Port Hacking is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n estuary

Estuary

An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....

, located in Southern

Southern Sydney

This article refers to an area the same as a combination of St George and SutherlandSouthern Sydney is a general term which is used to describe the southern metropolitan area of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia....

 Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 and fed by the Hacking River

Hacking River

The Hacking River is a stream in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It rises near the Princes Highway west of Stanwell Tops, and flows through the Royal National Park before emptying into Port Hacking...

and several smaller creeks, including Bundeena Creek and The Basin. It is a ria

Ria

A ria is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Typically, rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they can be straight and without significant branches. This pattern is inherited from the...

, a river basin which has become submerged by the sea. The local aboriginal people

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 call the estuary Deeban.

History

Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders

Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...

 and George Bass

George Bass

George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.-Early years:He was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah Nee Newman. His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6...

 (with Bass's servant William Martin) explored there in early April 1796. They called it Port Hacking after Henry Hacking who was the principal game hunter in the colony and who first told them of a large river he had seen inland on kangaroo

Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...

 hunting expeditions.

Henry Hacking (1750–1831), was the quartermaster on Governor Phillip’s HMS Sirius

HMS Sirius (1786)

HMS Sirius was the flagship of the First Fleet, which set out from Portsmouth, England, in 1787 to establish the first European colony in New South Wales, Australia. Sirius was wrecked off the coast of Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean in 1790....

, part of the First Fleet

First Fleet

The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

. Hacking became a skilled, adventurous bushman, who led many hunting expeditions to supplement meat rations for Australia’s first settlers. He was amongst the party that found the lost government cattle at Cowpastures in 1795.

The northern headland, located at Cronulla

Cronulla, New South Wales

Cronulla is a beachside suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Sutherland Shire....

 is called Bass and Flinders Point.

Description

Port Hacking effectively forms the southern boundary of Sydney's suburban sprawl. Working inland from the sea, the indented north bank of Port Hacking is formed by the suburbs of Cronulla

Cronulla, New South Wales

Cronulla is a beachside suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Sutherland Shire....

, Woolooware

Woolooware, New South Wales

Woolooware is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woolooware is located south of the Sydney central business district in the Sutherland Shire. It shares the 2230 postcode with Cronulla....

, Burraneer

Burraneer, New South Wales

Burraneer is a small suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Burraneer is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire....

, Caringbah

Caringbah, New South Wales

Caringbah is a suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Caringbah is located 24 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Sutherland Shire...

, Dolans Bay

Dolans Bay, New South Wales

Dolans Bay is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dolans Bay is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire....

, Port Hacking

Port Hacking, New South Wales

Port Hacking is a small suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Port Hacking is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire...

, Lilli Pilli

Lilli Pilli, New South Wales

Lilli Pilli is a small suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lilli Pilli is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire...

, Yowie Bay

Yowie Bay, New South Wales

Yowie Bay is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Yowie Bay is located 24 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire....

, Miranda

Miranda, New South Wales

Miranda is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Miranda is located 24 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the Sutherland Shire....

, Gymea Bay

Gymea Bay, New South Wales

Gymea Bay is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Gymea Bay is located 27 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire...

 and Grays Point

Grays Point, New South Wales

Grays Point is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Grays Point is located 29 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire....

. The southern bank is largely undeveloped land within the Royal National Park

Royal National Park

Royal National Park is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 29 km south of Sydney CBD.Founded by Sir John Robertson, Acting Premier of New South Wales, and formally proclaimed on 26 April 1879, it is the world's second oldest purposed national park, the first usage of the term...

, although the small communities of Bundeena

Bundeena, New South Wales

Bundeena is a village on the outskirts of southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bundeena is located 29km south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the Sutherland Shire....

 and Maianbar

Maianbar, New South Wales

Maianbar is a village on the outskirts of southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Maianbar is located 29 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Sutherland Shire....

 are found there. Warumbul

Warumbul, New South Wales

Warumbul is a locality in the Royal National Park on the outskirts of southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Warumbul is located about 1.5 km southwest of Lilli Pilli on the southern side of Port Hacking....

 and Gundamaian

Gundamaian, New South Wales

Gundamaian is a locality in the Royal National Park on the outskirts of southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located about 2.5 km southeast of Gymea Bay on the southern side of Port Hacking....

 are other localities on the southern bank, in the Royal National Park. Cronulla and National Park Ferry

Cronulla and National Park Ferry

Cronulla and National Park Ferry Cruises provides regular ferry services between Cronulla and Bundeena, in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The company also operates scenic cruises around Port Hacking....

 Cruises operates a regular passenger ferry service that crosses Port Hacking, connecting Cronulla and its railway station to Bundeena. They also operate cruises along Port Hacking that depart from Cronulla.

Port Hacking is a drowned river valley, with a water surface area of 11 km². With very little industrial and no agricultural inputs, the water quality is categorised as 'extremely good', and the extensive inter-tidal shoals provide opportunity for wading birds.

Port Hacking is a popular recreational area, where many activities can be enjoyed such as swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

, 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....

 and boating

Boating

Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or water skiing...

. The estuary and bays are used for watersports such as wakeboarding

Wakeboarding

Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water. It was developed from a combination of water skiing, snow boarding and surfing techniques....

 and water skiing

Water skiing

thumb|right|A slalom skier making a turn on a slalom waterski.Waterskiing is a sport where an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water, skimming the surface.-History:...

and Scuba driving.