Wagait Beach, Northern Territory
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Wagait Beach is a locality approximately 8 km west of
Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( Larrakia: ') is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. The city has nearly 53% of the Northern Territory's population, with 139,902 at the 2021 census. It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australi ...
, Australia, on the opposite side of the harbour. It makes up the Wagait Shire
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 ...
. The population was 422 in 2021. Wagait Beach is on the north coast of the
Cox Peninsula __NOTOC__ The Wagait Shire is a local government area in the Northern Territory of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Au ...
, which forms the western side of
Darwin Harbour Darwin Harbour is a body of water close to the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the traditional waterways of the Larrakia people. It opens to the north at a line from Charles Point in the west to Lee Point in the ...
. It is part of the Hundred of Bray, as surveyed by
George Goyder George Woodroffe Goyder (24 June 1826 – 2 November 1898) was a surveyor in the Colony of South Australia during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He rose rapidly in the civil service, becoming Assistant Surveyor-General by 1856 ...
in 1869–70.


History

In 1942, after the
Bombing of Darwin The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Empire of Japan, Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the ...
, a military base was established at Waugite Point on the north east of the Cox Peninsula, and a huge observation tower was constructed, with a communications bunker underneath it. Waugaite tower was destroyed by
Cyclone Tracy Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small but destructive tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, in December 1974. The small but developing easterly storm was or ...
in 1974. The precise origin of the name of the community is unclear, but the beach adjacent to Wagait Point is called Wagait Beach. One source claims that the community was named after the tower, which is unconvincing as the tower was named after Waugite (Wagait) Point and so clearly is not the origin of the name.


Transport

Wagait Beach can be accessed by a 15-minute passenger
ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...
trip, from Cullen Bay ( Darwin), to Mandorah which is 5 km from Wagait Beach. There is a bicycle path from Mandorah to Wagait Beach. It is a 128 km drive from Darwin via the Cox Peninsula Rd through Berry Springs.


See also

* List of surviving Consolidated B-24 Liberators


References

{{Reflist Populated places in the Northern Territory Beaches of the Northern Territory