Cockle Creek, Tasmania
Encyclopedia
Cockle Creek is a tiny settlement in Tasmania
, the farthest point south one can drive in Australia, 148 km from Hobart
via the Huon Highway
. It is located on Recherche Bay
on the edge of the Southwest National Park
, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness
World Heritage Area
.
There are no shops or other facilities in the settlement, but a campground is located in the National Park with public toilets and a public phone. The National Park Ranger's office is only staffed intermittently. Main activities are camping
, fishing
, birdwatching
and bushwalking.
Arts Tasmania with the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service
offers an artists residency program at Cockle Creek "for an individual or collaboration of practising artists working in any art form to develop their work in response to the natural environment of Tasmania."
A bronze sculpture of an infant southern right whale
and interpretive sign on a small promontory a 5 minute walk from the car park explains the area's history of settlement around bay whaling, timber getting and coal mining. Longer walks include to the Fishers Point Navigation Light and ruins of the Pilot Station and a track to South East Cape
for cliff-top views of the Southern Ocean
and Maatsuyker Island
.
valued this region for the seals, shellfish and bush hunting it provided during the warmer months, with evidence of many shell middens in the area.
French explorer, Bruni D'Entrecasteaux
sailed his two ships, the Recherche and Esperance, into the bay in 1792 and again in 1793 on a scientific and botanical expedition. He subsequently named the bay after one of his ships. In 2003 the remains of a garden planted by the French were found and a reserve was created to protect the area, and subsequent archeological sites associated with the expedition have also been located.
The region provided an important port of call for ships transporting convicts to the Sarah Island Penal Colony in Macquarie Harbour
on the West coast of Tasmania from 1822 to 1834, when sealers, whalers and loggers visited the area and settled to extract huon pine, or conduct bay whaling in Recherche Bay. During the 1830s there were 4 whaling stations at Cockle Creek. In 1836 a Pilot Station was set up on Fisher's Point, the southern headland to Recherche Bay, but was abandoned by 1851. During the 1840s the Crown granted seven leases for the establishment of bay whaling stations in Recherche Bay. But whales had been hunted with pregnant cows and calves indiscriminately slaughtered. Sperm whales and Southern right whales were the main species hunted. By the 1850s bay whaling was in fast decline with the decimation of breeding whale populations using the bay to calve and the advent of deep sea whaling.
The settlement numbered more than 2000 people at its peak with surveying for a town called Ramsgate in an advanced stage. As whaling started to decline, timber-getting became an important activity with wooden tramways transporting logs to sawmills at Cockle Creek, Catamaran and Raminea. But gradually the good timber became less accessible and coal was discovered enabling the tramways to transport coal for export by ship at Evoralls Point, just north of Cockle Creek. Eventually the coal seam dwindled, causing people to drift away.
A development of a new site plan for Cockle Creek and Recherche Bay, and the still proposed resort at Planter Beach, Cockle Creek East, was announced in March 2008.
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, the farthest point south one can drive in Australia, 148 km from Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
via the Huon Highway
Huon Highway
The Huon Highway is an highway in southern Tasmania, Australia. The highway forms part of the and connects Hobart with the southern parts of Tasmania. The original Huon Highway was a twisty two-lane road skirting around Mount Wellington, but that section of the Highway was bypassed in stages...
. It is located on Recherche Bay
Recherche Bay
Recherche Bay is located on the extreme south-eastern corner of Tasmania, Australia and was a landing place of the d’Entrecasteaux expedition to find missing explorer La Pérouse...
on the edge of the Southwest National Park
Southwest National Park
The Southwest National Park is a national park located in the south-west of Tasmania, Australia. The park is Tasmania's largest and forms part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area....
, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness
Tasmanian Wilderness
The Tasmanian Wilderness is a term that is used for a range of areas in Tasmania, Australia.The World Heritage Areas in South West, Western and Central are the most well known. However, there are also other areas in Tasmania that have the elements of being known as wilderness areas, the Tarkine...
World Heritage Area
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
.
There are no shops or other facilities in the settlement, but a campground is located in the National Park with public toilets and a public phone. The National Park Ranger's office is only staffed intermittently. Main activities are camping
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
, fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, birdwatching
Birdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
and bushwalking.
