Scotts Head - A General History There are two versions of how Scotts Head was named. The first version was in a book published in 1889 owned by Mr Frank Gosson of Wallace St, containing a map that clearly shows Scotts Head. According to Frank Gosson and others who viewed the book some years ago, this map, now missing from the book, tells that Scotts Head was named in Captain Cook's voyage of discovery. The headland we now know as Lantana Hill was named Scotts Head apparently after one of Cook's crew. The mountain to the west beyond there was called Cook's Knob and is now known as Scotts Mountain. The second and more popular version is set out by Max Brunsdon in his book "Scott of the Nambukh" published in 1985. William Scott, a cedar getter, built his hut just west of Oleander Drive in about 1839 and conducted his cedar getting business using the dwelling as his base for three years. William Scott had come to the Nambucca from the Macleay a few years earlier and explored the whole of the Valley and inspected the great stands of cedar in the area. When Scott inspected the mouth of the river at Nambucca Heads he found it unsuitable and too dangerous for commercial shipping. Scott then put into place an ingenious plan that culminated with his building his hut at Scotts Head. William Scott felled the cedar trees along the banks and upper reaches of the Nambucca River, lashed the logs together and floated them with the tides to Nambucca Heads, then using the last of the ebb tide he floated the logs into the mouth of Warrell Creek where it joined the Nambucca River. Using the tidal movements he floated the logs that were worth a fortune up Warrell Creek to the mouth of Stony Creek a few hundred metres from the present day Stuarts Point /Grassy Head turn off. From here Scott loaded the logs onto bullock wagons and drove the bullock teams across a trail he had earlier blazed to the busy port at Stuarts Point, which was at that time the entrance of the Macleay River and was called Macleay Heads. At this port the logs were loaded on to boats that sailed to the lucrative market in Sydney. Scott apparently lived with his young family for a few years at his Scotts Head abode and conducted his cedar getting business from there until 1842 .He acquired a 36 ton 48 foot cutter from Port Macquarie which he named "Jane Scott" after his wife. After the acquisition of "Jane Scott" William extended his cedar getting to the Bellinger River using the cutter to transport the cedar to the Southern market. Scott later moved to the Tweed River area where the cutter eventually foundered and went down with all hands at Fingal Head in Ju1y1849. To avoid confusion and make the history of Scotts Head easier to follow it is best to pinpoint the land marks that surround us. Scotts Mountain to the south west of Scotts Head was named because it was the tallest Mountain near the Stuarts Point - Scotts Head trail that William Scott had blazed to that Macleay River port in 1839. The main beach was always called Big Beach or Nine Mile Beach by the locals, but it is officially known as Forster Beach. Why authorities named it Forster Beach is beyond common sense as it can be confused with the seaside resort with the same name and spelling 200km to the south of here. The headland where the surf club is situated was known as the Main Headland. Moving south, the little beach was known as just that - Little Beach, although a few referred to it as Front Beach. The next headland is Elephant Head for the obvious resemblance to its name sake. Tracking further south, the next headland was called Hansen's Headland; the cove between Elephant Head and Hansen's Headland was called The Gap. The beach the other side of Hansen's Headland was called Hansen's Beach. Surfboard riders in later years called it Wakki Kaki. The reference of Hansen's Headland and Beach comes from a German gentleman, Joe Hansen who built his home on the crest of the headland and lived there for many years. The headland south of Hansen's beach was called Lantana Hill because of the abundance of lantana growing there. Thankfully this has diminished in the more recent years.Prominent fishing spots and rocks were "Flat Rock" the most northerly rock on the main headland, "Bruce Hill's Rock" in the centre and front of Main Headland which was named after a chap who fished for tailor from there during low and half tides which were the only times this rock was accessible. The island rock just off the main headland and to the north end of Little Beach was and still is called "Shag Rock" because of the marine birds that congregate there. Snapper Rock is the island rock off Hansen's Headland separated from Main Headland by a deep gutter. Years ago during the winter months many large schnapper were caught at this spot which indicates a reef close by. The rock on the south end of Hansen's Beach was called Piano Rock, then an area of sloping rock around to the " Blow Hole" which was considered the best spot for jewfish. The small tributary just west of the River Oak Estate is called Crouches Creek, after Alf Crouch who lived in Vernon Street and tied his flat bottomed punt up in the head of the creek. The other creek is Stoney Creek, two hundred metres east of the Stuarts Point turn off. The road from Macksville to Scotts Head snaked its way in, in about the same position that it is in today, except at the Scotts Head end, where there were three different entrances into the village. The first turned off about five hundred metres east of the Stuarts Point turn off and came across the shallows of Crouches Creek and entered the village in Vernon St. The other road was built later and followed the existing road till turning off and coming up the hill south of the present day school and later again following today's existing road into Waratah St. The first two entries were still plainly visible in the 1960's. Clegg's Hill is the rise four hundred metres east of the Stuarts Point turn and west of the now defunct rifle range where the Clegg family had their homestead. They owned the parcel of land that included all of Scotts Head which was later sold to Matthew Wallace. The well known Nambucca resident and sportsman Mick Clegg was born at the homestead on Clegg's Hill in 1915 and always claimed that he was the first white man born at Scotts Head. The early history of Scotts Head is linked to the Wallace family. Matthew Wallace was a land owner and business man who, as well as owning Scotts Head, also owned a big percentage of the business houses in Macksville, including the Star Hotel and several farms in the district. He was at one time the President of Bellingen Shire. The first home in Scotts Head, built by Matt Wallace, was a huge four bedroom home overlooking Little Beach just above the Post Office, where the late Reg Burns' home now stands. This residence was sold to the Brazels in about 1938. Sometime in the 1920's Matthew Wallace had the subdivision of Scotts Head surveyed but did not register the development with the Nambucca Shire Council. There were some blocks sold in this period for five pounds per block. Several dwellings were erected on these unregistered blocks; most of the timber used in these buildings was from the timber mill owned and operated by Ernie Blanch, situated on the south side of Wallace Street, about halfway between Gloucester and Kent Streets, near the residence with the mini tennis court. In June, 1936, Johnnie Wallace registered the subdivision of Scotts Head with the Nambucca Shire Council and blocks were sold ranging from seven to fifteen pounds. Some of the streets in Scotts Head, John St, Matthew St, and Wallace Street, were named after the Wallace family and Waratah Street was named after Johnnie's N. S. W Rugby Union team. Other streets named for particular reasons are Hill St. because it is the only hill in the original subdivision: Short St, because of its length; West St. because of its location; Park St. because it bordered the Reserve Park. and Ocean St, because it fronted the ocean. Vernon and Adin Streets were named after local families in the area and Kent and Gloucester Streets after Royalty. In 1930 Johnnie Wallace built a rough practice golf course south of Hill St, in the basin now bordered by Waratah Street and today's main road. The main road came into Scotts Head near the school and was the western boundary for Johnnie's golf course. On the flatter section of that area a set of rails was built and horse races known as picnic races were run. People from farms in the area would bring their horses and compete for pride not prizes. Though there were no official records kept it was consistently stated that a lad Jack Thompson from Taylors Arm rode his first winner at Scotts Head Races. © Nick Frame Digital 2010 The following is an exerpt from the book ‘Scotts Head - As Good as It Gets’ and is used with the kind permission of it’s author, Buz Brazel Click Here To Visit The Scotts Head Gallery