Other names for Reeves Point?

Frequently we read articles that state the first ships arrived at Nepean Bay, Reeves Point. They should properly read "near what is now known as Reeves Point". The ships actually arrived at Nepean Bay. Reeves Point was named at least 15 years later. Chris Ward reports:

Samuel & Charlotte Reeves arrived on KI in May 1850 on the Hawk from Adelaide.

On present day maps Beatrice Point appears to be the actual peninsula at Reeves Point. It would have been named for the schooner HMS Beatrice a survey ship of the 1860s.

Beare Point is near the Kingscote Jetty and obviously named for the Beare family.

Bews Point – An earlier name for what was later known as Rolls Point, possibly named for David Bews who was an MP from 1885 to 1891 and one time Commissioner of Public Works and a farmer at Port Elliot. Ruediger suggests it was named for an early sealer which seems more likely.

Rolls Point on current maps is nearly due south-east of Cygnet Road. Named for Captain John Rolls of the Cygnet. I suspect that with the earlier name of Rolls Point replaced with Beatrice Point & Reeves Point that the name was reused to name a small headland near the end of Cygnet Road.

Company’s Point is named on a sketch map dated 1851 and is what we would know today as Beatrice Point.

Snake Point was also an early name for Bews Point or Rolls Point

In my opinion the order of naming was probably as follows:-

• Snake Point
• Bews Point
• Company’s Point
• Rolls Point
• Beatrice Point

I can’t prove any of the above and would be happy to hear views contradicting me or agreeing with me.

- Chris Ward

Reeves Point was the name given to the whole area rather than just the peninsula or headland. The area was initially farmed by the Calnan family as employees of the South Australian Company. Although the Calnan’s later purchased some of the land and continued to farm in the area, it was named after the Reeves family who settled there in 1850 and ran the first ‘unofficial’ post office on the Island.