Port Davey

Port Davey
*(Poynduc)*
Port Davey; (Poynduc)
	Celery Top Islands
	Port Davey; (Poynduc) Location on the south west coast of Tasmania
Location	South Western Tasmania
Coordinates	43°19′48″S 145°54′36″E / 43.33000°S 145.91000°E
Etymology	Thomas Davey, a former Governor of Tasmania
River sources	Davey River
Ocean/sea sources	Southern Ocean
Basin countries	Australia

Port Davey is an oceanic inlet located in the south west region of Tasmania, Australia.

Port Davey was named in honour of Thomas Davey, a former Governor of Tasmania.^[1] Port Davey is contained within the Port Davey/Bathurst Harbour Marine Nature Reserve,^[2] the Melaleuca to Birchs Inlet Important Bird Area^[3] and the Southwest National Park, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The Toogee name of the port is Poynduc.^[4]

With the support of the then Premier of Tasmania, Robert Cosgrove (in office from 1939), Australian journalist Critchley Parker proposed a Jewish settlement at Port Davey in 1941.^[5]

History

The French navigator Marion du Fresne was the first European to record the inlet now called Port Davey, in March 1772. On 13 December 1798, when Flinders was off the West Coast, he mentioned Marion's small chart of the area, and tried to take the Norfolk in closer to investigate the opening marked on Marion's chart. That opening was clearly marked on Flinders' first map of "Van Diemen's Land" Published in 1800. James Kelly has always been seen as the first to discover Port Davey; however, Kelly would have seen Flinders' maps and may have had them with him.

In the 1800s, a small piners (Huon pine lumberjacks)^[6] settlement and boatyard was located on Payne Bay on Port Davey's north. The settlement remained until the 1900s when the Huon Pine trade ceased. Another temporary settlement was located at Bramble Cove behind the Breaksea Islands to serve the whaling industry in the early 1800s. Whaling ships would enter Port Davey for wood, water and vegetables and to try-out captured whales in sheltered waters. There is also evidence shore-based whaling took place at Bramble Cove in the middle of the 19th century.^[7] Nothing remains of the site except for a few huon pine headstones from an old cemetery.

The Bathurst Harbour/Port Davey area was marked on early 1800s maps as being the site for a settlement named Bathurst. The exact location of the proposed settlement varied depending on the map. Locations included Bramble Cove, Joe Page Bay below Mount Mackenzie and the Rowitta Plains. By the Victorian era, cartographers discontinued marking the settlement along with others such as Montgomery south of the Spero River, Cracroft on the Arthur Plains and Huntley in the Upper Florentine Forests west of Mount Field National Park.

The pioneer aviator Francis McClean organized and led an expedition to Port Davey to observe the May 9, 1910 solar eclipse. They suffered almost continual rain, yet a bush fire came within 1.2 metres (4 ft) of destroying their instruments and built a concrete platform for their instruments on Hixson's point. However the weather obscured the eclipse on 9 May.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Catalina PBY 5 flying boat, serial number 292, VH-BDP was the first recorded civilian aircraft to land in Port Davey on 8 July 1947, flown by John Fraser (ex RAAF pilot).^[11] It was one of 3 bought as war surplus from RAAF by J Botterill & Fraser, South Melbourne, Vic, intended to be used to carry freshly caught seafood from fishing boats in Port Davey to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Only VH-BDP commenced operations, but ceased in early 1948 and the aircraft were sold in May 1948.^[12]

Fishing boats Pacific Pride and Diane utilised Port Davey to catch seafood for sale in Hobart in 1947.^[13]

Jewish state proposal

In the late 1930s, the British Zionist League considered a number of other places where a Jewish homeland could be established. The Kimberley region (Kimberley Plan) in Australia was considered until the Curtin government (in office: 1941–1945) rejected the possibility as the Japanese threat to Darwin intensified.^[14]

In 1941, Australian journalist Critchley Parker surveyed the remote areas of southwest Tasmanian wilderness in search of a land that could eventually become a new home for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Europe.^[15] Although Critchley was not Jewish, he took the Jewish cause fervently. Some historians claim that his passion came from his love for a Jewish Australian journalist for The Age named Caroline Isaacson. Furthermore, even Tasmania's then premier Robert Cosgrove was open to the sentiment, after touring Port Davey in 1941, where he stated, "My Government accepts in principle the proposal that a settlement of Jewish migrants should be established in Tasmania".^[16]

Critchley and Isaac Steinberg, a Jewish Russian politician, planned a trip to Port Davey, before Critchley fell ill on the plane and the trip was cancelled. In early 1942, Critchley returned alone in an effort to study the area again. Critchley became positive that Tasmania was the best option for a Jewish settlement, in addition to writing many notes about it, describing the potential of industry and trade, and how it will become the "Paris of Australasia". But his death in 1942 put an end to the idea of a Jewish state in Tasmania.^[17]

According to Dr Hilary L. Rubinstein, a Jewish Australian writer, Parker "had all sorts of things in mind...gold, iron, tin, coal as well, and after those minerals had been exploited and revenue built up, the Jewish settlement could then go on to other industries...The next thing after mining would be fish canning and processing eels, crayfish, and extending even into whaling from Antarctic...Then they would go into whisky, textiles and carpet weaving...He also thought that the fashion industry could be built up with the help of French Jews."^[17]

Geography

Common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) swimming in front of a displacement hull vessel in Port Davey.

