Barrenjoey, New South Wales

Barrenjoey Headland and Station Beach viewed from West Head

Barrenjoey is a locality in the suburb of Palm Beach, at the most northern tip of Pittwater. The headland is mostly made up of Hawkesbury sandstone which overlays Narrabeen shale. Around 10,000 years ago the headland was cut off from the mainland due to the rising sea level; subsequent buildup of a sand spit or tombolo reconnected the island to the mainland (a 'tied island'). It is the location of the Barrenjoey Head Lighthouse, a lighthouse that was first lit in 1881.

History

On 2 March 1788, Arthur Phillip named the headland "Barrenjuee" (meaning little kangaroo or wallaby). The name has been spelt differently over time, Barrenjoey now being the accepted name since 1966.^[1]

Contour survey of part of Barrenjoey Head, Broken Bay - showing position of proposed lighthouse, 1877

Notes

1. "Barranjoey". barranjoey.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2011.

References

• List of Lights, Pub. 111, The West Coasts of North and South America (Excluding Continental U.S.A. and Hawaii), Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Islands of the North and South Pacific Oceans (PDF). List of Lights. United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2009. p. 126.

External links

• Virginia Macleod (2008). "Barrenjoey". Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 24 September 2015. [CC-By-SA]