Bass Point is composed of resilient 250 million year old Gerringong volcanics and was named after the explorer George Bass. It protrudes 3 km seaward and is a major landmark on the south coast. The basalt or blue metal, which composes much of the point is mined and shipped out from a 400 m long jetty on the north side of the point. The eastern 1 km of the point is a Nature Reserve and listed on the registrar of the Australian Heritage Commission. It includes the Bushranger Bay Aquatic Reserve and a cultural walk, which details the rich indigenous history of the point. The rugged 7 km of rocky shore has four small beaches (NSW 381-387). Beach NSW 384 commences immediately east of the southern Shellharbour beach and curves to the east for 500 m, as a steep cobble and boulder beach, fronted by sheltered rock and reef-dominated shore and backed by a road out to the point. It terminates 300 m west of the jetty. It is unsuitable for swimming, but in a big east to southeast swell there is a break over the reef called The Shallows. Two hundred and fifty metres east of the jetty, inside the reserve, is a 30 m long pocket of sand called The Middy (NSW 385), which can be reached by a short walking track from the car park. It is fronted by rocks, which at high tide enclose a small tidal pool. The road to the point terminates at Bushranger Bay a 100 m wide, 400 m deep rocky gap on the outer point. At the base of the narrow bay is a steep, curving 90 m long cobble and boulder beach (NSW 386). The beach is sheltered with usually low surging waves that permit access to the often clear and calm waters of the rocky bay, which is also a popular dive site (Fig. 4.313). Finally on the south side of the point is Maloneys Beach (NSW 387) reached via a road running beside the quarry to a cliff top car park. It is a 40 m long, east-facing sand and cobble beach, protected by its embayed location together with extensive rock platforms. read more

Beach Length: 0.1km