The coastal town of The Entrance on the Central Coast of NSW, is about halfway between Sydney and Newcastle.
The Entrance not only possesses natural beauty with ocean lagoons, lakes and beaches, but there are layers of deep and
interesting history to explore.
The Darkinjung Aboriginal People
The Guringai (Ku-ring-gai) people occupied an area from the northern side of Sydney Harbour along the coast to the lower reaches of Lake Macquarie. The Darkingung people
occupied the area west of Mangrove Creek to Rylstone, north to Cessnock and the Wollombi areas.
Tribal land was usually bounded by mountains, rivers and valleys. The Darkinjung, however, shared the rivers with, and were
greatly influenced by, the Kamilaroi people.
R. H. Matthews(1897) wrote that the Darkinjung had two moieties Eagle and Emu deriving from creator beings. These moieties are divided into four sections (skin/meat) and there were six totems.
Matthews also
recorded about 320 words of Darkinjung language. For e.g.
TERRIGAL - Place of little birds
TOOWOON BAY - The mating call of the Wonga Pigeon
TOUKLEY - Many brambles
TUGGERAH - Savanah grasslands
TUMBI UMBI - Plenty of water
The Darkinjung was a matrilineal system, and kinship
was passed on from the mother. If a mother was from the E
mu moiety, then all her children would be Emu too. Aboriginal people were not permitted to kill or eat their own totem.
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| Aborignal people used spears for Aboriginal people for hunting and combat |
Mathews who made extensive and detailed accounts of Aboriginal life
and culture also described a
ceremony involving the ancestral creator Baiami, the all-father who came from the sky, and his pursuit of an Emu.
The creator hero Baiame is important to Aboriginal people over much of south-eastern Australia. According to stories
passed down countless generations, he created the Earth and other beings and passed down sacred law. Daramulan is the son of Baiame and Bootha.
The kinship system of Aboriginal social organisation determines marriage, how people relate to each other and roles, rights, responsibilities and obligations. People of the wrong "skin" (social category) traditionally would be prevented from marrying.
Wives were also swapped at corroborees and acquired by "wife raids" from other clans.
“The Awabakal and Darkinoong held an annual Corroboree (feasting, singing & dancing) at Kanangra (Nords Wharf). Large numbers of natives could be seen making there way towards Nords Wharf, for days before the Corroboree” (Rita Smith Collection: Archives – University of Newcastle).
A special occasion would be the stranding of whales on a beach. All Aborigines within a reasonable
travelling distance would be invited to this feast lasting several days. One such visit is depicted by a painting at Wollombi when the Awabakal invited the Wonarua and Darkinoong people to partake of whale flesh high and dry at Redhead beach (Department of NSW Education, 1984:62).
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| Aboriginal family in bark canoe |
The temporary shelters made from branches and bark traditionally used by Australian Aboriginal people are known by various words, including: a humpy, gunyah, or wurley (various spellings).
Weaponds used for warfare and hunting by men included spears, spear throwers (woomera), clubs (waddy), wooden shields, boomerangs, stone hatchets
and fishing spears (mootims).
Women traditionally foraged small prey such as lizards. And collected roots, berries, stems, nuts, grubs, wasps, ants and eggs, which they carried in bags made from knotted tree bark and grasses and bark vessels called a coolamon.
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| Aboriginal woman making a dilly bag |
The Darkinjung region has over 7,000 registered Aboriginal sites, including rock engravings and axe-grinding grooves.
Karagi is the Aboriginal name for the south bank of the channel that connects Tuggerah Lake to the Pacific Ocean.
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1770
Captain Cook recorded smoke from fires in
the area that is now Tuggerah Lakes Golf Links, in 1770.
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| HMS Endeavour was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Australia and New Zealand on his first voyage of discovery |
In July 1796, Captain Collins wrote about shipwrecked fishermen landing on the Central Coast. The Aboriginals
"who, without much entreaty or any hope of reward, readily put them into a path from thence to Broken Bay, and conducted them the greatest part of the way."
