Toukley is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean on the eastern side, and Tuggerah and Budgewoi Lakes on the Nothern and Southern sides. (Tuggerah Lake to the south and Budgewoi Lake to the north)
Distance from Sydney: 105km
Distance from Newcastle: 55km
Surrounding Area & Attractions
Tuggerah Lake is the principal coastal lagoon of an interconnected 80 sq km lake system that includes Lake Munmorah and Budgewoi Lake. Large sand peninsulas separate the three lagoons from the Pacific Ocean, but they share common access to the ocean at The Entrance. The lakes and foreshores were cleaned up and restored in the late 1980s and are now ideal for waterskiing, canoeing, sailing, rowing and sailboarding.
The lakes are also ideal for anglers with blackfish, whiting, mullet, snapper, bream, flounder, tailor, flathead, jewfish, tarwhine and crabs all able to be caught from the foreshores of Tuggerah lake and Bream mostly caught in Budgewoi Lake. Prawns are usually plentiful in mid-summer and can be caught by wading into the shallows at night with the traditional lamp and net.
Cabbage Tree Harbour, Hargraves Beach, Jenny Dixon Beach and Norah Head are among the smaller but very popular locations to visit. Cabbage Tree Harbour is an attractive little bay enclosed by small rocky cliffs on either side that face northwards up the coastline. There’s a boat ramp and ocean pool and a few houses on the hillside.
Norah Head Lighthouse was built in 1903 and is considered one of the major coastal lights in NSW with the beam being seen 28 km out to sea. The viewing area around the lighthouse offers an excellent perspective over the coastline, lakes and westwards to the mountains. Below the lighthouse and off each of the headlands to the immediate south are enormous rock platforms, ideal for catching salmon, drummer, tailor, jewfish and snapper.
Lakes Beach is one of the area's better surfing beaches. Jewfish Point lies just offshore. The beach stretches northwards for 8 km, becoming Budgewoi Beach then Birdie Beach. Budgewoi (meaning 'young grass') is 3 km north of Noraville and occupies two small portions of land marking the boundary between Budgewoi Lake and Lake Munmorah. The two almost meet leaving only a narrow channel with boat ramps on opposite sides of the channel.
A large reserve with lots of trees, picnic-barbecue facilities and a footbridge across to a tiny island are a popular feature of the area. The waters of the channel are calm and shallow making this a popular and ideal spot for family outings and anglers. There are also clear views northwards over Lake Munmorah.
The eastern end of Toukley along the ocean shore is known as Noraville, named after Noraville House, built by Edward Hargraves, the prospector who, in 1851, discovered the first payable gold in Australia.
Hargraves was attracted by the beauty of the district and bought 640 acres at Noraville in the 1850s. He built the home, a replica of his grandfather's residence in England and one of the first in the district, later in the decade. It still stands on the clifftop overlooking Hargraves Beach and the ocean below. Noraville House is located at 3 Elizabeth St (turn off Scenic Rd).
Hargraves' wife was the first white woman to live in the district and she tended the estate after his death.
The Toukley markets are held in Toukley Shopping Centre Carpark on Canton Beach Rd, every Sunday from 8-2.
History
The first Europeans to discover the lakes were a search party looking for some shipwrecked fisherman who landed on the coast in 1796.
Toukley emerged with the construction of the Sydney-Newcastle railway in the 1880s. A new emphasis on health and leisure in the culture brought visitors by boat, train and horse-drawn vehicle to the fishing, bathing and walking opportunities afforded by the lakes.
The name ‘Toukley’ is thought to have indigenous origin. Two very different theories are that 'toukley' means 'many brambles', or that 'toukley ouckley' means 'rough on one side, smooth on the other', interpreted as referring to Tuggerah Lake and Budgewoi Lake.