THE year 2024 signals a milestone in the life of my family.

It was November 1974 when my wife Ella and I drove into Nelson Bay for me to take up a position as a teacher at the local high school in the following year.

Hard to believe that all took place 50 years ago.

It was in Fingal Bay that we settled and raised the family.

Since arrival, I have become very interested in local history, writing five books about local people and the development of industries from their earliest beginnings.

After becoming a resident of Fingal, so long ago, I have continued to be a keen student in the evolution of the area – which I would like to share with you.

Much have I taken from my book “The Outer Light” written back in 2018.

Living in tranquil Fingal Bay, surrounded by incredible natural beauty, it is difficult to visualise the area as a centre of great volcanic activity, bubbling and hissing lava, heaving earth movement and giant blocks tumbling into the sea.

In the time of great change, the islands off our coastline were part of the mainland.

As the land settled, the Aboriginal people arrived roaming the beaches and headlands spearing fish, collecting crabs and gathering shellfish.

Ample evidence is available to suggest that Aboriginal folk hunted and fished in and around Fingal Bay tens of thousands of years ago.

I am very respectful of the Worimi culture and, at times, feel their very presence.

Then the ice melted some 6,000 years ago and water rose to create the islands.

Changes followed in a big way for the Aboriginal people themselves.

On Friday 11 May 1770 an entry into his log, made off Fingal, by Captain James Cook states the following.

“Winds southerly in the day and in the night westerly, a gentle breeze and clear weather at 4 p.m.

“Passed at a distance of one-mile, low rocky point which I name Point Stephens.

“On the northern side of this point is an inlet which I call Port Stephens.

“That appeared to me from the mast head to be sheltered from all winds.

“At the entrance lay three small islands, I think two of which are of tolerable height and on the main near the shore are some high round hills that make it appear like islands in passing the bay at this distance at two or three miles from the shore.”

The “three small islands” mentioned in Cook’s log are Boondelbah, Cabbage Tree and Little islands.

Cook’s entry was but a small part of his systematic mapping of the east coast of Australia as he sailed north.

The First Fleet was to arrive around seventeen years later in 1788.

The first ship to enter Port Stephens, in late 1791, was the whaler “Salamander”, a member of the Third Fleet.

The ship had earlier arrived in Australia from Plymouth with convicts onboard.

Early in his travels, Point Stephens (Fingal Outer Light) and Port Stephens were both named in honour of Captain Cook’s mate Sir Philip Stephens, Secretary to the Admiralty.

It was not until 1845 however that the name “Fingal Bay” first appeared on a map prepared by Naval Officer and Hydrographer Captain Phillip Parker King (1791-1856).

In his book “The Fatal Shore”, author Robert Hughes writes of the arrival of the sailing ships.

“The Aborigines and the fauna around them had possessed the landscape since time immemorial, and no other human eye had seen them.

“Now the protective glass of distance broke, in an instant, never to be restored.”

How true.

One can only assume that shortly before identifying the most south easterly point, Point Stephens, and making the entry into his log, Cook would have seen the wide opening into a peaceful bay (Fingal Bay).

This opening has, on numerous occasions, been confused by those sailing north, as the entrance to Port Stephens. This miscalculation has led to numerous vessels running aground.

This navigational confusion resulted in the sailors and local fishermen referring to the expanse as False Bay, later to be named Fingal Bay.

Just to complicate the issue Fingal Island, the landform, is not an island.

Technically it is a tombola or tide island.

The Fingal Spit, formed in 1898, which connects the mainland to the island played a vital part in the history and development of Fingal and continues to do so.

Naming of headlands, bays and other landforms in the Fingal region has, since early colonisation, been confusing particularly since the arrival of pioneering fishermen.

The fishermen and lobstermen have developed their own language.

Names that you will find on a map of the area are rarely used by the fishermen hence the names Shelly, Old Rocks, Dry Trees, Never Fail, Narrowgut, Twin Rocks and Birdie.

All the fishermen know exactly where these spots are – no one else does.

They also have names for outcrops, bays and shallow reefs that are not marked at all on any maps – King Tommy, Charlotte and Skatey to name a few.

Behind each of the names is a reason, some of which have been lost in time others remain obvious.

The Outer Light Island, Narrowgut Island or Point Stephens refer to the same place.

I did mention that there was some confusion.

Why the name Fingal?

It seems that the origins are a Scottish Gaelic word “Fionnghall”, meaning “fair haired stranger”.

From here there seems to be some difference of opinion involving ‘The Poems of Ossian the Son of Fingal’ translated by James Macpherson in 1762.

Fingal was a great Scottish warrior – a giant.

There’s more.

In 1772, while on a natural history expedition to Iceland, naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, who we know, discovered an amazing cave on Staffa, an island off the coast of Scotland.

This cave is known as Fingal’s Cave, which inspired Felix Mendelssohn’s overture “Fingal’s Cave”.

Back to the point.

The coastline in that region, off the coast of Scotland, is similar to the local coastline around Fingal Bay.

The geology around Fingal’s Cave is almost identical to that at Fingal Head on the Far North Coast of NSW.

I had been told that the unique rock structure, which resembles a staircase, was used by Fingal, the warrior, to emerge from the sea.

In my humble opinion, Fingal (Port Stephens), was so named as it was similar to the landform in Scotland noted by Sir Joseph Banks.

Banks, incidentally, was on board the “Endeavour” when she sailed by in 1770.

Don’t quote me.

One other thing – there has always been an issue as to when one actually becomes a “local”.

How long do you need to live in a place to be known as a local?

My opinion is that anyone who chooses to become a permanent resident of Fingal Bay, or anywhere else, becomes a local on the very first day of their arrival!

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE