Bexhill is a small village in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. As of 2006, the town had a population of 472 people. It is located about from Byron Bay and about from Lismore and is in the City of Lismore. It is on the

Murwillumbah railway line The Murwillumbah railway line is a mostly disused railway line in far north-eastern Northern Rivers New South Wales, Australia. The line ran from Casino to Lismore, Byron Bay, Mullumbimby and Murwillumbah, opening in 1894. It is one of only t ...

and on Bangalow Road.

Attractions

Bexhill is well known for its pleasant open air cathedral which is managed by volunteers of the

Uniting Church The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Union ...

. The "cathedral" has attractive native gardens and overlooks a large length of valley and hills along Coopers Creek. It is well used for wedding services and special events. The village also contains an old brick pit which is officially closed for recreational purposes due to metal contaminated water naturally leached from the surrounding rocks but the attractive colour of the lake in the pit and Bexhills hot summer weather mean that many people swim there despite the danger.

Geography

The village is located on the end of a ridge of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

hills. The village itself is located on sedimentary rocks of the

Clarence Moreton Basin The Clarence Moreton Basin is a Mesozoic sedimentary basin on the easternmost part of the Australian continent. It is located in the far north east of the state of New South Wales around Lismore and Grafton and in the south east corner of Q ...

and is surrounded by the

Wilsons River Wilsons River, a perennial river and part of the Richmond River catchment, is situated in the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features The river rises on the eastern slopes of Jerusalem Mountain within the Ni ...

and Coopers Creek flood plains.

History

Bexhill, established in the early 19th century, was the central point of the early

North Coast North Coast or Northcoast may refer to : Antigua and Barbuda * Major Division of North Coast, a census division in Saint John Parish Australia *New South Wales North Coast, a region Canada *The British Columbia Coast, primarily the communiti ...

of New South Wales. In the 19th century Bexhill was known as Baldhill. Bexhill Old Brick Pit

Bexhill's early production was red cedar logging, its close proximity to Boat Harbour made the floating of logs an easy task during flood waters. The Bexhill school (established around 1850) was subject to easy flooding as well, and was eventually relocated to higher ground. After the

Federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...

the population of Bexhill began to dwindle. The trades it produced were no longer as vital and people started to migrate to more lively parts of the far north coast. With the population slowly moving out, parts of Bexhill began to close. The post office which brought the surrounding areas its post closed down, relocating to Lismore. The Bexhill Brick works which produced the bricks for the far north coast closed down towards the end of the 1990s, unable to keep up with the production of bricks from

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

and Newcastle.

References

External links

Northern Rivers Geology Blog - Bexhill
{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Northern Rivers City of Lismore