Encounter Bay

Encounter Bay from Port Elliot, South Australia

Encounter Bay is located on the south central coast of South Australia, some 100 km south of Adelaide, South Australia. It is named after the encounter on 8 April 1802 between Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin, both of whom were charting the Australian coastline for their respective countries (Britain and France). The encounter between the scientists was peaceful, even though their countries were at war at the time.

Traditionally the land of the Ramindjeri clan of the Ngarrindjeri people, the bay is a wide curve of coastline extending from Newland Head along the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula and southeast to Cape Jaffa, a distance of 180 km. Settlements along the bay include Victor Harbor, Port Elliot, Middleton, Goolwa and Kingston SE. The Murray, Inman and Hindmarsh Rivers drain into the bay, and a long stretch of the shore south of the Murray Mouth borders the Coorong National Park.

References

• Hodge, Charles Reynolds, Encounter Bay, the miniature Naples of Australia : a short history of the romantic south coast of South Australia, Adelaide, 1932, Reprinted Hampstead Gardens, S.A. : Austaprint, 1979, ISBN 0-85872-320-4.

Coordinates: 35°35′S 138°44′E / 35.583°S 138.733°E / -35.583; 138.733