JervisBay

Jervis Bay is a 102km2 oceanic bay and village on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, said to possess the whitest sand in the world.A 70km2 area of land around the southern headland of the bay is a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia known as the Jervis Bay Territory. The Australian Navy base, is in the Jervis Bay Territory between Jervis Bay Village and Greenpatch Point.GeographyIn the Jervis Bay Territory on the southern side of the bay are the settlements of Greenpatch, Hyams Beach, and Bowen Island. From north to south on the New South Wales shore of the bay are Callala Beach, Callala Bay, Huskisson and Vincentia. Beecroft Peninsula, on the northern side of the bay, has been used as a bombing range by the Australian Navy. Point Perpendicular forms the southern end of the peninsula.GeologyJervis Bay is a drowned river valley and formed 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. The bay took on its present appearance around 4000 BC after the sea levels had risen, and as sand dune barriers created the southern peninsula. Much of the rock in Jervis Bay is part of the Sydney Basin sandstone formation, which is 280-225 million years old, although lower areas are overlain with Tertiary-era sediments.