Where is the Bay of Biscay?

Take the road from Shepparton to Echuca and about 10km from the river town you will cross the Bay of Biscay Bridge.
A friend who has a distinct affiliation with Spain’s Basque country, in particular Guernica that sits on a tidal river leading finally to the original Bay of Biscay.
He had never heard of “our” Bay of Biscay and was excited to think the area might have been settled by people of Basque descent or Basque people themselves.
However, it was not to be as research with the Echuca Historical Society involving about four hours of personally searching through files, my friend found no evidence of Basques having ever settled in the area, along with no reason, or known reason, for its name.
There was a theory, however, that many Australians served in France during the First World War and it is possible some returned to this area with memories of the Bay of Biscay as France and the Basque country share a border.
Intriguing coincidences that mean nothing in the greater scheme of things, but they were sufficient to lead me to writing this column.
My friend had, it might be said, educated me about the Basque country and events that gave Guernica notoriety and drove Pablo Picaso to create the memorable piece of artwork by the same name; he teased my interest such that I recently read Mark Kurlansky’s book, “The Basque History of the World”, and then I discovered that a friend’s wife actually knew of the Basque’s, something of their origins and where the Basque country is.
I enjoyed Kurlansky’s work and left the book with her. Should you enjoy non-fiction, I recommend the book.
All this, in itself is interesting to me, but it takes me no closer at all to knowing about or understanding why our Bay of Biscay has that surprising and seemingly without reason name.
The idea that the Bay of Biscay name was poached by soldiers returning from World War One seems to have merit, but as its origin still appears a mystery maybe you or another knows the answer. Email us at editor@sheppnews.com.au.