Port Davey is an inlet on the south west coast of Tasmania. It lies next to Bathurst Harbour and is sheltered from the Roaring Forties that buffet the south and west coasts of Tasmania. It lies within the Melaleuca to Birchs Inlet Important Bird Area.[1] It is not populated, but has over time had a number of reclusive inhabitants. It is the penultimate waypoint on the western part of the South Coast Walking Track - also known as South Coast and Port Davey Tracks.
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The French navigator Marion du Fresne was the first European to record the inlet now called Port Davey, in March 1772. On the 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.
The pioneer aviator Francis McClean organized and led an expedition to Port Davey to observe the May 9, 1910 solar eclipse.[2][3]