Port Stephens

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Northern headland at the entrance of Port Stephens

Shoal Bay beach in Port Stephens

Entrance of Karuah River into Port Stephens (seen from Tanilba Bay, approximately 7 km away)

Disambiguation: you may be looking for Port Stephens, Falkland Islands or Port Stephens LGA

Port Stephens is a large natural harbour located about 160 km (99 mi) north-east of Sydney. It lies wholly within the Port Stephens Local Government Area (LGA) although its northern shoreline forms the boundary between the Port Stephens and Great Lakes LGAs.

With an area of approximately 104 km² (40.2 sq mi) Port Stephens is larger than Sydney Harbour and has a narrow entrance between two striking hills of volcanic origin. The harbour is mostly shallow and sandy but contains sufficient deep water to accommodate large vessels; the Queen Mary moored there during World War II. After its recovery from the wreck site in 1974 the bow of the Sygna, a 53,000 tonne Norwegian bulk carrier that was shipwrecked on Stockton Beach earlier that year, was moored in Port Stephens for almost two years.^[1] It is excellent for fishing and recreational boating.

The port (and also its southern headland Point Stephens), were named by Captain Cook when he passed on 11 May 1770, honouring Sir Philip Stephens who was Secretary of the Admiralty. Stephens was a personal friend of Cook and had recommended him for command of the voyage.^[2] It seems Cook's initial choice had actually been Point Kepple and Kepple Bay, but instead he used Kepple Bay later (see Keppel Bay).^[3]

In 1791, coal was discovered in the area surrounding Port Stephens by escaped convicts, then known as 'bolters'.

Port Stephens has rather poor soil for the most part, and has limited agricultural potential. For this reason, no large towns developed there historically and it was never developed as a significant port. The major city and port of Newcastle developed at the mouth of the Hunter River, about 45 km (28 mi) south-west of Port Stephens.

Despite this, in 1920 there was a push for Port Stephens to be the capital city of a new state in a proposal originating from the country newspaper The Daily Observer. The proposal was the Observer's editor Victor Charles Thompson's idea in response to continuing rural Australian antipathy at the Sydney-centralised funding and governance that many rural newspapers claimed had neglected to aid rural Australian towns. ^[4]

A number of small towns developed around the port as fishing, holiday and retirement communities. Since the 1970s, with improved road access from Sydney, and the increasing popularity of coastal retirement lifestyles, there has been major expansion of these towns.

The Karuah River and the Myall River (through the Myall Lakes) drain into Port Stephens.

Larger towns and suburbs on the shores of Port Stephens include Corlette, Hawks Nest, Lemon Tree Passage, Mallabula, Nelson Bay, North Arm Cove, Salamander Bay, Shoal Bay, Soldiers Point and Tanilba Bay.