Recherche Bay

Only in the last decade have we really discovered the overwhelming importance of Recherche Bay as a site of national and historic significance.

"It is difficult to express the sensations we felt at finding ourselves at length sheltered in this solitary harbour at the extremity of the globe". So recorded the naturalist Jacques-Julien Labillardiere in his diary of 1792 when the "Recherche" and "Esperence" first anchored in what is now known as Recherche Bay.

The French scientific expedition, which visited in 1792 and again in 1793, was exceptional compared to much early European contact with Australia in that it included some of the cream of French scientists and did not seek to colonise.

During their stay at Recherche Bay hydrographer Rossel carried out the first scientific experiment in Australia, making a breakthrough in understanding of the Earths magnetic fields.

Labillardiere made some of Australia's first botanical surveys, collecting type specimens of blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) and native heath (Epacris impressa) now the state floral emblems of Tasmania and Victoria. They prepared a garden to establish European plants and the naturalists made some of the earliest and most detailed accounts of any Australian Aboriginal people, whom they described to co-exist in a "state of perfection" and met with in an atmosphere of good natured acceptance.

Today, some 200 years later, those who now make the journey south by land or sea can still empathize with the feelings of the first visitors who marvelled at this pristine wilderness.

The spectacular 142 ha coastal property extends the dramatic wild landscape of the Southport Lagoon Conservation Area, home to the critically endangered species, the swamp eyebright. This delicate flowering plant has only a single population of 50 individuals remaining on the planet.

The property provides habitat for several threatened bird species. A pair of White-bellied sea eagles - vulnerable to extinction in Tasmania - return to nest on the property year after year. Grey goshawks and Masked owls, both endangered in Tasmania due to their declining populations, use the area for nesting, roosting and feeding.

Stands of mature Tasmanian blue gums, a species first discovered on this very site by Lalbilladiere in 1792, provide foraging habitat for flocks of Swift parrots, which are endangered at a national level due to habitat destruction.

Thank you to all those who made the permanent protection of this jewel a reality.