Grand Visions for Jervis Bay

Grand Visions for Jervis Bay is a 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.

A Port to Rival Sydney
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, several proposals for new urban developments were designed and, if they had been successful, would have had resulted in a port to rival Sydney.

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

• First, the Sydney merchants, seeing their livelihood threatened, ran a campaign against the developments in South Huskisson.
• Second, because wool production was severely affected 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.
• Third, 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.

A Port for Canberra
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. 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 to be built on the shores of Jervis Bay.

In 1917, Henry Halloran advertised a second tract of land for sale in St Vincent City in the area called Jervis Bay City (Callala). Callala Beach was 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.

An Industrial Port
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, was planning the development of a 500 megawatt Nuclear Power Station at Murray's Beach.

The plans for the Nuclear Power Station and steelworks were secretly commissioned and only came to the attendion of media and locals when a secret report was leaked. This secrecy alarmed the environmental movement including some of the members 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.

Naval Port: Competing Visions - Conflicting Space
In 1985 the Department of Defence developed plans to massively increase the Navy's presence and activities in Jervis Bay. Two proposals were developed to move the Newington armaments depot and build a wharf to transfer weapons on and off warships.

The first proposal was in 1985, for a wharf to be built on Green Point. The second proposal came iin 1993 with another wharf off Cabbage Tree Point. This second proposal was intended to free up the Newington site for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Three locations were selected for the fleet base, each requiring extensive work, which included dredging and the building of long breakwaters. The Navy favoured the land between Murray's beach and Bristol Point, with the shallow waters between Hole-in-the-Wall and Bristol Point being reclaimed for waterfront buildings and wharves.

The Department of Defence's developments were strongly endorsed by the majority of the local councillors, who campaigned to sway the "silent majority" to counter the growing opposition of an effective citizens action group.

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:-

• To establish a marine park in Jervis Bay
• To oppose the development of large scale heavy industry
• To oppose the development of large scale scallop dredging on the marine environment

The Department of Defence and the Protection Committee's visions for the future of Jervis Bay conflicted, 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 proposal.

A vigorous campaign to "Save the Bay" was launched against the Department of Defence's proposal. The effectiveness of the protest groups eventually lead to the abandonment of the plans to move the fleet base to Jervis Bay.

A Vision of Conservation
In 1988, Jervis Bay National Park was declared over the Bherwerre Peninsula in the Jervis Bay Territory. In 1995, the Park was transferred to the ownership of the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community, to be jointly managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The Park was then renamed Booderee National Park.

In 1998, Jervis Bay Marine Park was declared over the waters of the Bay. In 2002, sewage disposal into the Bay ceased with effluent being instead piped to the storage for use on local dairy farms.

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