Biodiversity Strategy - Gosford City Council - NSW Government

Kangaroo, possums, flying squirrels (probably gliders) and parrots were also consumed.
Swamps may have been valuable for food resources such as eels, fish and shellfish and would
have supplemented a diet of possums and kangaroos. Wood duck, chestnut teal, brown quail,
black duck and black swans were all found on the Hawkesbury and were hunted. Grubs and
lizards were also eaten.
Tools used by the men included hunting spears tipped with fish teeth or fish bones, a multi
pronged "fish gig", boomerang, stone hatchet and net bags. Women carried fish hooks and line.
The sandstone caves that occur extensively in the area were used for hand stenciling and
painting and the rock plateaus for rock engravings and tool sharpening.
The tribes appeared to have been thinly distributed and to have been markedly affected by
European settlement. A census undertaken by the local magistrate Willoughby Bean in 1828
found only five family groups with a total of 65 people. With the plateau added total family
groups for the area would be around 12 with a total population of 360. This declined quickly due
to smallpox introduced by the white explorers. An 1848 census recorded about 50 aborigines
and by 1974 this was reduced to 13 (Fisher 1997).
A - 4.8
European Settlement
Captain Cook sailed north from Botany Bay on May 7th 1770 and named Broken Bay and Cape
Three Points (Bouddi Peninsular). Governor Phillip made two exploratory trips to the area on 2 nd
March 1788 and 5th June 1789 looking for reliable supplies of food and water for the new colony
at Sydney Cove. On the first vi sit Phillip briefly explored both sides of Broken Bay, discovering
the Hawkesbury River and a tributary of Broken Bay that was known as the ‘north-west’ arm
(later called the ‘north-east arm’ and now known as Brisbane Water). During his second visit,
Phillip made a more extensive investigation of this arm of Broken Bay (GGC library). However it
was discounted for agricultural use because of its rugged topography and Phillip reported that it
was difficult for boat access.
The Brisbane Water area remained unsettled for a considerable time due to these constraints.
Also fertile land existed along the Hawkesbury and there was better boat access to these areas.
The construction of the Great North Road from Dural by convicts in (date) in the north western
part of Sydney to Wollombi in the Hunter Valley via Wiseman's Ferry also focused travel away
from the Central Coast.
The Hawkesbury River became the lifeblood of the area as it provided boat access and
settlement occurred along it. Logging and boat building industries became established and most
of the timber was sent to Sydney by boat. Blue gum, blackbutt and ironbark were logged from
open forests, while turpentine and cedar were logged from closed forest areas. Settlement of
the Gosford district also began along the areas that were accessible by water, Brisbane Water
and Mangrove Creek. The shores tended to be occupied by small settlers including ex-convicts
whilst the timbered country on Erina and Narara Creeks was dominated by the gentry (GCC
library).
The first land grant on the Central Coast was at Orange Grove and was made to James Webb
in 1824. He commenced grazing but later turned to timber and ship building. Other settlers
managed to produce agricultural produce, with crops including citrus grown in the Wyoming
area. Corn and onions were grown in 1825 around Saratoga and around the 1830s tobacco,
sugar and bananas were grown at Gosford and Point Clare. The area was however generally
considered to be poor agricultural land.
Timber getting remained the primary industry for the area but a secondary industry of
shipbuilding using local timber became established and continued into the 20th century. A local
ship building industry developed in Gosford with the first boat built at Saratoga. The best known
shipbuilding family was the Davis family and family members established businesses in
Biodiversity - Technical Report Page 90