{{distinguish|Recherche Fjord}} {{Short description|Bay in south-eastern Tasmania, Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2015}} {{Infobox body of water | name = Recherche Bay<br/>''(Leillateah)'' | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = Recherche Bay near Cockle creek.jpg | image_size = 280 | alt = | caption = A beach on Recherche Bay near [[Cockle Creek, Tasmania|Cockle Creek]] | pushpin_map = Australia Tasmania | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_label_position = left | pushpin_map_caption = Location in [[Tasmania]] | image_bathymetry = | alt_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = | location = Southern [[Tasmania]] | coords = {{coord|43|32|S|146|54|E}} | type = | etymology = [[French ship Recherche (1787)|''Recherche'']] | inflow = | rivers = | outflow = | oceans = [[Southern Ocean]] | catchment = | basin_countries = Australia | agency = | designation = [[Australian National Heritage List]]<ref name=anhl>{{cite web |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/recherche |title=Recherche Bay (North East Peninsula) Area |work=National Heritage Places |publisher=[[Department of the Environment (Australia)|Department of the Environment]], Australian Government |access-date=31 July 2015}}</ref> | length = | width = | area = | depth = | max-depth = | volume = | residence_time = | salinity = | shore = | elevation = | frozen = | islands = | sections = | trenches = | benches = | cities = | website = | reference = }} '''Recherche Bay''' ({{IPAc-en|local|ˈ|ɹ|i|.|s|ɚ|tʃ}} {{respell|REE|sərtch}}) is an oceanic [[embayment]], part of which is listed on the [[Australian National Heritage List|National Heritage Register]],<ref name=anhl/> located on the extreme south-eastern corner of [[Tasmania]], [[Australia]]. It was a landing place of the [[Bruni d'Entrecasteaux|d’Entrecasteaux expedition]] to find missing explorer [[Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse|La Pérouse]]. It is named in honour of the [[French ship Recherche (1787)|''Recherche'']], one of the expedition's ships. The [[Nuenonne language|Nuenonne]] name for the bay is '''''Leillateah'''''.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://eprints.utas.edu.au/19369/1/1-1859-Dialects-Aboriginal-Tribes-Tasmania.pdf |title=On the dialects and languages of the Aboriginal Tribes of Tasmania, and on their manners and customs |author=Milligan, Joseph |journal=Papers of the Royal Society of Tasmania |year=1858 |page=270 }}</ref> The bordering land is the [[Suburbs and localities (Australia)|locality]] of [[Recherche, Tasmania|Recherche]], in the local government area of [[Huon Valley Council|Huon Valley]] in the [[South-east LGA Region|South-east]] region of Tasmania.
==Nuenonne people== The original inhabitants of the region were the Nuenonne people of [[Aboriginal Tasmanians]]. They were a maritime people who constructed durable [[catamaran]]s that enabled sea journeys to places such as [[Bruny Island|Bruny]] and the [[Maatsuyker Islands]]. The famous Nuenonne woman, [[Truganini]], was born at Recherche Bay. The Nuenonne were either killed, died of introduced disease, or removed from the region during the early stages of British colonisation. By the mid 1830s, Indigenous habitation of Recherche Bay ceased.<ref name="friendly">{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=George Augustus |last2=Plomley |first2=NJB |title=Friendly Mission, the Tasmanian journals and papers of George Augustus Robinson |date=2008 |publisher=Quintus |location=Hobart |isbn=9780977557226}}</ref>
==French exploration== French explorers set up a camp, made a garden and scientific observatory at Recherche Bay in April 1792 for 26 days, and again in January 1793 for 24 days.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/841aacc8-4ce7-4477-b343-0dec0659c0ef/files/national-heritage-recherche.pdf |title=Recherche Bay (North East Peninsula) Area |work=Australia's National Heritage |publisher=[[Department of the Environment (Australia)|Department of the Environment]], Australian Government |date=7 October 2005 |access-date=31 July 2015}}</ref> Both landings were made to seek refuge and replenish supplies although as much time as possible was dedicated to scientific research. The botanists [[Jacques Labillardière]], [[Claude Riche]] and [[Étienne Pierre Ventenat]], assisted by gardener botanist [[Félix Delahaye]], collected and catalogued almost 5000 [[Biological specimen|specimen]]s including the blue gum (''[[Eucalyptus globulus]]''), which later became Tasmania's [[List of Australian floral emblems|floral emblem]]. The expedition also made friendly contact with the Tasmanian Aboriginal people there in 1793.
