Fingal Head (New South Wales)

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Fingal Head (28°12′S, 153°34′E^[1]), often just called Fingal, is a town and headland in Australia on the New South Wales far north coast in Tweed Shire Council, near the border with Queensland and the Gold Coast.

Fingal Headland and the Tweed river

The Tweed River runs northwards close to the coast for about 6km before reaching its mouth at Point Danger. This forms a spit about 500-800 metres wide and Fingal is about half way along it. The part past Fingal is called Letitia Spit.

The headland itself is a low hill covered by scrub, and by grass on the exposed ocean side. Walking tracks lead over it and on top is a lighthouse.

The lighthouse was built in 1872 and is a traditional round design and stone construction. It only stands 7 metres high, but that suffices since it's up on the headland. In 1920 it was changed from kerosene to acetylene and was automated. It was electrified in 1980.

Directly offshore, about 750 metres from the headland, is Cook Island, a small rocky uninhabited island. The stretch of water in between is called the Giants Causeway. The waters around Cook Island were made a marine reserve in 1998 (fishing prohibited).

In 1823 John Oxley's exploration expedition took shelter in the lee of the island. He sent two men ashore where they found sea turtles and Oxley thus called it Turtle Island. But in 1828 Captain Rous surveyed the Tweed River and his charts showed the island as "Cook's Isle" and it's that name which is used today.

The local aboriginal people were the Minjungbal, but the impact of white settlement meant they were almost wiped out by 1900.

Since 1996 Fingal has hosted an annual surfing competition for indigenous surfers. The first year attracted 90 surfers from across Australia. In 1999, SBS television commissioned a documentary called Surfing the Healing Wave about that competition, as part of an Unfinished Business - Reconciling the Nation series. It won Best Australian Documentary at the 2000 Real Life on Film Festival.

Fingal isn't particularly noted as a surf spot as such. The headland does not form a point break on either side, so it is just beach breaks, but the southern side is one of the few places near the Gold Coast with any protection from northerly winds.