Budgewoi Lake 20 June 1966 by Elcom on a mat with caption
I made this meme for myself, because from 1967 I was living a bit to the right of this spot.
These photos were taken by the Electricity Commission in the process of building Munmorah Power Station. This is before the dredging started. You can tell this because the little island south of the bridge isn't there in the photo.
The dredging HAD been completed by 1967, and I remember the story of my Dad going for an unexpected swim using the dragnet when prawning out the front of our house in Diamond Head Drive one night. Apparently Mum got handed the kerosene lamp just in time.
At our spot, level with the Halekulani Shops (No 112), the channel started about six metres from the shore, but a little further east towards the bridge, the deep water started very close to the shore. Dad was used to the old conditions, and he no doubt was made well aware of where the deeper channel started!
A bot later, our next door neighbour Fred Menken put in a fibro pipe as a pole that was just at the edge of the channel for tying up his speedboat. As a kid when I was swimming in the lake, Mum used to say "don't go past the pole" about three hundred times. (yes, we all used to swim in the lake).
The Electricity Commission had so much dredge spoil to dispose of. It was proverbially coming out of their ears. Almost all of it got dumped in what was previously a very deep V-shaped section running back to the Toukley Golf Club site. There's a post in the group with aerial photographs showing this.
After the spoil was dumped there, that small island south of Budgie Bridge formed, and what we called the "sandbar" meant that the depth on the left hand side of this photo, about 2/3 of the way across to the line of the Toukley Bridge became substantially reduced.
It was possible to swim the channel, come up on the sandbar, and then it was about six inches deep all the way across to the golf club site so it could be walked across.
I only ever did this once. It was an interesting afternoon, and we made it all the way over and back, but we were baking in the sun, and had no water to drink. It wasn't a pleasant walk. It was also as boring as batshit, too. We never did it again, and I wouldn't want to (nor be able to due to my arthritis).
This image was four photos taken by Elcom which I've joined together. Over on the left if you zoom right in, you can just make out the faint outline of Norah Head Lighthouse. Which is exactly what the view would be from here today.
The photo's taken from the old wharf at what was originally called Diamond Head. but has later been renamed to Budgewoi Point. I've got a photo of the wharf from about 1920 in the group (a search for "Budgewoi" should find it), but it was removed when the dredging took place, and from the looks of it, it had mostly rotted away anyway. As do all wooden structures built in water eventually.
The opening in front of Slade Park, on the eastern side of the mouth to the channel is on our left. We look over to the Surf Club, and then on the right the gap for Toukley Bridge can be made out, with a tad of Gorokan in shot.
Speaking of a gap, extensive scientific research indicates it closed up about 3,500 years ago.
But it's a memory. The Awabakals who were living there - despite having no written history - were referring to it at least 3,500 years later. That's why the songlines are so important and it proves how effective they are.
Budgewoi Lake 20 June 1966 by Elcom on a mat with caption
I made this meme for myself, because from 1967 I was living a bit to the right of this spot.
These photos were taken by the Electricity Commission in the process of building Munmorah Power Station. This is before the dredging started. You can tell this because the little island south of the bridge isn't there in the photo.
The dredging HAD been completed by 1967, and I remember the story of my Dad going for an unexpected swim using the dragnet when prawning out the front of our house in Diamond Head Drive one night. Apparently Mum got handed the kerosene lamp just in time.
At our spot, level with the Halekulani Shops (No 112), the channel started about six metres from the shore, but a little further east towards the bridge, the deep water started very close to the shore. Dad was used to the old conditions, and he no doubt was made well aware of where the deeper channel started!
A bot later, our next door neighbour Fred Menken put in a fibro pipe as a pole that was just at the edge of the channel for tying up his speedboat. As a kid when I was swimming in the lake, Mum used to say "don't go past the pole" about three hundred times. (yes, we all used to swim in the lake).
The Electricity Commission had so much dredge spoil to dispose of. It was proverbially coming out of their ears. Almost all of it got dumped in what was previously a very deep V-shaped section running back to the Toukley Golf Club site. There's a post in the group with aerial photographs showing this.
After the spoil was dumped there, that small island south of Budgie Bridge formed, and what we called the "sandbar" meant that the depth on the left hand side of this photo, about 2/3 of the way across to the line of the Toukley Bridge became substantially reduced.
It was possible to swim the channel, come up on the sandbar, and then it was about six inches deep all the way across to the golf club site so it could be walked across.
I only ever did this once. It was an interesting afternoon, and we made it all the way over and back, but we were baking in the sun, and had no water to drink. It wasn't a pleasant walk. It was also as boring as batshit, too. We never did it again, and I wouldn't want to (nor be able to due to my arthritis).
This image was four photos taken by Elcom which I've joined together. Over on the left if you zoom right in, you can just make out the faint outline of Norah Head Lighthouse. Which is exactly what the view would be from here today.
The photo's taken from the old wharf at what was originally called Diamond Head. but has later been renamed to Budgewoi Point. I've got a photo of the wharf from about 1920 in the group (a search for "Budgewoi" should find it), but it was removed when the dredging took place, and from the looks of it, it had mostly rotted away anyway. As do all wooden structures built in water eventually.
The opening in front of Slade Park, on the eastern side of the mouth to the channel is on our left. We look over to the Surf Club, and then on the right the gap for Toukley Bridge can be made out, with a tad of Gorokan in shot.
Speaking of a gap, extensive scientific research indicates it closed up about 3,500 years ago.
But it's a memory. The Awabakals who were living there - despite having no written history - were referring to it at least 3,500 years later. That's why the songlines are so important and it proves how effective they are.