Tanilba Bay Australia

The Water Gates

Tanilba Bay Australia

Located on the Tilligerry Peninsula, Tanilba Bay is a suburb of the Port Stephens local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia.

Entrance to Tanilba Bay
Entrance to the town

Tanilba House

The centrepiece of the town is Tanilba House, a beautiful and elegant home which is one of Australia’s oldest historical buildings. Built for Lieutenant William Caswell, a naval officer who had received a land grant of 20.2 hectares in 1831. Caswell established farm sites at Seaham (23 km north) and Salt Ash and opted to build his homestead on the land at Tanilba.

Tanilba Bay House
Tanilba House

The Temple of the Stork

Built from local rock quarried from Mallabula and completed in 1933, The Temple of the Stork is an ornate stone and shell temple. The floor and ceiling of the temple feature reversed images while patterns of 8 appear mystically in the design. Henry F. Halloran who owned Tanilba House at the time was responsible for its construction.

The Temple of the Stork
The Temple of the Stork

Water Gates

The Centenary Gate, also known as the Water Gate, were constructed from 1929 to 31 March 1931. It was built to mark the centenary of European settlement at Tanilba Bay by the original grantee, Lieutenant William Caswell.

Henry F. Halloran designed the gate from round and broken quartz porphyry embellished with white feldspar gathered from Tanilba foreshore and a quarry at Mallabula.

The metal arch suspended between the rock pillars reads ‘Tanilba Bay’ and was designed to be viewed from the water when many visitors arrived by boat.

Tanilba Bay Water Front

The town’s waterfront has a nice sandy beach ideal for watersports or relaxing. Bordered by grassed areas with street parking the waterfront is a nice place to stop after arriving. When we visited there was a mobile coffee van in one of the carparks which was great after a 90 minute drive to get there.

Mallabula Beach
Mallabula Beach Looking West
Mallabula Beach Looking East
Mallabula Beach Looking East
Looking Over Tanilba Bay
Looking Over Tanilba Bay
Small sandy Beach at Tanilba Bay
Small sandy Beach
Looking over Tanilba Bay
Looking over Tanilba Bay

Tilligerry Habitat

The Tilligerry Habitat and adjacent boardwalk is a great place to wander through. Consisting of rehabilitated sand mining areas, it is now a sanctuary for birdlife and koalas. Unfortunately we didn’t see any on our visit, but we were assured they are there. A longer blog with more pictures of the Tilligerry Habitat can be found here.

Boardwalk through mahogany paperbark forest Tilligerry Habitat
Boardwalk through mahogany paperbark forest

Our photos are available for purchase on

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

Floriade Canberra 2023

Beds of red tulips

Floriade Canberra 2023

Running from 16 September to 15 October 2023 in Canberra Australia, the annual Floriade flower show is the country’s largest celebration of spring. This year over one million blooms put on an amazing display of colour.

We walked around the displays on the first day they were open, lucky enough to have arranged time off to be in Canberra for the event. Photos do not do justice to the displays or the effort that has gone into preparing them because of the size and diversity of the garden beds.

Our photos are available for purchase on

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

Brays Bay Ship-Building Memorial

Ship Building Memorial From the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk

Brays Bay Ship-Building Memorial

Located adjacent to the Kokoda Track Memorial Pathway, the Brays Bay Ship-Building Memorial is a tribute to the ship building that operated here from 1939 to 1945. Representing a ship a sculpture sits next to the entrance walkway which has ships’ names etched into it.

Operated by Tulloch, the shipyard built the bow and midsections of shallow draught vessels here. The stern sections were constructed at Granville. These small ships were needed for operations in coastal areas in Northern Australia and New Guinea. Up to 1945 when construction halted up to 24 ships were built here.

The entrance to the area recreates the slipway the vessels were built on, while the ship sculpture represents the bow section of a ship built here.

This is an interesting addition to the memorial walk while teaching us a little about the wartime industry in the area.

Our photos are available for purchase on

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

Ads Blocker Image Powered by Code Help Pro

Ads Blocker Detected!!!

We have detected that you are using extensions to block ads. Please support us by disabling the blocker.

Powered By
100% Free SEO Tools - Tool Kits PRO