Overflying Collaroy
I was being flown southbound along the Northern Beaches towards Sydney in a DHC-2 floatplane when I took this shot. It looks across part of the suburb of Collaroy and out to the Tasman Sea past the Long Reef Golf Club on the peninsula in the distance.
This area was originally part of Narrabeen but was renamed after the SS Collaroy ran aground on the beach in 1881. The ship was refloated and wrecked on the Californian coast in 1889. Most of Collaroy’s development has occurred since the mid-20th century. It has a population of some 8,000.
The two roads roughly parallelling each other towards the upper right of the image are Norfolk Avenue (to the left, north) and Lincoln Avenue (to the right, south). The major road crossing the image just below the golf course is the main north-south artery for the Northern Beaches - at this point it is called the Pittwater Road.
The Long Reef course apparently provides a challenge to golfers of all standards, and the spectacular cliff-top promontory location offers a cool breeze on even the hottest summer day. It is just 20 km north of Sydney's central business district and boasts unsurpassed views all the way to the Central Coast in the north and Manly in the south. Five-times winner of The Open Peter Thomson, designer of new holes at Long Reef, described it as "The best site of any golf course in Sydney".
In the 19th century, the headland was used for light farming and was owned by the Salvation Army until 1912 when it became Crown Land administered by Warringah Shire Council. For some years it was a popular camping ground.
The golf club was started in 1921 as a nine-hole layout. Because the lower part of the headland was swamp the golf holes were confined to the upper ground. By today’s standards it was all a bit primitive. Grazing cattle(!) constituted an early hazard and wire fences had to be erected around the greens. The swamp was drained and filled in the late 1920s and extended to a full 18 holes in 1931.
Below you can see a view I took of the golf course earlier that afternoon on my way north...
Overflying Collaroy
I was being flown southbound along the Northern Beaches towards Sydney in a DHC-2 floatplane when I took this shot. It looks across part of the suburb of Collaroy and out to the Tasman Sea past the Long Reef Golf Club on the peninsula in the distance.
This area was originally part of Narrabeen but was renamed after the SS Collaroy ran aground on the beach in 1881. The ship was refloated and wrecked on the Californian coast in 1889. Most of Collaroy’s development has occurred since the mid-20th century. It has a population of some 8,000.
The two roads roughly parallelling each other towards the upper right of the image are Norfolk Avenue (to the left, north) and Lincoln Avenue (to the right, south). The major road crossing the image just below the golf course is the main north-south artery for the Northern Beaches - at this point it is called the Pittwater Road.
The Long Reef course apparently provides a challenge to golfers of all standards, and the spectacular cliff-top promontory location offers a cool breeze on even the hottest summer day. It is just 20 km north of Sydney's central business district and boasts unsurpassed views all the way to the Central Coast in the north and Manly in the south. Five-times winner of The Open Peter Thomson, designer of new holes at Long Reef, described it as "The best site of any golf course in Sydney".
In the 19th century, the headland was used for light farming and was owned by the Salvation Army until 1912 when it became Crown Land administered by Warringah Shire Council. For some years it was a popular camping ground.
The golf club was started in 1921 as a nine-hole layout. Because the lower part of the headland was swamp the golf holes were confined to the upper ground. By today’s standards it was all a bit primitive. Grazing cattle(!) constituted an early hazard and wire fences had to be erected around the greens. The swamp was drained and filled in the late 1920s and extended to a full 18 holes in 1931.
Below you can see a view I took of the golf course earlier that afternoon on my way north...