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Pirrita Island

City of Lake MacquarieUninhabited islands of AustraliaUse Australian English from March 2021

Pirrita Island is an island in the Swansea Channel in the City of Lake Macquarie of New South Wales, Australia. It is adjacent to the suburb of Swansea. The Awabakal people called the area of Swansea Galgabba, which means a place to rest. The area was a rich hunting and fishing ground for the original inhabitants.The island is a popular nature tourism spot, with walking trails and seasonal birdwatching. Migratory birds such as the Far Eastern curlew, Bar-tailed godwit, Pied oyster-catcher, White-faced heron, Crested tern, and Little egret come from as far as Siberia and Alaska to rest and feed.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Pirrita Island (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Pirrita Island
Dobinson Drive, Lake Macquarie City Council

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Wikipedia: Pirrita IslandContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N -33.072111111111 ° E 151.63869444444 °
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Dobinson Drive
2281 Lake Macquarie City Council, Swansea
New South Wales, Australia
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Marks Point, New South Wales
Marks Point, New South Wales

Marks Point is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, located 23 kilometres (14 mi) from Newcastle's central business district and forming a small peninsula extending into the eastern side of Lake Macquarie. The Aboriginal people, the Awabakal, were the first people in the area. The suburb is named after the Marks brothers, and is one of the oldest suburbs in the Lake Macquarie area. Local businesses in Marks Point include a marina, post office, two cafes, newsagency, hairdressing salon, take away and bowling club. There is also a Public School, child care centre and a community hall available for hire which backs onto the local soccer field. As of the 2006 census, 23.0% of homes in the northeast of the suburb were Housing Commission properties, compared to 2.8% in other parts of the suburb.Marks Point and nearby areas were until recently serviced by the nearby Belmont Airport (IATA Code – BEO) in the suburb's south, which has since been closed down for redevelopment. It is named after Charles Marks who had an orchard there.Early settlers Henry and Charles were brothers of Maurice Marks, an early settler in Belmont. Henry bought the land at the Point and he and Charles went into partnership in an orchard. In 1885 he sold this to Charles, who lived on at Marks Point until he died.The Marks brothers' orchard grew oranges and pineapples. In the 1920s there were still Chinese Market Gardens near the present Marks Point Public School. Charlie Hollis operated a slipway and marine business in Edith Street from 1954 to 1980, when it became Marks Point Marina.

Lake Macquarie Petrified Forest

The Lake Macquarie Petrified Forest is a petrified pine tree forest at Fennell Bay, Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. Geologically it is located in the Permo-Carboniferous strata. The nearest town is Swansea.The petrified forest was first referred to in print (as Kurrur Kurran) within a grammar of the local Aboriginal people published in Sydney during 1834 by missionary minister Lancelot Threlkeld. The scientific aspects of the site were first addressed in detail by the geologist priest William Clarke, who visited the area in 1842 and prepared a detailed report which was subsequently presented to the Geological Society of London and published in its proceedings for 1843.The fossil forest (Kurrur Kurran) was in 2009 nominated to the State Government as being State significant heritage, but has not been listed as such yet. In the meantime the best available scientific collection of silicified wood from the fossil forest (itself listed as local heritage) passed to the care of the City of Lake Macquarie which after keeping it for some time disposed of it (into the Lake) without notifying any of the geologists interested in or studying the fossil tree horizon.The fossil tree horizon extends at least as far as the coast, where it can be found a little to the south of Catherine Hill Bay. Work continues trying to trace if this might be a very extensive horizon traceable right across the preserved Sydney Basin (e.g. to Marrangaroo in the west).It has been generally accepted that the trees were both killed and buried (preserved) by ash from a volcanic eruption, likely occurring somewhere well off the present eastern coastline.