Freshwater Beach

Freshwater Beach is a beach located in Freshwater, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Freshwater Beach is the first beach north of Manly, New South Wales, on the Peninsula. The beach is flanked by a headland at each end and can produce excellent surf. There is a large rock pool at the northern end. The beach is patrolled by lifeguards and has its own surf lifesaving club.

In 1818, 50 acres (20 ha) were given to Thomas Bruin by Governor Macquarie. The estate became known as Freshwater, possibly because of a freshwater stream running between what are now Wyuna and Wyndora Avenues.

The place remained virtually uninhabited until land sales in the 1880s. A subdivision of the land became known as Harbord after Margaret Cecilia Harbord, wife of governor Lord Carrington.

From the 1900s, Freshwater was a popular working-men-only camp. Tents soon gave way to huts with names like "The Ritz" and "Shark Bait". Female visitors were only allowed on Sundays. After the First World War, working-class families came to the camps and built new dwellings and lodges.

The original camps were owned and operated by people such as a Mr Lewers who built, in 1908, what is Harbord's oldest building (now a restaurant). In 1909 it was the location of the local post office.

What is now called the Wormhole (the tunnel linking Manly and Freshwater beaches) was built and blasted out by the owners of some of the Freshwater camps. Wishing to link Manly and Freshwater, they created a cave and a walkway which is still used today, although the pathway requires some climbing, due to rock falls. Remnants of the old pathway still remain.

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