Dolphin Sands

Dolphin Sands is a nine-mile (14.5 kms) sandspit formed 7,000 years ago. It is formed by Great Oyster Bay on the south and Moulting Lagoon to the north.


After centuries of Aboriginal presence, white settlement began in the 1820s with the establishment of the town of Swansea – just the third municipality in Australia after Sydney and Hobart – and what is now known as Cambria Estate. In the late 1960s the spit was sub-divided and the backbone road constructed.

Dolphin Sands contains a number of reserves, including the Nine Mile Beach Coastal Reserve which extends 30 metres back from the highwater mark for the entire length of the beach. At the time of sub-division, the fragile sand dunes were stabilised with marram grass, Coastal Wattle and Golden Weeping Willow which also helps protect the precious aquifer of clean underground water.

Dolphin Sands is an area known for its relaxed lifestyle, its boating, swimming and fishing. And it offers some of the most magnificent views anywhere in the world. The eminent English writer, Nicholas Shakespeare, recalls his discovery of Dolphin Sands by saying: “I knew I was gazing at the loveliest place on earth.”

A bird's eye view of Peace & Plenty