Bathurst Bay

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Bathurst Bay is the name of a 19th Century peninsula settlement that is now a tourist attraction on Cape York in northern Queensland, near the Great Barrier Reef. The British first settled Bathurst Bay sometime in the early-19th Century. The settlement had few tradable goods because of its climate and terrain. The site became important in the mid- to late-19th Century as an anchorage for the pearling fleet, which was discovering valuable oyster pearls. By the 1890s, the pearling fleet was the only reason for continued settlement.

This settlement was destroyed on March 4, 1899 when Cyclone Mahina passed through northern Queensland.

Since Australia had become a nation, Bathurst Bay has become a popular fishing area. The bay itself is a part of the Cook Shire (seated in Cooktown), but few people have settled the bay area. The once-abundant forests have not regrown, mainly because of continuing salt damage to the land by the tidal wave.