Tumby Bay - SA

Tumby Bay is a small holiday and fishing town on the Spencer Gulf on the eastern coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. The town was established as a shipping port for wheat, wool, copper and talc and the 133 metre long jetty, the second on the Peninsula, was constructed in 1874 to ship anticipated supplies of copper from the nearby Burrawing Mine. The jetty was extended in 1905 and 1909, and dismantled for safety reasons in 1999.

The current wooden jetty was constructed in 1908–09 and is well known as a diving destination for viewing sea creatures including the leafy seadragon, nudibranchs, seahorses, octopuses and rays.

Tumby Bay is characterised by a 10km long, narrow arc of beach; a jetty which juts out into the bay; and a run of modest holiday and retirement homes which edge the beach.

Tumby Bay was first explored by Matthew Flinders in 1802. He named the bay and a nearby island after the village of Tumby in Lincolnshire, England. Tumby lies 23 miles north of Flinders birthplace, Donington, Lincolnshire. In 1984 the name was expanded from Tumby to Tumby Bay.