Sawtell

Sawtell is a coastal village near Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales, Australia.

History

The original inhabitants of the land were Aborigines of the Gumbaynggirr clan. The Aboriginal name for the land where the town now stands was Bongil Bongil.

In 1863 a cutter carrying a load of cedar logs ran aground on what would become Sawtell Beach. A Coffs Harbour farmer named Walter Harvey assembled a team of workers to salvage the logs, and a small settlement developed near the site of the wreck.

Forty years later, the land around Sawtell Beach was purchased and subdivided by Oswald Sawtell for housing and farmland. A railway station, post office, school and hotel followed soon thereafter and by the 1930s Sawtell had become a thriving coastal village.

As of 2006, the population of Sawtell was 3,122.

Location

Sawtell is located on the north-eastern coast of New South Wales, within kilometres of Toormina and Boambee, and 10 km south of Coffs Harbour. It is served by the North Coast railway line with six XPT services daily, three heading north and three south. This station is an optional stop for all of them. Coffs Harbour Airport is located just to the north of Sawtell with the runway ending just to the north of the town. It is serviced daily by Virgin Australia and QantasLink.