This is the original John Oxley map of Port Macquarie. Note the thin North Shore peninsula.
The story of the north wall starts with the building of the north training wall late in 1933 after much controversy due to concerns of restricting water flow out to sea during floods. The idea of the training wall (at this stage only the training wall which runs along the west side of the north shore peninsula was being considered - not the breakwall that extends out to sea and ends at approximately the same length as the south wall) was to confine the river’s run so that a channel would be scoured out and break through the sand bar out to sea.
In this 1933 harbour sounding map, you can see that the end of North Shore has disappeared!
The North Shore peninsula that you see today was nothing like it was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The peninsula south from a point about midway of Pelican Island was just a series of sand spits. Then in February 1929 a massive flood tore through the whole Hastings district. Flood waters came rushing down the Hastings and Maria Rivers and didn’t bother to go around Settlement Point, but ran right over the lowlands and washed the northern point of North Shore out to sea. Locals mentioned that there used to be sand dunes up to 60’ high on that point. After the flood the entrance to the port became even more hazardous as the opening to the sea was now about a mile wide with numerous sand shoals which unpredictably shifted at each tide or heavy sea. Shipping was constantly being hampered with delays in entering and departing the port as only the most favourable of tides and wind conditions would ensure a safe crossing. Much grounding occurred during this period and many ships were damaged or wrecked.
The training wall stabilised and built up the southern end of the North Shore peninsula and narrowed the width of the entrance; however construction ceased in April 1942, when it was feared that the Japanese would invade. Even the railway tracks which carried the rock from the nearby quarry were taken up to deny the enemy of any advantage. But after all of this effort and expense it did not solve the problem of removing the bar and stopping shoaling of sand in the harbour.
Enter the next phase of construction – The North Wall!
In 1976 a plan was drawn up by the Public Works Department to build a wall starting 150 yards north of where the training wall ended and extending 580 yards out to sea. The idea of the gap between the walls was to act as a wave and sand trap, leaving the main river channel deep and stable. The locals of coarse didn’t like the plan and thought that the wall should have commenced where the training wall finished and go further out to sea to be level with Flagstaff Hill.
Igneous dolomite rock was taken from the nearby quarry and placed in a progression of varying weights and sizes. One ton rocks were used for the first 120 metres, two ton boulders for the next 155 metres, five ton boulders for the next 275 metres and huge 10 ton stone for the last 30 metres. The wall was completed in late 1978 and now sets the familiar appearance of the entrance to the Hastings River. The bar is still there, but it is stable and shoaling inside the harbour has also stabilised. Some of the old timers also mentioned that there used to be 4 foot breakers entering the harbour and smashing on the wharf area before the wall was built – that doesn’t happen anymore either!
North Shore peninsula has been stabilised and back filled.
Looking south from the end of the North Wall.
The Cache.
Located at the end of the North Wall, you can drive within a few metres of where the cache is placed in a 2wd and there is enough room to turn around - we do it regularly in a large 4wd and so do the fishermen and board riders.
To the left of GZ there is a rock with a painted yellow triangle. Please watch out for fishermen muggles.