Fingal Bay is the eastern-most suburb of the Port Stephens Local Government Area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia.[3] The only population centre is the township of the same name, which itself is named after the adjacent, small, semi-circular bay.[5]
Except for the township, most of Fingal Bay is included in the Tomaree National Park, which includes forested areas, coastal scrubland, beaches and the Fingal headland. The northern head of the bay itself is Fingal Spit and Point Stephens, the southern head is Fingal Head. Point Stephens was named by Captain Cook when he passed on 11 May 1770, honouring Sir Philip Stephens who was Secretary to the Admiralty. Stephens was a personal friend of Cook and had recommended him for command of the voyage.[6] It seems Cook's initial choice had actually been Point Keppel (named after Augustus Keppel, a Lords Commissioner of the Admiralty), but instead he used Keppel later when he named Keppel Bay.[7] Fingal Spit was a location for the So where the bloody hell are you? advertising campaign filmed for Tourism Australia and appears at the end of the advertisement.
The name first appeared on chart 1070, prepared by Captain Phillip Parker King in 1845.[5]
According to a sign on the beach, people have died crossing the bar which can be covered by breaking waves at times.
- ^ Only 1 square kilometre (0.4 sq mi) (approximately 11%) of the suburb is inhabited.[8] For this reason, the population density figure shown is that of the inhabited area, rather than for the whole suburb, as this is more representative of the actual population density. The average population density for the whole suburb is 158.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (410.3/sq mi).
- ^ Area calculation is based on 1:100000 map 9332 PORT STEPHENS.
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