Captain Collins also records "the natives having reported to the fishermen the existence of a white woman living with the natives of Newcastle district..."
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| Colonel David Collins (3 March 1756 – 24 March 1810) was a British Marine officer |
A search party for the white woman landed at the north part of Broken Bay in the vicinity of Brisbane Water. They marched along the coast line, when their progress was stopped by the waters of a "lagoon within the sea beach, of about 20 miles in length, and running parallel with the sea coast." This
lagoon is now called Tuggerah Lake,
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), Friday 24 September 1897
The Entrance has been known by various names since the first
land grants were issued in 1826.
Chinese fishermen had a base a Toowoon Bay (Chinamans Bay) in the 1820s.
The first census of the Aboriginal population was undertaken in the Brisbane Water district by local magistrate, Willoughby Bean in 1828. He reported 65 Aboriginal people belonging to five separate "tribes".
Aboriginal people had no immunity to smallpox and other diseases as they had been separated from the rest of humanity for thousands of years. These diseases impacted the Aboriginal population.
The first settler Henry Holden
established dairy farming on his 640-acre property called "Toowoon".
In 1835 John Edye Manning owned Toowoon which he sold for £200 to Thomas Cade Battley in 1836. The property was renamed "Terilbah". However, in 1842, the property was purchased by William Foster.
In the 1830s, Sarah Mathew, wife of the surveyor Felton Mathew who was sent to explore and map the area wrote "On the shore near Tuggerah Beach Creek (Ourimbah Creek) were hundreds of pelicans...."
The Great North Road was opened in 1832, allowing access to the Hunter District from Sydney. Two branches of the road led to Wyong.
In 1854 when the Taylor family bought the "Terilbah" property it became known as Tuggerah Beach. This name was used until 1911.
Around 1900 the property was divided between the twelve children of Richard Brown Taylor and Norberta Maria Gertrude (née Watkins).
The Taylor family donated land to the Roman Catholic Church, The Church of England and The Entrance Public School.
1870s
Billy Fawkner last "full-blooded" Aboriginal person of the district died in 1875. His "life-long home and haunt was Tuggerah Lake", where ehe sailed a bark canoe. (
1.)
1880s
The first guest house was built by Mr and Mrs Walter Denniss, at Entrance North in 1885, called Dunleith Guest House. Guests were taken from Tuggerah Railway Station by
Muriel, the Dunleith’s sailing boat.
People who travelled to The Entrance used Tuggerah Jetty to access the area.
From 9 April 1888 telegraph communications were extended to Ourimbah Railway station. Telepgraphic comminication revolutionised long-distance communication.
The railway link over the Hawkesbury River to Sydney opened in 1889.
In 1889 the railway line from Sydney to Newcastle was completed.
1890s
Tuggerah Post Office opened in 1892.
1900s
Bayview Guest House was built by Mr and Mrs Dening. Mrs Dening was the eldest daughter of Richard Taylor.
Accommodation in tents was also availible for 200 people.
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| Bayview Guest House at The Entrance, NSW, taken around 1900. (comes from A Pictorial history of Wyong Shire: Volume 1.) |
Norfolk Island Pines and Canary Island Pines were planted at The Entrance from 1900 to the 1940s.
Woodbury’s Jetty was built at Tuggerah in 1901.
A bridge across Wyong River
was opened in 1901.
Pinehurst Guest House was built in 1903 by Les Taylor.
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| A RELIC OF THE OLD DAYS.An old bullock wagon from the sawmills around the Central Coast, NSW, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 26 December 1906 |
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| Tuggerah Lakes fishing industry, NSW, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 26 December 1906 |
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| The Entrance, Tuggerah Lakes, NSW, Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954), Friday 21 December 1906 |
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| FROM THE PAPEfiS OF FIFTY YEARS AGO. FEBRUARY 14, 1859 Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), Saturday 13 February 1909 |
Charles Duffy's first store opened at The Entrance in 1906. Duffy’s Emporium opened in 1910.
On 15 December 1910, the Karagi Receiving Office opened (post office).
WWI
In 1914 when World War 1 began, the population of The Entrance was 58.
