Birnie Lookout is one of the best lookouts at West Head, combining a sense of seclusion with sweeping views. This lookout is not signposted and not very well known, but offers a spectacular vista over Lovett Bay, Scotland Island and Pittwater with Barrenjoey Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean in the distance.
Birnie Lookout – originally known as Flagstaff Hill – was described by as “lovely in the extreme” as far back as 1896 with the view “said to be equal to anything in the way of marine views to be found in the world” (The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 October 1908).
For miles and miles in every direction spread, one of the most beautiful sights in New South Wales— a people’s park, old, older than history, yet new and almost untrodden. Never a more perfect picture has been seen in all this wide world than is to be seen from Flagstaff Hill.
Kuring-gai Chase Trust, 6 August 1896
In 1895 a wharf was constructed at Lovett Bay with a walking track up the hill to Flagstaff Lookout, a popular picnic spot above Pittwater.
Returning to the northern side of the bay, at a point about 12chains from the end of the causeway, the party then descended by a zigzag path, which has been laid out to the summit of a hill which towers over the bay at a height of nearly 500ft, to a flagstaff, which is less than 800ft, on a base-line from the starting-point.
Notwithstanding the difficulty of overcoming such a grade, and an absolutely perpendicular escarpment of over 100ft near the summit, the pathway is of gradual and comparatively easy ascent: it has been visited by many ladies, and from its summit a splendid view is obtained over Pittwater, Newport, and the ocean on one side, and the rugged features of the Chase on the other, a description of which must be left for another occasion.
It was shown as “The Lookout” on parish maps between 1927 and 1947…
…and in 1977 it was officially gazetted as Birnie Lookout – the name possibly derived from the Old English male name meaning ‘small river or stream with an island’. Today Birnie Lookout is not marked on any topographic maps, and its official location (as shown in the NSW Geographic Place Names) is incorrect by almost a kilometre!
Getting to Birnie Lookout
Although not signposted, Birnie Lookout is relatively easy to find – if you know what you’re looking for! Walk down the signposted Towlers Bay Trail, a firetrail which is off West Head Road. About 1.2km along the firetrail, a small rock cairn marks the bushwalking track which takes you to the lookout (it’s about 500m one-way).
You can also incorporate the lookout into the Towlers Bay Circuit, a 6.5km loop bushwalk that follows the historic walking track down to Lovett Bay.
More information
- Trove – Ku-ring-gai Chase Trust article describing Flagstaff Hill (Birnie Lookout)
- Pittwater Online News – Lovett Bay History
Guide to West Head
0 Comments