Sawtell is a suburb of the City of Coffs Harbour in northern

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 borders Toormina to the west.

History

In 1863, a cutter carrying a load of cedar logs ran aground on what would become Sawtell Beach. A Coffs Harbour farmer named Walter Harvey assembled a team of workers to salvage the logs, and a small settlement developed near the site of the wreck. Forty years later, the land around Sawtell Beach was purchased and subdivided by Oswald Sawtell for housing and farmland. Sawtell railway station, post office, school and hotel followed soon thereafter and by the 1930s Sawtell had become a thriving coastal village. The original inhabitants of the land were

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

of the

Gumbaynggirr The Gumbaynggirr people, also rendered Kumbainggar, Gumbangeri and other variant spellings, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Mid North Coast of New South Wales. Gumbathagang was a probable clan or sub-group. The traditional lands of th ...

clan. The Aboriginal name for the land where the town now stands was ''Bongil Bongil''. File:Sawtell New South Wales First Avenue median.jpg, Sawtell's main street First Avenue with fig trees in the median File:Sawtell Beach New South Wales to the northern end.jpg, Sawtell's beach to the northern end File:Sawtell Beach.jpg, Sawtell Beach

Location

A suburb of the City of Coffs Harbour, Sawtell is located on the north-eastern coast of

, adjacent to Toormina and Boambee, and 10 km south of Coffs Harbour. It is served by the North Coast railway line with six

New South Wales XPT The New South Wales XPT (short for eXpress Passenger Train) is a class of diesel locomotive, diesel-powered passenger trains built by Commonwealth Engineering, Comeng and ABB. Based on the British Rail-designed InterCity 125, High Speed Train, ...

services daily, three heading north and three south. Sawtell station is an optional stop for all of them. Coffs Harbour Airport is located just to the north of Sawtell with the runway ending just to the north of the town.

Demographics

At the 2021 Census, Sawtell had a population of 3,788. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders made up 3.7% of the population.

Sawtell Beach

Sawtell beach extends north from Sawtell Headland and the sheltered Sailors Bay swimming area to Murray's beach. The beach is patrolled by the local Surf Lifesavers who run Sawtell Surf Club half way along the beach. Due to the dunes there are no true beach front properties on Sawtell Beach. Some properties look over Bonville Creek and some over Murray's Beach. The beach has

singing sand Singing sand, also called whistling sand, barking sand, booming sand or singing dune, is sand that produces sound. The sound emission may be caused by wind passing over dunes or by walking on the sand. Certain conditions have to come together ...

when walked on in dry conditions.

Sports and events

Sawtell has numerous sporting clubs and facilities. The Sawtell Panthers junior and senior Rugby League clubs play out of Rex Hardaker Oval, Toormina – along with Coffs Rugby, and the pigeon racing club. The Sawtell Scorpions are the local soccer club, based at Toormina Oval. The Sawtell Saints are the Australian Rules Football club, based at Richardson Park along with the Sawtell Cricket Club. Sawtell also has a number of recreation sporting clubs, most notably, Sawtell Golf Club, Sawtell Bowling Club, Sawtell Swimming Club, Sawtell Surf Lifesaving Club and Sawtell Tennis Club. A number of annual events have been organised by the local Sawtell Chamber of Commerce. The annual Chilli Festival features over 100 stalls of local and national vendors serving chilli-based food and products. The Festival is one of Sawtell's major annual events and is family oriented. The New Year's Super Fun Day involves family entertainment, including woodchopping, a

fun run A fun run is a friendly race that involves either road running or cross country running with participants taking part for their own enjoyment rather than competition. A fun run will usually be held to raise funds for a charity, with sponsors prov ...

tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport in which two teams compete by pulling on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal of bringing the rope a certain distance in one direction against ...

competitions, and live entertainment on New Year's Day. The Ben Woods Cricket Tournament, held between Sawtell and Coffs Harbour, takes place during the Christmas Period. A surfing competition, held at Sawtell Beach, raises money for those living with spinal injuries. Surfers from all over NSW and Queensland come to compete in the event.

Tourism and entertainment

Sawtell has a modern cafe and restaurant scene. Boambee creek offers safe swimming and a walking path around the headland. Sawtell Headland is popular for whale watching. The Cinema has been recently renovated and offers two screens. The usual amenities, bakeries, post office, hotels, motels, laundromat are all available. Sawtell has excellent surf breaks to suit all levels and wind directions.

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in New South Wales Mid North Coast Coastal towns in New South Wales Suburbs of Coffs Harbour