Arts Tasmania with the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service is the Tasmanian Government body responsible for the care and administration of Tasmania's National Parks and wildlife.-History:...
offers an artists residency program at Cockle Creek "for an individual or collaboration of practising artists working in any art form to develop their work in response to the natural environment of Tasmania."
Bushwalking
The area is known for its scenic beauty of deserted white beaches and turquoise waters of Recherche Bay and a variety of short and multi-day bushwalks including the end of the 82 km South Coast Track, recommended for experienced bushwalkers equipped for wilderness walking.A bronze sculpture of an infant southern right whale
Southern Right Whale
The southern right whale is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus Eubalaena. Like other right whales, the southern right whale is readily distinguished from others by the callosities on its head, a broad back without a dorsal fin, and a long arching...
and interpretive sign on a small promontory a 5 minute walk from the car park explains the area's history of settlement around bay whaling, timber getting and coal mining. Longer walks include to the Fishers Point Navigation Light and ruins of the Pilot Station and a track to South East Cape
South East Cape
South East Cape is the southernmost point of the main island of Tasmania, the southernmost state of Australia. South East Cape is located at ....
for cliff-top views of the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...
and Maatsuyker Island
Maatsuyker Island
Maatsuyker Island is a lying close to the southern end of the south-western coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is part of the Maatsuyker Island Group which is included in the Southwest National Park, and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site. It is the site of the Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse...
.
History
Tasmanian AboriginesTasmanian Aborigines
The Tasmanian Aborigines were the indigenous people of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Before British colonisation in 1803, there were an estimated 3,000–15,000 Parlevar. A number of historians point to introduced disease as the major cause of the destruction of the full-blooded...
valued this region for the seals, shellfish and bush hunting it provided during the warmer months, with evidence of many shell middens in the area.
French explorer, Bruni D'Entrecasteaux
Bruni d'Entrecasteaux
Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was a French navigator who explored the Australian coast in 1792 while seeking traces of the lost expedition of La Pérouse....
sailed his two ships, the Recherche and Esperance, into the bay in 1792 and again in 1793 on a scientific and botanical expedition. He subsequently named the bay after one of his ships. In 2003 the remains of a garden planted by the French were found and a reserve was created to protect the area, and subsequent archeological sites associated with the expedition have also been located.
The region provided an important port of call for ships transporting convicts to the Sarah Island Penal Colony in Macquarie Harbour
Macquarie Harbour
Macquarie Harbour is a large, shallow, but navigable by shallow draft vessels inlet on the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia.-History:James Kelly wrote in his narrative "First Discovery of Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour" how he sailed from Hobart in a small open five-oared whaleboat to discover...
on the West coast of Tasmania from 1822 to 1834, when sealers, whalers and loggers visited the area and settled to extract huon pine, or conduct bay whaling in Recherche Bay. During the 1830s there were 4 whaling stations at Cockle Creek. In 1836 a Pilot Station was set up on Fisher's Point, the southern headland to Recherche Bay, but was abandoned by 1851. During the 1840s the Crown granted seven leases for the establishment of bay whaling stations in Recherche Bay. But whales had been hunted with pregnant cows and calves indiscriminately slaughtered. Sperm whales and Southern right whales were the main species hunted. By the 1850s bay whaling was in fast decline with the decimation of breeding whale populations using the bay to calve and the advent of deep sea whaling.
The settlement numbered more than 2000 people at its peak with surveying for a town called Ramsgate in an advanced stage. As whaling started to decline, timber-getting became an important activity with wooden tramways transporting logs to sawmills at Cockle Creek, Catamaran and Raminea. But gradually the good timber became less accessible and coal was discovered enabling the tramways to transport coal for export by ship at Evoralls Point, just north of Cockle Creek. Eventually the coal seam dwindled, causing people to drift away.
Ecotourism development controversy
In 2004 Melbourne property developer David Marriner proposed building a $15 million eco-tourist complex at Cockle Creek East at Planter Beach within the National Park but outside the World Heritage Area which provoked some controversy. As a result of protests, the developer decided in December 2006 to pursue approval for construction of the main lodge building and carpark development on private land adjoining the National Park.A development of a new site plan for Cockle Creek and Recherche Bay, and the still proposed resort at Planter Beach, Cockle Creek East, was announced in March 2008.