South of The Entrance, a long jetty was built on Tuggerah Lake in 1915. This place is now known as Long Jetty. The jetty was destroyed in the 1927 flood, and later, replaced.
About 1916, Raymond Clyde Taylor established a dairy at The Entrance on the land he inherited from his father.
1920s
The Entrance was accessed by a rough road from Gosford or by a ferry from Wyong. See
here
The Entrance Boathouse was built in about 1920.
In March 1920, 200 blocks of land were auctioned.
The Winter Garden theatre
was built next to The Entrance Hotel in 1920.
15 guesthouses were operating at The Entrance in 1920. Bayview Avenue and Ozone Street are named after guest houses that operated at The Entrance.
The first primary School was opened at The Entrance in 1922. Before this, children travelled by launch to Wyong.
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| Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Wednesday 20 December 1922, |
Sunday Times, Sunday 1 April 1923
Easter Rush to WyongWYONG, Saturday.—
There has been a record influx of tourists to The Entrance. A noticeable feature is the increase of tourists from Newcastle and the towns between. Large marquees have been erected on The Entrance camping ground, and every foot of suitable space is occupied by tent and camp. The place has the appearance of a tented field for the accommodation of an army. Tents, gunyahs and brush shelters decorate the whole of the camping area at The Entrance. Easter is the big holiday for tourists, and this year, despite the big Sydney attractions, it has been a record. Ideal weather has attracted thousands. The railway records outdistance any previous year, and the ferries from Wyong have been working overtime — running day and night.
The children of The Entrance North attended school in a one-roomed building from 1926. The building, supplied by Mrs Walter Denniss, saved the students from a punt ride
across the channel to attend The Entrance School.
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| An advertisement for later Dennis Bros launches, The Entrance, NSW |
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| AROUND the Gosford district the Taylor Brothers are as well-known as the proverbial town dock. Twenty-five years ngo Lewis Taylor ran a coach from Gosford to Wyong, In conjunction with Walter Dennlss, after which they established a service across the Tuggerah Lakes' with a small sailing boat— the forerunner of the present ferries operating on the Lakes. The increasing popularity of the beautiful resort has called for the installation of a modern 'bus service, and Mensr R. Taylor Bros, and- Colman are placing the two Reo 'buses (Illustrated above) in commission Immediately between Wyong, Tuggerah, and The Entrance. Tourists will now be'able to make the round tripby road and water. Truth (Sydney, NSW : 1894 - 1954), Sunday 11 September 1927 |
The Entrance Hotel was completed in 1927.
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| SIX DOZEN OF THEM! — Here is no tale of the fish that just got off. It is a splendid catch of whiting made in the channel at The Entrance, Tuggerah Lakes. Thefishermen are Mr, C. Cook, of Moffat, Virtue's, Ltd., and Mr. H. Doherty, of the parliamentary reporting staff, Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Tuesday 1 May 1928 |
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| "The Boulevarde" at The Entrance, NSW, along the lakefront from Picnic Point to the current Bridge location, called Bradley's Point, 1920s |
In 1929, electricity was available when The Erina Shire Council transmitted power from Newcastle.
Construction of the Wyong water supply began in 1929.
The Calga-Gosford-Ourimbah section of the Pacific Highway
was constructed between 1925 and 1930. The work from Hornsby to Gosford cost almost £1 million. However it was money well spent, reducing the trip from Sydney to Newcastle from 9 hours to 4 ½ hours. (
3.)
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| The northern side of theHawkesbury the road runs throughthe hills, similarly to the railway line, to Gosford, TuggerahLakes, and the Wyong River, where the bush scenery is of greatcharm.1 It crosses the entrance to Lake Macquarie at Swansea close by the ocean.Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 13 August 1930 |
1930s
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| New Clubhouse at Golf Links, Tuggerah Lakes, NSW, Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tuesday 11 November 1930 |
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| MOTOR CAMP BETWEEN WAMBERAL AND THE ENTRANCE, TUGGERAH, NSW. in the Gosford district, of cabin accommodation and camping facilities akin to those of the motor camps which are so popularin the United States. Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 18 June 1930 |
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The Entrance in the very early 1930s, just after electricity came. The first shot is looking north, one from behind the town looking down to the major settlement, with North Entrance in the background.
