Surfing on the NSW North Coast

Fingal Head
Pleasant coastal resort near the larger Tweed Heads-Coolangatta complex
Fingal Head is a small fishing village come holiday resort which lies just one kilometre south of New South Wales border, 874 km from Sydney. It consists of a narrow spit of land that lies between the Tweed River estuary and the ocean. In fact, the northern tip of Fingal Head forms the south head of the river mouth. Access is via Fingal Rd which heads off the highway at the south-eastern edge of Tweed Heads, just before you cross the bridge over the Tweed River.

The traditional inhabitants of the area were the Minjungbal people who settled more or less permanently due to the plentiful supply of food and water. They met with other tribes on an annual basis at Bunya Mountain (north of what is now Brisbane) to hold corroborees. The impact of white settlement was such that they had virtually died out by the end of the 19th century.

Captain James Cook sailed up the Gold Coast in 1770. He was nearly shipwrecked on Cudgen Headland and thus chose the expressive names of Mount Warning and Point Danger for two local landmarks.

John Oxley encountered the estuary in 1823 while scouting out a suitable spot for a penal colony. His party took shelter during a storm in the lea of the 10-acre islet off Fingal Head. Two men from his party investigated the island where they found turtles and an unidentified wreck. Thus Oxley called it Turtle Island and named the river after a waterway in northern England. In 1828 Captain Rous surveyed the river, travelling about 36 km upstream. His charts describe the islet as 'Cook's Isle' by which name it is still known.

A military post existed briefly (1828-29) at Point Danger on the other side of the Tweed River estuary. It was set up to intercept escapees from the new penal settlement at Moreton Bay.

Timbergetters worked the riverbanks for cedar from about 1844. They encountered hostility from the Minjungbal but the gun proved mightier than the spear. Logs were floated along the creeks and the river to the estuary although the bar rendered shipping hazardous until a breakwater was built in 1902. 25 men and three women were recorded as living on the Tweed in 1846.

The first permanent settlement emerged at near the estuary in what is now Tweed Heads South. Here the cedar-getters rendezvoused with the schooners that brought supplies and took the logs off to Sydney . The first European birth occurred in 1851. A lighthouse was built at Fingal Head in 1878 and it is still operating.

Today Fingal Head is a classic holiday resort destination noted for its holiday activities like boating, rock fishing and surf fishing, golfing, swimming, tennis and surfing. Fingal Beach is recognised as an excellent surfing destination and is remarkably peaceful in comparison to the busy beaches which lie to the north of the Tweed River estuary.

Things to see:  

Fingal Lighthouse
Fingal lighthouse dates from 1878 and was electrified in 1980. Designed by James Barnet it stands at the southern end of Fingal Beach. From the cliff-edge it is possible to see an outcrop of columnar-jointed basalt called the 'Giant's Causeway' which is named after a similar natural feature associated either with a locality called Fingal in Northern Ireland or Fingal Cave on the Scottish Island of Staffa, depending on which source you believe. At any rate Fingal was the name of a mythological Celtic giant who tried to build a causeway over the ocean.

Cook Island
500 metres offshore is Cook Island which is a breeding habitat for wedge-tailed shearwaters and the crested tern. In 1823 John Oxley and his party took shelter during a storm in the lea of the 10-acre islet. Two men from his party investigated the island where they found turtles and an unidentified wreck. Oxley called it Turtle Island. In 1828 Captain Rous conducted the first survey of the Tweed River and gave the island its present name.

Recreation and Foreshore Areas
There are picnic, barbecue and childrens' play facilities at Fingal Beach Park (north of the lighthouse and adjacent the beach) and at Fingal Boat Harbour Park on Fingal Rd near Wommin Lagoon. The latter also has a boat ramp.

At the northernmost point of Fingal Head (via Letitia Rd) is South Head, which constitutes the end point of a lengthy beach which runs along the ocean shore. Just behind South Head, on the Tweed River's southern shore, is tiny Doppys Beach, and just behind it is Letitia Spit, which ends at Kerosene Inlet.

For information on beaches and foreshore areas to the north see entries on Tweed Heads and Coolangatta.

	Holiday Homes & Units
	Torokina Beach House Newell Hwy Fingal Head NSW 2487 Telephone: (02) 6672 1218 Facsimile: (02) 6672 6672 Rating: ****
	Caravan Parks
	Fingal Holiday Park Prince St Fingal Head NSW 2487 Telephone: (07) 5524 2208 Facsimile: (07) 5524 7092 Rating: ***1/2