Gunnamatta Bay

Gunnamatta Bay
Gunnamatta Bay, viewed from Cronulla.
Gunnamatta Bay Location in New South Wales
Location	Southern Sydney, New South Wales
Coordinates	34°03′55″S 151°09′04″E / 34.06528°S 151.15111°E / -34.06528; 151.15111Coordinates: 34°03′55″S 151°09′04″E / 34.06528°S 151.15111°E / -34.06528; 151.15111^[1]
Primary outflows	Port Hacking
Basin countries	Australia

Frozen	never

The Gunnamatta Bay is a small bay in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Gunnamatta Bay is located off the Port Hacking estuary, in the Sutherland Shire. The foreshore is a natural boundary for the suburbs of Cronulla to the east, Woolooware to the north and Burraneer to the west.

Transport

Cronulla and National Park Ferry Cruises operate a ferry service from the wharf on Gunnamatta Bay, which provides a link between Cronulla and Bundeena across Port Hacking, on the edge of the Royal National Park.

Parks

Gunnamatta Park and Darook Park are located on its eastern foreshore. Tonkin Oval on the northern foreshore features a large cricket oval and is also used for baseball. Cronulla Public School is located nearby.

Gunnamatta park holds a valuable remnant of bushland canopy and a more limited but equally valuable understorey remnant. An unusual but natural occurrence of Rough-Barked Apple-Gums (Angophora floribunda) grow in the park and are usually typical of the nearby Wianamatta Shale soil as opposed the Hawkesbury Sandstone on the site; this tree is virtually extinct in the Sutherland shire due to a complete lack of comprehensive reserves on shale soils, though this tree is still relatively common on the Cumberland Plain in western Sydney and elsewhere in Australia Earth.

History

Matthew Flinders and George Bass explored and mapped the coastline and Port Hacking estuary in 1796 and the southernmost point of Cronulla is named Bass and Flinders Point, in their honour. Thomas Holt (1811–88) owned most of the land that stretched from Sutherland to Cronulla in the 1860s.

The area around the bay was subdivided in 1895 and land was offered for sale at 10 pounds per acre. In 1899, the government named the area Gunnamatta, which means sandy hills. On 26 February 1908 it was officially changed to Cronulla and Gunnamatta was used for the name of the bay, on the western side.

Cronulla is derived from kurranulla, meaning ‘‘place of the pink seashells’’ in the dialect of the area's Aboriginal inhabitants, the Dharawal people. The beaches were named by Surveyor Robert Dixon who surveyed here in 1827-28 and by 1840, the main beach was still known as Karranulla.^[2]

Gallery

Gunnamatta Pavilion
Gunnamatta Park
Tonkin Oval, Cronulla
Gunnamatta Bay, view from Burraneer
Gunnamatta Pavilion

References

↑ "Gunnamatta Bay (NSW)". Gazetteer of Australia online. Geoscience Australia, Australian Government.
↑ Pollon, Frances, ed. (1990). The Book of Sydney Suburbs. Australia: Angus & Robertson Publishers. ISBN 0-207-14495-8.

Suburbs and localities within the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, Sydney

Suburbs	Alfords Point Bangor Barden Ridge Bundeena Bonnet Bay Burraneer Caringbah Caringbah South Como Cronulla Dolans Bay Engadine Grays Point Greenhills Beach Gymea Gymea Bay Heathcote Illawong Jannali Kangaroo Point Kareela Kirrawee Kurnell Lilli Pilli Loftus Lucas Heights Maianbar Menai Miranda Oyster Bay Port Hacking Sandy Point Sutherland Sylvania Sylvania Waters Taren Point Waterfall Woolooware Woronora Woronora Heights Yarrawarrah Yowie Bay

Localities	Audley Bate Bay Caravan Head Como West Cronulla Beach Cronulla sand dunes Elouera Beach Garie Beach Gundamaian Gunnamatta Bay North Cronulla Beach North Engadine Royal National Park Shelly Beach Sylvania Heights Towra Point Wanda Beach Warumbul Wattamolla

List of Sydney suburbs

Coastal bays and inlets of New South Wales, Australia

North of Sydney Harbour	Akuna Anna Bateau Blue Boat Harbour Bonnells Booker Brisbane Water Broken Byron Careel Carey Catherine Hill Chain Valley Chittaway Cogra Crangan Croudace Crowdy Elvina Empire Fennell Fingal Fishermans Hardys Kilaben Lovett Morning Myuna Bay Nelson One Mile Oyster Phegans Port Stephens Salamander Shoal Tanilba Toowoon Trial Warners Woy Woy Yowie

Within Sydney Harbour	Balls Head Bantry Berrys Blackwattle Canada Careening Cove Cockle Double Elizabeth Hen and Chicken Homebush Iron Cove Lavender Mosman Neutral Oatley Port Jackson Rose Rozelle Rushcutters Towlers Watsons White

South of Sydney Harbour	Bate Batemans Bittangabee Bonnet Botany Burraneer Callala Dolans Gunnamatta Gwawley Gymea Kogarah Kyle Little Malua Mystery Port Hacking Twofold Weeney Woolooware

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