The lower image is looking south from North Entrance with the ocean on the left, and you can just make out the bump of The Skillion at Terrigal on the far left. Peter Deane |
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| Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 5 October 1932 |
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| LOOKING ACROSS TUGGERAH LAKE AT LONG JETTY, NSW, Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 17 June 1933 |
The Golden Gate Café was built by a Mr Mantoni in 1933, opposite the new Price Edward Theatre, 95 The Entrance Rd.
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| The Entrance, NSW, February, 1934. Looking south from north of The Entrance Hotel down the main street, past Duffy's Emporium (centre), and up to the Hill in February 1934 at the height of The Depression, Peter Deane |
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Something different different in war memorials at The Entrance, Tuggerah Lakes, N.S.W.
The Australian woman's mirror., v.9, no.46, 1933-10-10 |
The wooden one-lane bridge at The Entrance was built in 1934, joining previously isolated settlements.
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| The Opening of the Entrance North Bridg, NSW, eSydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 19 December 1934 |
The Prince Edward Theatre opened in 1934.
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| Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954), Thursday 15 November 1934 |
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| The Entrance Hotel, overlooking the entrance to Tuggerah Lakes, which narrowly escaped destruction by fire, early yesterday morning Labor Daily (Sydney, NSW : 1924 - 1938), Thursday 15 November 1934 |
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| George Henry Edward Taylor would be considered old, and certainly active. He is 95, and he chops and saws the wood for a guest-house at The Entrance, Tuggerah Lakes. Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), Wednesday 10 October 1934 |
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| Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), Wednesday 10 October 1934 |
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| An aerial photograph taken recently, showing The Entrance, at Tuggerah Lakes, with the new bridge to Entrance North showing in the foreground.Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), Saturday 18 May 1935 |
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| The Entrance Surf Club, NSW, was built in 1936 |
The Entrance Ocean Baths were built from 1938. The Olympic size pool was built using the approximate site of an earlier rock pool known as "Roberts' Pool".
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| Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954), Tuesday 6 December 1938 |
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| Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954), Tuesday 9 May 1939 |
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| Four members of Tuggerah Lakes Rifle Club, NSW, who took part in the annual unioni matches. Macleay Chronicle (Kempsey, NSW : 1899 - 1952), Wednesday 6 September 1939 |
1940s and WWII
Flight Sergeant Kevin Noel Carberry:
Unit No. 7 Squadron
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Rank Flight Sergeant
London Gazette 25 June 1946 on page 3219 at position 18
Commonwealth Gazette 27 June 1946 on page 1725 at position 108
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| The Entrance - c.1940 Advertisement |
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| The Entrance - c.1940 Advertisement. The Lakeside Guest House was built at The Entrance in 1923 and then relocated |
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| The Entrance - c.1940 Advertisement |
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| The Entrance, Tuggerah Lakes, NSW, SLNSW |
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| Saloon bar, Lakes Hotel, Tuggerah Lakes (The Entrance), December 1941. Australian National University Archives |
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Serving patrons at the saloon bar, Lakes Hotel, Tuggerah Lakes (The Entrance), December 1941.
Australian National University Archives |
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| View over Tuggerah Lake from Lakes Hotel, Tuggerah Lakes (The Entrance), December 1941. Australian National University Archives |
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| View from Lakes Hotel, Tuggerah Lakes (The Entrance), December 1941. Australian National University Archives |
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| Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Thursday 24 October 1940 |
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| The Entrance Hotel and Bus Services, Tuggerah Lakes, N.S.W. - 1940s, Kaye |
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| Main Street, The Entrance, NSW, n.d, postcard |
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| Truth (Sydney, NSW : 1894 - 1954), Sunday 21 November 1943, |
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| Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Thursday 9 May 1946 |
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| STABILISATION AND REVEGETATION OF SAND DRIFT, THE ENTRANCE NORTH-TUGGERAH LAKES, NSW (1 June 1948) |
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| Main Road, The Entrance, NSW, 1940s |
1950s
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| THE ENTRANCE, TUGGERAH LAKES, N.S.W. - circa 1950, Kaye |
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| The Entrance Bridge, NSW, 1950s |
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| Two New Lambton Scouts found these Aboriginal engravings (right) on a hike from Gosford to Woy Woy, NSW. Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (NSW : 1876 - 1954), Saturday 11 August 1951 |
Increasing car ownership and population, as well as the growing popularity of the Central Coast. led to traffic jams and congestion on the Pacific Highway. It could take up to 3 hours to drive from Sydney to Gosford. (
2.)