The scientific observatory at Recherche Bay was the site of the first deliberate scientific experiment on Australian soil. At this observatory, geoscientist [[Elisabeth de Rosse|Elisabeth Paul Edouard de Rossel]] conducted a series of measurements that proved [[geomagnetism]] varied with [[latitude]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=105665 |title=Recherche Bay (North East Peninsula) Area, Southport, TAS, Australia |work=Australian Heritage Database |publisher=[[Department of the Environment (Australia)|Department of the Environment]], Australian Government |date=7 October 2005 |access-date=31 July 2015}}</ref>
{{quotation|It will be difficult to describe my feelings at the sight of this solitary harbour situateted at the extremeties of the globe, so perfectly enclosed that one feels separated from the rest of the universe. Everything is influenced by the wilderness of the rugged landscape. With each step, one encounters the beauties of unspoilt nature, with signs of decrepitude, trees reaching a very great height, and of corresponding diameter, are devoid of branches along the trunk, but crowned with an everlasting green foliage. Some of these trees seem as ancient as the world, and are so tightly interlaced that they are impenetrable.|Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, Recherche Bay, January 1793.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Landsdown, Richard |title=Romantic aftermaths |page=120 |editor=Pierce, Peter |encyclopedia=The Cambridge History of Australian Literature |location=Port Melbourne |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-521-88165-4 }}</ref>}}
==British exploration and settlement== British exploration of the bay started in the early 1800s with [[whaling|whalers]] frequently using the bay as a temporary refuge. The maritime explorer, [[James Kelly (Australian explorer)|James Kelly]], attempted to land at Recherche Bay in late 1815 but was prevented by a large group of Nuenonne people who threw volleys of stones and spears at them.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boyce |first1=James |title=Van Diemen's Land |date=2008 |publisher=Black Inc |location=Collingwood |isbn=9781760644819}}</ref>
[[George Augustus Robinson]] led the first European overland expedition through the region in 1830.<ref name="friendly" />
Being isolated from the main areas of early settlement, exposed to westerly gales, and the terrain and soils of a nature that discouraged European agriculture, Recherche Bay saw only moderate activity following the British settlement of [[Van Diemen's Land]].
In 1829, Recherche Bay was the site of the [[Cyprus mutiny|''Cyprus'' mutiny]], in which the [[brig]] ''Cyprus'' was seized by convicts being transported from [[Hobart]] Town to [[Macquarie Harbour Penal Station]]. The mutineers marooned officers, soldiers, and convicts who did not join the mutiny, without supplies. The mutineers then sailed the ''Cyprus'' to [[Guangzhou|Canton]], [[China]], where they scuttled her and claimed to be castaways from another vessel. On the way, ''Cyprus'' visited [[Japan]] during the height of the period of [[Sakoku|severe Japanese restrictions]] on the entry of foreigners, the first Australian ship to do so.
During the 1830s and 1840s, the bay was the site of up to five [[bay whaling]] stations.<ref>Michael Nash, ''The bay whalers; Tasmania's shore-based whaling industry'', Navarine, Canberra, 2003, p.134-6.</ref> it was also a base for pilots guiding ships up the [[D'Entrecasteaux Channel]]. Whaling ships often sheltered there from wild weather, or to try-out whales. Two whalers, the ''Maria Orr'', in 1846, and ''Offley'', in 1880, were wrecked there in gales. The main commercial activities in the later 19th century and into the early 20th century were timber-gathering, mostly centred on the township of [[Leprena, Tasmania|Leprena]] and coal mining, the latter mostly based around the township of [[Catamaran, Tasmania|Catamaran]]. The Catamaran Coal Company employed the former [[barque]] ''[[James Craig (barque)|James Craig]]'' as a coal hulk there.
==Reservation of the north east peninsula== In 2003 the private landowners of the D'Entrecasteaux expedition site sought permission to selectively log the area, which was opposed by a large-scale campaign to protect the site from destruction.
