Smoky Bay, South Australia

Smoky Bay is a small town on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Accessible is the place that is 40 kilometers southeast of Ceduna and 60 kilometers north of Streaky Bay, on the Flinders Highway.

History

Smoky Bay was discovered and mapped by Matthew Flinders in 1802. He named the bay after the rising smoke of the fires of Aboriginal living there. European whalers arrived there first, as lay ruins of their camps with whale bones and abandoned equipment testimony. The first permanent buildings were constructed in 1905, a post office in 1911, as well as residential buildings; a school and a hall was opened in 1909. The start of construction of a boat dock in the bay began in 1908 and it was completed in 1913. This dock was connected to the railway, but was the importance of the port in the middle of the 19th century and subsequently decreased the population and the remaining people farmed mainly with sheep breeding.

Began in 1988 in the Bay oyster farming, which has great significance for the city, along with agriculture and tourism. The city is situated on a long sandy beach that ends at the boat ramp.

Bay

In the bay 10 kilometers from the city is situated the Eyre Iceland, a small sand island. Further facilities in the bay small granitic islands where seabirds nest and toxic Tiger otters live. Some of the small islands is accessible and at low tide there are deeper lanes for boats. On the shores of the bay partially mangroves and the typical local grasses growing on the sand dunes. In the bay there are numerous bird and fish species and also the great white shark.

Economy

The port had great economic importance and this changed especially in 1988 were applied as aquaculture for oysters, now cover the more than 100 hectares of land in the Smoky Bay. The Oyster Bay will delight in South Australia, in addition to those from the Coffin Bay, very popular.

Tourism is the fastest growing sector of the economy. Growing occupancy numbers of caravan parks and sandy beaches testament to this. The tourists come for fishing, boating, swimming and snorkeling, as well as the oyster farms are an object of tourist interest. The beaches are backed by grating against shark attacks. Swimming outside the protected beaches can be risky because of the sharks. The place usually has 200 inhabitants, which increases during the summer periods of 1000. In the resort there are catering facilities, fuels, and equipment for recreational sports. A sports club is located north of the caravan park with tennis courts.

The place can be reached by buses, but also of airfields of Streaky Bay or Ceduna.