Port Davey lies between the Southern Ocean and Bathurst Harbour, which is linked by the Bathurst Channel. The inlet leads north into Payne Bay, fed by the Davey River, with Payne Bay being defined by the features of Davey Head to the west, and Mount Berry to the east. The eastern aspect from Joe Page Bay to Bathurst Harbour is sheltered from the Roaring Forties that buffet the south and west coasts of Tasmania by a narrow part of the inlet that effectively makes the land to the south a peninsula.

The north–south ranges on the peninsula's South West Cape Range and Melaleuca Range lie to the west of the Southwest Conservation Area which is a section of land excluded from the Southwest National Park that exists between Melaleuca Inlet on the south side of Bathurst Harbour and Cox Bight on the south coast.^[18]

It is the penultimate waypoint on the western part of the South Coast Walking Track that is also known as South Coast and Port Davey Tracks.

Port Davey is not populated, but for many years Deny King and family resided at Melaleuca, engaged in alluvial tin mining. Since the death of Deny King in 1991, the family retain a leasehold within the national park and is actively involved in conservation programs but is not permanently resident.^[19]

Climate

Port Davey has a cool oceanic climate with mild summers and chilly winters, with moderate to high rainfall spread throughout the year.

Climate data for Melaleuca, Port Davey (6 m AMSL; BOM 1948-1969)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	19.2 (66.6)	19.0 (66.2)	17.8 (64.0)	15.5 (59.9)	13.1 (55.6)	11.8 (53.2)	11.7 (53.1)	12.0 (53.6)	13.9 (57.0)	15.2 (59.4)	16.3 (61.3)	19.2 (66.6)	15.4 (59.7)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	9.6 (49.3)	9.5 (49.1)	8.7 (47.7)	7.7 (45.9)	6.1 (43.0)	3.9 (39.0)	3.9 (39.0)	4.6 (40.3)	5.7 (42.3)	6.2 (43.2)	7.3 (45.1)	8.6 (47.5)	6.8 (44.2)
Source: Commonwealth of Australia, Bureau of Meteorology^[20]

Climate data for Melaleuca, Port Davey (6 m AMSL; BOM 1946-2011)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average rainfall mm (inches)	135.2 (5.32)	114.6 (4.51)	151.5 (5.96)	207.7 (8.18)	234.2 (9.22)	217.5 (8.56)	238.8 (9.40)	235.7 (9.28)	200.2 (7.88)	194.6 (7.66)	154.9 (6.10)	162.3 (6.39)	2,142.5 (84.35)
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)	17.1	14.1	17.3	20.4	21.9	20.4	22.2	23.0	21.4	22.2	19.6	18.2	237.8
Source: Commonwealth of Australia, Bureau of Meteorology^[20]

Solar exposure climate data for Melaleuca, Port Davey 1990–2023
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily solar exposure (MJ/m²)	21.3	17.7	11.5	7.5	4.6	3.8	4.6	6.9	10.5	15.0	18.6	20.8	11.9
Source: Commonwealth of Australia, Bureau of Meteorology^[20]

References

^ ^a ^b "The romance of Australian place names". The Australian Women's Weekly. 27 May 1964. p. 59. Retrieved 14 October 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Port Davey/Bathurst Harbour Marine Nature Reserve". Sea Fishing & Aquaculture: Area Restrictions: Marine Reserves. Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Tasmanian Government. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
^ "IBA: Melaleuca to Birchs Inlet". Birdata. Birds Australia. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
^ Milligan, Joseph (1858). "On the dialects and languages of the Aboriginal Tribes of Tasmania, and on their manners and customs" (PDF). Papers of the Royal Society of Tasmania: 270.
^ Duffy, Conor (18 January 2010). "The plan for a Jewish homeland in Tasmania". The 7.30 Report. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ Wendy Rimon (2006). "Piners". Retrieved 29 January 2023.
^ Nash, Michael (2003). The Bay Whalers; Tasmania's shore-based whaling industry. Navarine. pp. 159–60. ISBN 0958656193.
^ Report of the Solar Eclipse Expedition to Port Davey, Tasmania, May, 1910 by F. K. McClean and Others^{[dead link]}
^ Lockyer, Sir Norman; Group, Nature Publishing; Gateway, UM-Medsearch (23 June 1910). "THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF May 9, 1910". Nature. 83 (2121): 494–495. Bibcode:1910Natur..83..494L. doi:10.1038/083494a0. {{cite journal}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
^ "The Solar Eclips. Doings of the Port Davey party". Zeehan and Dundas Herald. 23 April 1910. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
^ "VISIT TO PORT DAVEY IN CATALINA". The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 – 1954). 9 July 1947. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
^ "J. Botterill & Fraser, South Melbourne". Retrieved 29 January 2023.
^ "FISH FROM PORT DAVEY". The Mercury. Vol. CLXVI, no. 23, 942. Tasmania, Australia. 4 September 1947. p. 6. Retrieved 14 January 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Haven". Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ See Other Possibilities for A Homeland For the Jewish People
^ "On this day: Tassie's Jewish homeland plan". Retrieved 15 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b Edwards, Rachel (6 December 2020). "Before Israel was created, Critchley Parker set off to find a Jewish homeland in Tasmania's wilderness". Australia: ABC News. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
^ Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (Map). 1:400 000. Australian Geographic. October–December 2003.
^ King, Mary; King Fenton, Janet (14 October 2013). "Rainbow Country: South-West Tasmania as Inspiration for Shute's The Rainbow and the Rose". The Rainbow Connection. Nevil Shute Conference. Hobart, Tasmania: Neil Shute Foundation.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Climate statistics for Australian locations, PORT DAVEY (MELALEUCA)". Commonwealth of Australia, Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 29 January 2023.