town, northeastern New South Wales, Australia. The town is situated on Cape Byron, easternmost point of the Australian mainland, which shelters Byron Bay and was discovered in 1770 by Captain James Cook, who named it after Commodore (later Admiral) John Byron, grandfather of the poet Lord Byron. Founded in 1860 as a timber port, Byron Bay was declared a town in 1896 and a shire in 1906. Before coastal shipping declined, Byron Bay was the principal port between Newcastle and Brisbane (90 miles 【140 km】 north-northwest); it was a whaling port during the 1950s. Now mainly an anchorage, Byron Bay is still the commercial centre for a district supporting beef and dairy cattle, fruit (including bananas, pineapples, and avocados), corn (maize), and beach sand mining (rutile and zircon). Connected to Sydney and Brisbane by rail and just off the Pacific Highway, the town has butter and bacon factories, surfboard factories, and fish-processing and fish-storage facilities. Pop. (2006) 5,609.