Great Australian Bight
oceanic bight off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia
The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight (open gulf) off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.
There are two definitions for its extent—one by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and another by the Australian Hydrographic Service (AHS). The bight is generally considered part of the Indian Ocean, although the AHS classifies it as part of the Southern Ocean. Its coastline is characterized by cliff faces and rocky capes, making it an ideal location for whale-watching.
This oceanic feature was encountered by European explorers in 1627, and was later accurately charted by English navigator Matthew Flinders in 1802. The Great Australian Bight came into existence about 50 million years ago when the supercontinent Gondwana broke apart, separating Antarctica from Australia.
The Bight's waters are highly biodiverse, especially in zooplankton, due to specific ocean currents. However, more research is needed to fully understand the region's complex ecosystems and the potential impacts of human activities, such as resource extraction. Southern bluefin tuna are a popular fishing target in the Bight, and there have been attempts to explore the area for oil and gas since the 1960s. However, these proposals have faced significant opposition due to the potential environmental impacts.
The public source identifies “Great Australian Bight” as oceanic bight off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Great, Australian and Bight.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q186733. VIAF identifies the subject as 234360251. The Library of Congress control number is sh92003612. Authority coordinates are -33.000, 130.000. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1627 and 1802.
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This entry incorporates text from “Great Australian Bight” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.