This is Birpai country – Crowdy Bay National Park contains middens 6,000 years old. Cook sailed by in 1770 and noted the locals on a headland, calling it Indian Head. The explorer John Oxley followed, then timbergetters, graziers and sand miners.
Kylie Tennant, author of “The Man on the Headland” loved the area as a writing retreat. Unfortunately, Tennant’s timber slab hut burnt in the 2019 fires.
The volcanic geology of Diamond Head is unique, the result of lava flows, intrusions and alterations some 200 million years ago in the late Triassic, after the first dinosaurs but before flowering plants evolved.
Sparkling quartz in the headland look like diamonds, pyrite and gold also occur. Rhyolite, a yellow-white rock, can be seen on the beach below the campground near the photogenic Split Rock. The distinctive split was possibly formed by the erosion of a softer dyke, you can also observe columnar jointing and honeycomb weathering. More information on the geology is on Nancy and Bob’s geology tour website.
Two walks start from the campground at beautiful Diamond Head in Crowdy Bay National Park. Choose one or both, depending on how much time and energy you have.
Mermaid Lookout track
A short 1.2km Grade 2 walk, out and back to a lookout north over the bay toward North Brother, Camden Head and Perpendicular Point. The heath includes many wildflowers.
Headland Loop
This loop walk has stunning views of all the Brothers, including Middle Brother, the rugged coastline, and beaches. We walked it clockwise, climbing first up the hill to the high point on Diamond Head.
The path then follows the cliff line with a view of the natural arch, and south to Kylies beach from Kylies Lookout. A large kangaroo dozing under a bush surprised us here, growling with a ferocity that made us jump back fast.
The track then goes to Indian Head campground before meandering through the forest and crossing a small creek, back to the start.