In January 2006 the [[Tasmanian Land Conservancy]] (TLC) announced plans to raise a minimum of A$1.3 million to purchase the site from its private owners.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17877405%255E3462,00.html |title=Bid to Buy Recherche |work=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |location=Tasmania |access-date=20 January 2006 }}</ref> [[Dick Smith (entrepreneur)|Dick Smith]] pledged A$100,000 to the cause,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1553087.htm |title=Dick Smith joins bid to protect Recherche Bay |work=ABC News |location=Australia |date=23 January 2006 |access-date=24 January 2006 }}</ref> and two weeks later it was announced that over $2 million had been raised to purchase and rehabilitate the site, and that it would be owned by the TLC.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1565183.htm |title=Recherche Bay saved from logging |work=ABC News |location=Australia |date=8 February 2006 |access-date=11 July 2010 }}</ref>
Part of the bay, being the north east peninsula area comprising {{convert|430|ha}}, was included in the National Heritage List on 7 October 2005.<ref name=anhl/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/841aacc8-4ce7-4477-b343-0dec0659c0ef/files/105665.pdf |issn=1032-2345 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Australia]] |date=7 October 2005 |title=Inclusion of a Place in the National Heritage List: Recherche Bay (North East Peninsula) Area |work=Government Gazette |access-date=31 July 2015 }}</ref>
==See also== {{stack|{{Portal|Australia|Environment}}}} *[[South Coast Tasmania]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |author=Brown, Bob |author-link=Bob Brown |title=Tasmania's Recherche Bay |publisher=Green Institute |year=2005 |pages=56, illustrations, maps |isbn=0-646-44899-4 }} *{{cite book |author=Clode, Danielle |title=Voyages to the South Seas: In search of Terres Australes |publisher=Miegunyah/MUP |location=Melbourne |date=2008 |edition=Paperback reprint |isbn=978-0-522-85542-5 }} *{{cite book |editor=Duyker, Edward |editor-link=Edward Duyker |others=Duyker, Maryse |title=Bruny d'Entrecasteaux: Voyage to Australia and the Pacific 1791–1793 |publisher=Miegunyah/Melbourne University Press |location=Melbourne |date=March 2006 |pages=392 |isbn=0-522-85232-7 |edition=paperback }} *{{cite book |author=Duyker, Edward |title=Citizen Labillardière: A Naturalist's Life in Revolution and Exploration (1755–1834) |publisher=Miegunyah/MUP |location=Melbourne |year=2004 |isbn=0-522-85160-6 |edition=Paperback reprint |pages=383 }} *{{cite journal |author=Duyker, Edward |title=A French Garden in Tasmania: The Legacy of Félix Delahaye (1767–1829) |journal=Explorations |date=December 2004 |pages=3–18 }} *{{cite journal |author=Duyker, Edward |title=Uncovering Jean Piron: In Search of d'Entrecasteaux's Artist |journal=Explorations |date=December 2005 |pages=37–45 }} *{{cite book |editor1=Mulvaney, John |editor2=Tyndale-Biscoe, Hugh |title=Rediscovering Recherche Bay |publisher=Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia |location=Canberra |date=December 2007 |isbn=978-0-908290-22-2 |edition=paperback |pages=156 }} *{{cite book |author=Mulvaney, John |title='The axe had never sounded': Place, People and Heritage of Recherche Bay, Tasmania |publisher=ANU E Press and Aboriginal History |location=Canberra |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-921313-20-2 |edition=e-book |url=http://press.anu.edu.au//aborig_history/axe/html/frames.php }} *{{cite book |author=Poulson, Bruce |title=Recherche Bay: A Short History |publisher=The Management Committee of the Southport Community Centre |location=Southport, Tasmania |edition=Second |date=2005 |pages=83, illustrations, bibliography, maps |isbn=978-0-9757975-0-1 }}
==External links== * [http://www.recherchebay.org/information/index.html RechercheBay.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060130185957/http://www.recherchebay.org/information/index.html |date=30 January 2006 }} * [http://www.tasland.org.au/ Tasmanian Land Conservancy] * [http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s978915.htm Catalyst story on Recherche Bay]
{{Southern Tasmania |state=autocollapse}}
[[Category:Southern Tasmania]] [[Category:Bays of Tasmania]] [[Category:Australian National Heritage List]] [[Category:Whaling stations in Australia]] [[Category:Whaling in Australia]]