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Apple Tree Bay

by
Niall Clugston
2008
CC BY-SA 2.0
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Apple Tree Bay

Apple Tree Bay and nearby Bobbin Head, in Hornsby Shire, form the main recreational attraction of the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Apple Tree Bay lies on the western shore of Cowan Creek at the mouth of the smaller Apple Tree Bay Creek. Archaeological evidence shows the area was long occupied by Aboriginal people. [1]

Apple Tree Bay was named by the surveyor James Larmer in 1832 after an apple tree that grew at the bay's northern entrance. [2] Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park was established in 1894 after the lobbying of a local resident, Eccleston du Faur, who became its first managing trustee. [3]

At the start of the twentieth century the bay was a popular spot for swimming. In 1910, a bathing enclosure and dressing sheds were erected. Further works were undertaken by unemployed 'relief workers' during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the 1950s, facilities for boating were developed, and as time went on this activity predominated. [4]

Notes

[1] Conybeare Morrison International, Bobbin Head + Apple Tree Bay Masterplan: Volume 2, prepared for Department of Environment and Conservation, East Sydney, 2006, p 35

[2] John P Powell, Placenames of the Greater Hawkesbury Region, Hawkesbury River Enterprises, Berowra Heights, 1994, p 2

[3] Claire Schofield, The Shaping of Hornsby Shire, Hornsby Shire Council, Hornsby NSW, 1988, pp 87–88

[4] Conybeare Morrison International, Bobbin Head + Apple Tree Bay Masterplan: Volume 3, prepared for Department of Environment and Conservation, East Sydney, 2006, pp 18–32

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