Take the Tour

Views from Murwillumbah to Mt Warning The Tweed Valley is full of breathtaking views that inspire both photographer and artist. Long time Tweed Valley residents never get tired of their valley and what it has to offer. The opportunity to live in such beauty is within your reach. Fingal is an excellent surfing beach with a beach patrol during summer holidays. There is the Point Danger Lighthouse, Cook Island and a beautiful sandy beach made for sunbaking. Dolphins are frequent visitors to Fingal and can often be seen surfing in the waves. Kingscliff is just south of Fingal also with patrolled beaches in summer and an estuary which is great for sheltered swimming, fishing, boating. Kingscliff is also noted for the wonderful outdoor dining facilities. Cabarita (Bogangar), which boasts of having one of the best surf breaks. Hastings Point, Pottsville, and Wooyung - all are wonderful and all are within about a 15 minute drive from Murwillumbah and its surrounding villages. For the skindiver, spectacular scenes like this abound the underwater wonderworld of the Tweed Coast. LOCAL HISTORY Our fiery past started some 20 million years ago in the form of a shield volcano which erupted creating molten lava flows covering many kilometres. Over a long period of time many changes took place due to erosion. The Tweed Valley Caldera is the result of the changes and Mount Warning is the central magma chamber of the extinct volcano. The surrounding Nightcap, Tweed, Burringbah and McPherson ranges are the remnant edges. Rich rainforests drew not only the aboriginal people but animals to the area to feast on the natural foods. The Bundjalung people named the volcano "Wollumbin" meaning "Cloud Catcher". Places like Murwillumbah, Tumbulgum, etc were named by the aboriginals. Views over canefields to Mt Warning In 1770 Captain James Cook continued to sail along the east coast of Australia and was almost shipwrecked on the reefs near a point which he subsequently named Point Danger and as a warning to others he renamed the volcano "Mount Warning" which he felt was an excellent navigational aid due to its great size. In 1823, John Oxley explored the coast and river systems. In 1827, Henry John Rous was also drawn to the area and its river systems and both Oxley and Rous (both of which have arms of the Tweed River named after them) had more than a passing interest in the rich timbers that grew in this beautiful valley. Rainforest timbers have always been treasured and soon after hearing of the bounty to be had in the area, Europeans soon took up residence to partake of the harvest of the "Red Cedar" also known as "Red Gold". The mouth of the Tweed River at Tweed Heads became a very busy "port" for the timber industry that had started. View from Crystal Creek In 1861 a Land Clearance Act allowed the Scottish and Irish immigrants to take up land lots and Sugar Cane became the second greatest industry. 1894 saw the railway from down south come to Murwillumbah and this aided the area to produced a quality dairy industry. Then in 1909 a banana industry was established. Sugar Cane and Bananas still flourish in the Tweed Valley. A wooden carving by a local artist called "The Cedar Cutter" graces Knox Park in memory of the cedar getters and their place in local history.