Gymea Bay, New South Wales

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Gymea Bay is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 27km south of the Sydney central business district in the Sutherland Shire. The post code is 2227, which it shares with adjacent suburb Gymea.

This template is now obsolete.
Sydney suburbs near Gymea Bay (Sutherland Shire)
Kirrawee	Gymea	Miranda
Kirrawee	Gymea Bay	Miranda
Royal National Park	Grays Point	Yowie Bay

Gymea Bay takes its name from the small bay on the north shore of the Port Hacking estuary (known locally as the Port Hacking River). The bay is used extensively for watersports such as wakeboarding and water skiing.

The suburb's extremities are defined by Forest Road on the northeast, Avenel Road on the north, Dents Creek on the west, and the waters of North West Arm and the bay itself to the south. The area is characterised by large amounts of verdant bushland. However, since the 1990s, invasions of feral deer from the Royal National Park have begun to negatively affect the ground cover underneath the tree canopy.

Land is almost entirely given to residential use, with minor commercial zones. The suburb's needs are principally served by shops in neighbouring suburbs, especially Gymea and Miranda. The suburb is home to a public primary school, Gymea Bay Public School. It is also home to the heritage-listed Gymea Bay baths off Ellesmere Road.

[edit] History

Both the bay and the suburb, like the adjacent suburb of Gymea, were named after the Gymea Lily Doryanthes excelsa, a 6m tall perennial that is prevalent in the area. It was named by the local Eora people and became the inspiration for the suburb's name, by government surveyor W.A.B. Geaves in 1855. The Gymea Lily has been adopted as a symbol of the area and features on the crest of many local organisations.

Development in the area has eradicated most of these lillies but some can still be found, a few kilometres south in the Royal National Park.