Rapid Bay and Surrounds

Carmen Friend
Feb 24, 2018
2 min read

Leaving Robe we followed the Coorong stopping for lunch overlooking the Coorong National Park and the Pelican Breeding Grounds. The Coorong has a larger influx of migratory birds that Kakadu so if you are a keen bird spotter this is the place to be!

We crossed the Murray River on the Wellington Ferry spending a night at Frank Potts Reserve at Langhorne Creek before setting off for Rapid Bay. Rapid Bay is on the Fleurieu Peninsula and is a very small coastal village. It is famous for its Limestone mine and also the two large jetty's. Rapid Bay was named after General Colonel William Light's boat 'Rapid' in 1836.

BHP constructed the town from 1938 including an ore loading jetty with the quarry starting up in 1942. The limestone was used as a flux in the company's steelworks at Whyalla in South Australia, and Newcastle and Port Kembla in New South Wales. The BHP Jetty was originally 490 metres (1,600 ft) long, with a 'T' section of 200 metres (650 ft) length for ship-loading. Construction of a new jetty of 240 metres (790 feet) length located 50 metres (160 feet) east of the BHP jetty was completed in 2009 to replace the public amenity lost by the progressive closure of the BHP jetty. The jetty is used for snorkeling, diving and of course fishing by many travellers to the region. The Leafy Seadragon has its home along this coastline.

An artificial reef exists 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north-northwest of Rapid Head (i.e. the headland at the west side of the bay). In 2002, HMAS Hobart, a decommissioned guided missile destroyer, was scuttled there in 30 metres (98 ft) of water to create a scuba diving site

Further around the bay from Rapid Bay is Second Valley. This too has a small jetty which dates back to the early 1830's. Some of it has been preserved but time has take its toll. There is also a track which leads out to a small island created at a similar date to load ships.