Macquarie Harbour

Macquarie Harbour
A view across Macquarie Harbour (Mount Sorell at rear).
Macquarie Harbour Location in Tasmania
False colour Landsat image centred on Macquarie Harbour, looking northwest, draped over digital elevation model with x2 vertical exaggeration; screen capture from the NASA World Wind
Location	Western Tasmania
Coordinates	42°17′38″S 145°21′31″E / 42.29389°S 145.35861°E / -42.29389; 145.35861Coordinates: 42°17′38″S 145°21′31″E / 42.29389°S 145.35861°E / -42.29389; 145.35861
Etymology	Lachlan Macquarie, the 5th Colonial Governor of  New South Wales
River sources	King River Gordon River
Ocean/sea sources	Southern Ocean
Basin countries	Australia
Islands	Sarah Island
Sections/sub-basins	Birchs Inlet Hells Gates Kelly Basin Regatta Point
Settlements	Strahan

Macquarie Harbour is a large, shallow, inlet, located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The inlet is navigable by shallow draft vessels. The main channel is kept clear by the presence of a rock wall on the outside of the channels curve. This man made wall prevents erosion and keeps the channel deep and narrow, rather than allowing the channel to become wide and shallow.

The harbour is named in honour of Scottish Major General Lachlan Macquarie, the fifth Colonial Governor of New South Wales.

James Kelly wrote in his narrative "First Discovery of Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour" how he sailed from Hobart in a small open five-oared whaleboat to discover Macquarie Harbour on 28 December 1815.

However, different accounts of the journey have indicated different methods and dates of the discovery. In the commentary to the Historical Records of Australia, the editor notes that T.W. Birch stated before the commission of inquiry into the state of the colony in 1820 that Kelly had discovered Macquarie Harbour after proceeding along in a boat from Port Davey where they had travelled in the schooner Henrietta Packet. Kelly gave evidence before the commission, and did not mention any discoveries. In a letter dated 11 April 1816, preserved in the record office, London, T.W. Birch transmitted an account of this voyage, which records the discovery of Macquarie Harbour on 26 December 1815.

Charles Whitham notes variations on the date.

Surveyor-General Oxley of New South Wales in March 1820 battled with the seas around the heads and Hells Gates. Surveyor-General Evans travelled in the area in 1821-22.

The harbour was established as a prison which was a place of "extreme physical and mental torture" . It was built for British convicts but many Irish patriots and Tasmanian Aborigines were also detained there.

The King River which cuts through the West Coast Range and the Gordon River empty into Macquarie Harbour. The narrow entrance to Macquarie Harbour has hazardous tidal currents and is called Hell's Gates. Outside of the Harbour the entrance area is known as Macquarie Heads, and the most western point is Cape Sorell. The sheer volume of fresh water that pours into the Harbour through the rivers, combined with the narrow exit result in barometric tides. When there is rain in the mountains surrounding the Harbour, the tide rises, and it falls when the atmospheric pressure reverses and results in less rain.