In January 2011 Mick Todd, Mary and I dived Murrays Beach on a grey, miserable, overcast and wet Australian summer’s day! Given the conditions, we weren’t expecting a terribly great dive but the underwater visibility was 7 to 8 metres and we saw plenty of underwater life including a bright yellow Estuary Catfish with a large Copapod attached to its dorsal fin and a Bull Ray at the end of the dive.
Murrays Beach is about 180 kilometres south of Sydney and is part of the Australian Capital Territory. In the late 19th Century, Sydney and Melbourne debated choosing a site for a national Australian capital. One of the agreed requirements was a harbour and various sites such as Nelsons Bay and Eden were considered. The eventual choice, Canberra was roughly halfway between Sydney and Melbourne but of course did not have a harbour so in1915 New South Wales gave part of Jervis Bay to the Commonwealth Government so that that technically the ACT had access to the sea, even though Canberra is several hundred kilometres away. It is administered by the Department of the Capital Territory as if part of the ACT and is considered part of the ACT for the purpose of the ACT’s representation in the Senate.
Murrays Beach was supposed to be the site of Australia’s first nuclear power plant. This was partly constructed and then destroyed due to political unrest and concern that it would become a nuclear target.