By David Camplin and Caleb Donald
A curved stretch of golden sand framed by the lush Illawarra escarpment, where surfers carve right-hand breaks and families go on walks by the shore.
A meeting point for the rhythm of the ocean and the stillness of the landscape; a meditation on nature’s power and coastal rhythms.
This is Sandon Point.
Waves roll gently, seagulls circle overhead, and the escarpment towers emerald and primeval.
But this tapestry of ocean, sky, and earth conceals a darker, tumultuous truth: a historical hostility over land, culture, and heritage that continues to sculpt this pocketed coastline north of Wollongong.
For the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal Nation, Sandon Point is more than just a beach.
It is Country. A breathing museum of Dreamtime, songs, and ceremonies that connect generations to a wealth of indispensable history. Beneath the picnic rugs and sand-dug surfboards lie sacred burial sites and ceremonial grounds of a six-thousand-year-old significance.
However, recent times have witnessed the severing of these spiritual and cultural ties in the name of residential development and recreation.
The birth of SPATE
The Sandon Point Aboriginal Tent Embassy (SPATE) was established in 2000, following years of protests against a proposal for major residential development.
It wasn’t just the natural environment that Indigenous communities feared losing; it was the palpable connection to a profound cultural story.
Inspired by the first Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, founded in 1972, SPATE exemplified the struggle for recognition, agency, and preservation of sacred Indigenous land.
For a time, the Embassy prospered.
Illawarra Mercury 2013
Across the Illawarra region, visitors and locals alike pit-stopped in Sandon Point to learn about the site’s history. Local primary schools coordinated excursions. Environmental groups united with Traditional Custodians to ensure the continued protection of the land against development.
But over two decades later, the Embassy is in disrepair.
Illawarra Mercury 2018
Its structures have weathered years of exposure, its signage has faded, and its presence has steadily diminished from local consciousness.
Once a mecca for social justice and Indigenous celebration, the Embassy now faces an uncertain future.
The politics of preservation
Who is responsible for the preservation of Sandon Point?
This question has faced the area for decades, often lost in semantic confusion between local council, environmental groups, and Indigenous communities.
Although officially declared an Aboriginal Place in 2007 by the NSW Minister for the Environment under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, ongoing contention over land use and jurisdiction has complicated continued protection.
“Every organisation we contact to discuss the protection of Sandon Point claims they recognise and respect the area’s Indigenous significance,” Stephanie Walker said, a member of the Illawarra Aboriginal Land Council.
“But when action is needed — maintaining the Embassy, providing funding, protesting development — suddenly no organisations are accountable.”
Periodically, the local council has supported the preservation of Sandon Point through maintenance grants and heritage consultations, but many Indigenous locals dismiss these efforts as superficial in light of approved housing projects.
“Australian planning and land-use laws are systemised to protect development, not culture,” Ms Walker said.
“There are laws that acknowledge Aboriginal heritage, but the impact of these laws on project development is unclear. It’s apparent that the law can be circumvented.”
Surfing on sacred ground
Aside from the threat of residential development, Sandon Point’s Indigenous identity is also at risk of erasure due to a flourishing recreational surf culture.
Sandon Point is one of the Illawarra’s most popular surf spots. The Point’s long right-handers enthrall surfers from across Australia, and its Surf Life Saving Club contributes significantly to shaping an accessible, inclusive culture for both beginners and seasoned pros.
Credit: Carlos Condack, Google (2020)
“There’s a strong surf community in Sandon Point,” Mitchell Kocovski said, a member of the Sandon Point Surf Life Saving Club.
“People are eager, proud, and deeply connected to the ocean here.”
But for many Indigenous locals, the inundation of surf culture has stirred a tense coexistence.
“I don’t want surfers to treat Sandon Point like it belongs to them or to disrespect the natural earth,” Uncle Ray Doolan said, a Wodi Wodi person of the Dharawal Nation and a Bulli resident.
“Ignorance and entitlement are ugly traits.”
Not only is Sandon Point rich in Indigenous heritage and meaning, the area also reflects a larger network of Dreaming tracks and ceremonial sites spanning the Illawarra coastline. Yet, recreational surfing and surf culture can unknowingly impose a conflicting sense of entitlement to the coast, which may be seen as dismissing Indigenous land rights.
“I never want my connection to overshadow the deeper, richer, intergenerational relationship Indigenous people have with Sandon Point — it’s incomparable,” Mr Kocovski said.
“The thought of the significance of this place being lost on surfers or treated as secondary is very troublesome to me,” he said.
To reconcile this cultural divide, the Sandon Point Surf Life Saving Club has taken important steps to educate young surfers on the area’s Indigenous significance.
Through hosting cultural awareness sessions for the Club’s Nippers, which cover Sandon Point’s settler history, Indigenous heritage, and Indigenous connection to the natural environment, the SPSLSC demonstrates an interest in preserving Sandon Point’s cultural and historical identity.
Yet, similarly to efforts made by local council, the authenticity of the Surf Club’s interest is continually questioned by Indigenous communities, particularly when organised events infringe on sacred sites.
Preserving the past, shaping the future
For the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal Nation, Sandon Point epitomises the resilient preservation of Indigenous culture despite ongoing pressures to strip them of their heritage.
From protesting residential development, protecting native vegetation, and establishing SPATE, Sandon Point’s Indigenous community has continually fought to maintain its history and stake in the future of the area.
“We’ve stood on this ground for generations, protesting and teaching. Each act of care is resistance, and each resistance is love for Country,” Uncle Ray Doolan said.
To this day, Sandon Point is host to cultural workshops and community clean-ups to preserve the land and educate younger generations.
Alongside these events, Indigenous communities have long sought a cultural and environmental centre near Sandon Point to celebrate and preserve their heritage.
“A centre would mean a bridge between cultures, a nexus where our history can be shared, understood and referred to,” Uncle Ray Doolan said.
The centre would educate both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities on the history of Sandon Point, to foster collaboration and protect the historical importance of the region.
Catherine Pauly is a volunteer at the Illawarra Museum and Historical Society.
“True reconciliation starts when everyone learns the story of this place — from the land itself and the people who belong to it,” Pauly said.
The proposed centre and the continued celebration of Indigenous culture across the Illawarra marks progress toward further recognition and respect for Sandon Point.
A reflection of Australia
The story of Sandon Point mirrors a greater national tension between residential expansion and cultural preservation, recreation and land rights, history and accepted reality.
It is a microcosm of our country’s enduring wrestle with its colonial past and need to cultivate an inclusive, culturally respectful future.
For the Wodi Wodi people of the Dharawal Nation, Sandon Point is alive with ancestry, ceremony, Dreamtime, and evidence of a natural environment serviced attentively through community.
Preserving Sandon Point means preserving Indigenous identity, heritage, and belonging.
