KURNELL COVE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 139, 15 June 1938, Page 21

KURNELL COVE.

HAVEN OF PEACE. INACCESSIBLE BY CAR. U PRESERVE ITS ISOLATION." fH"rom Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, June ». Many people who do not live in Sydney know that Kurnell is the native name for the little cove where Captain Cook first landed in Australia on the southern side of Botany Bay. But many more people who do live in Sydney

would look puzzled if they were asked how one gets to Kurnell if one wants to go there. As a matter of fact Kurnell is one of the least accessible of all Sydney's suburban resort*. There is a road of a sort across the sandhills at the back from Cronulla; but it is quite impassable for any wheeled vehicle, even when it is not largely under water. There is also a track from Kurnell along the coast to Cronulla, and it makes a most picturesque walk, winding round the tops of rugged cliffy 200 feet high, with the Pacific surging at their base. This track is a little adventurous in spots, even for experienced hikers, and the only other way of getting to Kurnell from Sydney i% by launch from La Perouse on the north side of Botany Bay. Consequently, comparatively few people ever go there. This might be regrettable if there v ere large numbers of people here who might take an interest in the historical associations of the place, and would make a visit to it a sort of dignified pilgrimage to "the shrine of the nation." Frequently Discouraged. The vast majority of people who | undertake trips to our seaside resorts, ; however, intend to make a picnic of the i excursion, and after a season of picnics ! the natural beauty of our marine . suburbs is liable to become a thing of the past. For this reason the agitation, that starts here periodically for a road to connect Kurnell with Cronulla or Sutherland has been definitely discouraged, in certain quarters, by those who see no special advantage in driving expensive roads through picturesque country so that any one may hurry along them at headlong speed. These comments are intended as a preface to some remarks made by Sir Thomas Bavin at the recent annual commemoration of Cook's landing. ' Among other things he told his audience that "he hoped it would be many years • before a road was built to Kurnell." Almost Unique. i Some members of the Sutherland ; Shire Council, who are particularly anxious to "open up the territory" in , all directions, took strong exception to - this, and Sir Thomas therefore 1 addressed a letter to the council in i which he attempted to justify hig views. "I regard Kurnell," he wrote, "as a • most delightful and restful resort, r almost unique in that it is one of the ' very few places left in the world which " cannot be reached by motor car." He pointed out that there are ntulti- ' tudes of places around Sydney to which. I cars have access, and he could aee no " harm in letting Kurnell retain its peaceful and beautiful seclusion for those prepared to come by sea or to face the exertion of following the tracks from , j tlie Cronulla side. "Old-fashioned."

Sir Thomas protests that he is "oldfashioned enough not to estimate progress entirely in terms of concrete roads and fast motor cars," and, speaking entirely for himself, he assured the Sutherland Council that he hopes it will be a long time before it becomes possible to drive a car from Sydney to Kurnell. At a time when the newspapers are being constantly requested by correspondents to promote schemes for driving motor roads through National Park, or Kuring-gai Chase, or some other beautiful reserve, not yet spoiled and desecrated by motor picnics, Sir Thoma3 Bavin's expression of opinion is particularly valuable and opportune, and as he is a New Zealander by birth—he was born at Kaiapoi. near Cliristchurch—his views should be interesting to Dominion 'readers as well.