Empire Bay is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

on the Central Coast of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. It is part of the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

. Empire Bay was originally known as ''Sorrento'' being the name of a large boarding house in the locality. The land was subdivided in 1905. The name changed to Empire Bay in 1908 when a Postal Receiving Office was opened in a building attached to the boarding house. The name was changed because there was already a post office named

Sorrento Sorrento ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Italy, city and overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the southern terminus of a main branch o ...

in Victoria and Empire Bay was chosen because there was no other such name in the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

. The name was officially changed on 24 May 1908. William Huggart who owned ''Sorrento House'' was the first postmaster. In 1909 the status of the office was changed to

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

. It was moved into C. C. Swinburne's general store when he became Postmaster in 1910.Pratt, Eileen (1978) ''Place Names of the Central Coast''. Brisbane Water Historical Society and The Entrance and District Society. p. 4

Transport Links

Empire Bay is serviced by regular Busways bus services with connections to Woy Woy shopping centre and

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, the Ettalong Beach retail centre, Kincumber and Erina Fair. The village is also serviced by Central Coast Ferries on the Woy Woy to Empire Bay route via Saratoga and Davistown.

History

The original Empire Bay general store was built 1910 to 1912.

References

Suburbs of the Central Coast (New South Wales) Bays of New South Wales {{CentralCoastNSW-geo-stub