Patonga is a small beach side fishing and holiday village which is part of the Central Coast region of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia, located on the edge of Brisk Bay and near the mouth of the

Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River (Dharug language, Dharug: Dyarubbin) is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle ...

. It is part of the

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

. Patonga is the southern most village of the Central Coast.

Geography

Patonga is a small and quiet bayside community occupying a one kilometre long sandy spit projecting from the rocky and elevated headland of the

Brisbane Water National Park Brisbane Water National Park is a national park on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The national park is situated north of Sydney and southwest of Gosford. It consists the Brisbane Water and Moo ...

to the north through to the spit at the mouth of the Patonga Creek which feeds into the

Broken Bay Broken Bay, a semi-mature tide-dominated ria, drowned valley estuary, is a large inlet of the Tasman Sea located about north of Sydney on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia; being one of the bodies ...

. Patonga has both a beach frontage onto Brisk Bay to the east and a sandy foreshore on the creek to the west. Patonga can be accessed by road along Patonga Drive from

Umina Umina Beach ( ) is a suburb within the local government area on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Umina Beach is situated north of Sydney and south of Newcastle. Umina Beach is locally known on the Central Coast as being on ' ...

to the north, by ferry from Palm Beach or by private watercraft. The community extends to housing, accessible only by watercraft, which occupies Patonga Creek's foreshore on the opposite bank. Various bush tracks provide hiking access to Patonga and the surrounding reserves. Patonga also has a walking track of medium difficulty which leads to neighbouring Pearl Beach. Patonga still operates as a fishing village but is also home to weekenders escaping from Sydney and holiday makers. The Patonga Creek was once navigable by fairly large vessels, but now averages about half a metre in depth. The nearby towns of

Umina Beach Umina Beach ( ) is a suburb within the local government area on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Umina Beach is situated north of Sydney and south of Newcastle. Umina Beach is locally known on the Central Coast as being on ' ...

and Ettalong Beach are significant neighbouring communities which provide many facilities and services not available at Patonga.

Origin of name

Patonga means "

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

" in the Darkinjung people's language. Early

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

maps of the area spelt Patonga as "Betonga".

Local industry and facilities

Oyster farming Oyster farming is an aquaculture (or mariculture) practice in which oysters are bred and raised mainly for their pearls, shells and inner organ tissue, which is eaten. Oyster farming was practiced by the ancient Rome, ancient Romans as early as the ...

is the main local industry along with eco-tourism and recreational tourism. Visitors from the Central coast,

day trippers A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and leisure to a location th ...

from Palm Beach, wider

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, and other areas of the

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

provide customers to the Boathouse Hotel and Kiosk. The hotel has a tavern with a restaurant and some accommodation The town also has as a handful of art galleries. Recreational facilities and infrastructure include a sports oval, a public boat ramp to the eastern end of the village, tennis courts, a public wharf and a two-hectare camping and caravan park located at the southern end of the village (accessed by Patonga and Bay Streets). The wharf is also used by commercially operated ferries providing services to Palm Beach and Newport on the Northern Beaches. Visitors to Patonga can take advantage of the opportunity for canoeing, boating, fishing and hiking.

Patonga and the film industry

Patonga provided the setting for the fishing village of Graves Point in the 1996 television movie loosely based on

Peter Benchley Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author. He is best known for his bestselling novel '' Jaws'' and co-wrote its movie adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works were also adapted for both ...

's novel, '

The Beast The Beast may refer to: Religion * The Beast (Revelation), one of three beasts described in the New Testament ''Book of Revelation'' Fictional characters * The Beast, imaginary monster in William Golding's novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954) * ...

', a sci-fi horror-drama in which a rare giant squid threatens a small seaport community. The featured sea-side cottage near the wharf was constructed as a film set and demolished on completion. Patonga has also featured in many other movies and TV shows such as Oyster Farmer, Micro Nation, Home and Away and many other big known titles.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115109/ IMDb 'The Beast'. Retrieved 16 January 2011

References

{{Coord, -33.549, 151.268, format=dms, display=title Suburbs of the Central Coast (New South Wales)