had resulted in a port to rival Sydney.

This Grand Vision never came to pass for a number of reasons:

• Firstly the Sydney merchants, seeing their livelihood threatened, ran a campaign against the developments in South Huskisson.
• Secondly it failed because wool production was severely effected by a drought in 1843, when the price of sheep fell so low that the sheep carcasses became more valuable, which drastically depleted flock numbers.
• Thirdly the development of Nowra at Terrara saw the road redirected to the Shoalhaven river, bypassing Jervis Bay. By 1848 South Huskisson had ceased as a Grand Outlet.

The second vision for Jervis Bay was the grandest of the Grand Visions. A stipulation in the Seat of Government Act 1908 stated that Canberra must have a sea port, and Bherwerre Peninsula on Jervis Bay was acquired from New South Wales and made a Commonwealth Territory. A sea port was proposed and a rail line route was surveyed in expectation of the development of commercial wharfs, naval dockyards and other industries on Jervis Bay.

In addition to this a grand urban vision was proposed by surveyor and real estate agent Henry Halloran. Who had plans drawn up for two major cities, Pacific City and St Vincent City on Jervis Bay. In 1917 Henry Halloran, advertised a second tranche of land for sale in St Vincent City in the area called Jervis Bay City (Callala), one suburb of this City was actually planned by Walter Burley Griffin. Again the timing was wrong. These cities relied on railway connections to Canberra and Sydney which were never built because of World War l.

The third Grand Vision for Jervis Bay has been subtitled “Industrialisation by Stealth”. In 1968 the NSW Department of Decentralisation investigated a proposal which would see the development of a large steelworks at Jervis Bay, they saw the bay as a perfect location for iron and steel manufacturing.

At the same time the Federal Government under the leadership of Liberal Prime Minister John Gorton, were planning the development of a 500 megawatt Nuclear Power Station at Murrays Beach.

The plans for the Nuclear Power Station and steelworks were secretly commissioned and only came to the media and locals attention when a secret report was leaked. This secrecy alarmed the environmental movement and some of the member of the Shoalhaven Shire Council, under the presidency of John Hatton. This accelerated the emergence of the protest movement which in 1971 formed the Jervis Bay Planning and Protection Committee.

Political intrigue and stealth as well as an active environmental movement were the main causes of the failure of the industrial vision.

A conflicting Grand Vision for Jervis Bay was developed by the Jervis Bay Protection Committee, who were well supported and organised. The committee had three main objectives they wanted to achieve:

1) To establish a marine park in Jervis Bay.
2) To oppose the development of large scale heavy industry.
3) To oppose the development of large scale scallop drudging on the marine environment.

The Navy and Protection Committees visions for the future of Jervis Bay were conflicting and when the plans for the Navy armaments depot was released to the public in 1986, there was a well established entity to support concerned residents and challenge the proposals.

A vigorous campaign to “Save the Bay” was launched against the Navy. The effectiveness of the protests groups eventually lead to the abandonment of the plans to move the fleet base to Jervis Bay.