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| World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), Saturday 17 May 1952 |
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| Gosford Times and Wyong District Advocate (NSW : 1906 - 1954), Tuesday 27 October 1953 |
"TUGGERAH LAKES and the town of
The Entrance boast 100,000 holiday-makers at
Christinas. Most live under canvas on the lake
shores and on the seafront where there are mod
ern camping facilities, while others stay at guest
houses and the two first-class hotels. This
former fishing village exists now purely on its
tourist traffic — there are no industries worth
mentioning, and no farms."
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| A jet crash-landed on North Beach, near The, Entrance. Tuggerah Lakes. Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), Wednesday 25 March 1953 |
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| The old-wooden single-lane bridge with bypass bays opened at The Entrance, NSW, in 1934 |
1960s
Reticulated water supply to The Entrance supplied in 1961.
Erina High School opened in 1964.
In 1967-68 a sea-wall was built at the beach at The Entrance to control erosion.
Cabeethon Guesthouse, built in the early 1900s, was destroyed by fire in 1967.
A concrete bridge at The Entrance was built in 1969.
Wyong Sewage Treatment Plant completed in 1969.
A two lane, concrete bridge was opened to traffic at The Entrance on 20 December 1968.
1970s
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| The Entrance, NSW, 1970s |
1980s
The first high-rise flats built at The Entrance.
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| Postcard, The Entrance, NSW |
1990s
In the 1990s the Tuggerah Lakes suffered from eutrophication, with macroalgae blooms.
In 1999, the Wyong Council called The Entrance "The Pelican Capital of Australia", after
they opened a pelican feeding platform.
2000s
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| 110 people at The Entrance, NSW came together to call for action on climate change, 2011. 350 .org |
Around The Entrance
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| The Lakes Hotel, The Entrance, NSW, built 1940 |
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| The Entrance Lake House. NSW, which looks over Tuggerah Lakes, was built in 1903 |
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| The Entrance Surf Club was built In 1936, NSW |
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| Australia’s Oldest Carousel is located at The Entrance, NSW. Brought to Australia from France in the early 1900s as part of a travelling fairground and moved to The Entrance in the 1930s after it was purchased by local resident Johnnie Smith |
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| The Entrance, NSW |
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| The Entrance Hotel, NSW, was built from bricks made at The Entrence Brickworks kiln in 1927 |
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| Former Entrance Cinema, The Entrance, NSW. built 1934 |
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| The Entrance North Church, NSW |
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| Modernist architecture ( elimination of ornament and decoration and symmetrical compositions with the use of geometric forms, often with flat roofs), The Entrance, NSW |
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| The Entrance Boat Shed. Fishing Tackle, The Entrance, NSW, built 1927 |
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| Modernist architecture ( elimination of ornament and decoration and symmetrical compositions with the use of geometric forms, often with flat roofs), The Entrance, NSW |
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| The Entrance, NSW |
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| The Entrance, NSW |
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| The Entrance, NSW, waterfront Carnival featuring the Pavier Grand Wheel, Dodgems, plus other rides |
Things To Do and Places To Go
The Entrance Heritage Walk
Bulgandry Art Site in Brisbane Water National Park has ancient Aboriginal rock art.
Popran National Park, has rock engravings, sandstone shelters and axe-grinding grooves.
The Entance Long Jetty RSL Sub Branch has an impressive Military Museum
