pelican

Deepwater @ Hawkesbury River

Local Attractions

When you get tired of relaxing on the front verandah and the fish aren't biting, maybe one of these local attractions and businesses may be of interest.

Find Brooklyn businesses and services on the qwert network.

Little Wobby Beach

Solutions by She Source
As a spiritual healer, Patricia offers private healings and conducts regular courses and workshops at her river retreat. Just along the riverfront. Website click here.
Appointments:   Mob. 0411 497 475     Bus. 02 9985 8897 

Massage & Beauty on the River
Visit Esther Castell's salon on Dangar Island or she can come to you for heavenly massage and facials, and hygienic tinting and waxing. 
Appointments:   Mob. 0419 997 812 

Marine Cabs
Marine Cabs provide a dependable, efficient and quality service to the residents and visitors of the lower Hawkesbury, Broken Bay and Pittwater 365 days a year. Website click here.  Mob. 0448 10 10 10

Cruising the Hawkesbury River

Cafe's, Restaurants & Dining Out

General Stores, Bait & Boat Fuel

Bushwalks & Outdoors

 

 

Local Area History

The Earliest Inhabitants

The Aboriginal name for the Hawkesbury River was recorded as Deerubbun and the lower Hawkesbury region was home to the Guringai Aborigines for thousands of years.

Initially the local people were friendly towards the first Europeans, but by 1790 over half the local Guringai people had succumbed to the smallpox that the British had brought with them.

Europeans

White settlement began when Governor Phillip and party sailed past the mouth of Brisbane Water and entered Broken Bay in a whaleboat in March 1788. The party camped on Dangar Island, which Phillip named Mullet Island after making a substantial catch offshore.

The river was named by Phillip in 1789 after Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool, who at that time was titled Baron Hawkesbury. It quickly became one of the major routes for transporting food from the surrounding areas to Sydney during the 1800s.

The railway in 1877 made it less than an hour's journey from Hornsby and a ferry service conveyed passengers on to Gosford. The first railway bridge across the Hawkesbury River was built in 1889.

Brooklyn was established in 1884 when the Fagan Brothers subdivided their 100-acre grant. The township was apparently named after a town in Holland called Breucklen.

These days, use of the river to carry farm produce and other goods has now largely been superseded by road transport, however the river remains the only form of access to a significant number of isolated homes and communities. This is especially true in the lower reaches of the river, where the steep and rugged terrain inhibits road construction.

Little Wobby Beach

The Little Wobby Beach Estate was created when several blocks of land were released for auction in April 1920.

The area was then occupied by the Commonwealth Military Forces during the Second World War. Several buildings were erected along the shoreline to house artillery batteries in case of a Japanese invasion through Broken Bay and the Hawkesbury River. A submarine net was also put in place across the river. Two of these buildings still exist as dwellings, into which they were converted after the war.

In the 1970s a plan was mooted for the State Government to purchase all of the properties along the shore and demolish the houses in order to rehabilitate the land and return it to being part of the national park. This never went ahead.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkesbury_River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Wobby,_New_South_Wales
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangar_Island
http://www.hawkesburyriverferries.com.au/
 http://www.mooneymooneyrealestate.com.au/hawkesbury-community.asp
http://www.hawkesburyriver.com/
http://www.gosford.nsw.gov.au/