The Spit & Chinamans Beach

Tour options:

Option 1: Pearl Bay to Chinamans Beach, return (approx. 1.5hr);

Option 2: Pearl Bay to Spit East return (approx 35mins)

The Spit at Mosman is an area rich in natural beauty and local history. This walking guide, winding from Pearl Bay, through to Spit West Reserve and Spit East, along Parriwi and circling down to Rosherville Reserve and Chinamans Beach, details the various sites within these localities and explores their histories, which are important locally and against the greater context of Sydney’s development. The Borogegal and Gamaragal people lived and maintained the Spit and Mosman area for thousands of years, prior to European arrival in Port Jackson in 1788 and their subsequent exploration of Middle Harbour which led them to the Spit.[1],[2]

In both Aboriginal and European settlements, the area’s unique geographical formations, such as the narrow sand spit, sandstone ridges, and various harbour inlets and bays, ensured a constant hive of activity, leading a historical legacy of great depth and diversity.

Despite the Spit’s current role as a major transport thoroughfare to the Northern Beaches, the enduringly secluded and private nature of the reserves and bays has maintained the area’s natural beauty and encouraged activity that contributes to the Spit’s fascinating historical heritage.

[1] Mosman Municipal Council, and Australian Museum Business Services, Aboriginal Heritage Study of the Mosman Local Government Area, Vol 4, 2004, PDF Files, <https://mosman.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-04/MAHS-Volume-4.pdf>, accessed 4 October 2021.

[2] Gavin Souter, Mosman, A History, (Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1994): p. 10.