Lake Macquarie, NSW Australia

 

About 6mi (10km) north of Norah Head lies the beginning of the largest coastal saltwater lake in the Southern Hemisphere. With a shoreline stretching about 108mi (174km), Lake Macquarie is part of a larger catchment area that includes rivers and creeks flowing into it. The lake contains several islands, including Pulbah Island, designated a nature reserve and home to goannas. The lake was formed during the last Ice Age when the area was a river valley carved by the flow of a river. As the Ice Age ended and the glaciers melted, sea levels rose, causing the ocean to flood the river valley and transform it into a coastal lake. 

As I travelled along a narrow strip of land between the lake and the sea, I arrived at Swansea and the entrance to Lake Macquarie via the narrow Swansea Channel. The area surrounding Lake Macquarie was originally inhabited by the Awabakal people, a strong and determined clan who practiced fire-stick farming (controlled burning) that helped them with hunting and navigating through dense shrubland.

To the east of Swansea is Reids Mistake Head, and east of that is Moon Island. The story of how the headland got its name goes back to 1800 when Captain William Reid was sent to Hunter River, further up north, to obtain a cargo of coal. Reid sailed to Moon Island, thinking it was Nobby’s Head at the mouth of the Hunter River. He loaded his ship with coal and returned to Sydney. It was upon his return that Reid discovered his mistake, having not sailed far enough north and had instead reached another river, the entrance to Lake Macquarie, which happened to be another source of coal. 

This area became known as Reid’s Mistake, a name applied to the lake’s entrance and eventually to the whole lake. It wasn’t until 1826 that it was renamed Lake Macquarie, after Governor Lachlan Macquarie, a Scottish officer recognised for his efforts of leading NSW from being a penal colony to a free settlement. And so, Reid’s Mistake remains the official name of the southern headland.