Avalon, New South Wales

Avalon Beach Sydney, New South Wales
Avalon Beach, looking north
Population	10,602 (2011 census)
Established	1921
Postcode(s)	2107
Location	37 km (23 mi) north of Sydney CBD
LGA(s)	Northern Beaches Council
State electorate(s)	Pittwater
Federal Division(s)	Mackellar
Suburbs around Avalon Beach: Careel Bay Palm Beach Whale Beach Clareville Avalon Beach Bilgola Newport

Avalon Beach is a northern beach side suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 37 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council, in the Northern Beaches region. The area is also known as Avalon, with the name Avalon Beach being assigned during a change in boundaries and names in the Pittwater region in 2012.

The Pittwater and Northern Beaches area was formerly inhabited by the Garigal or Caregal people in a region known as Guringai country.

Avalon was named after the mythical Avalon, a legendary island in Celtic languages mythology. According to legends, Avalon was an earthly paradise and the final resting place of King Arthur.

The first land grant in the area was 60 acres (240,000 m²) to John Farrell in 1827. A 400-acre (1.6 km²) land grant was made to Father John Joseph Therry in 1833, who fought hard for the recognition of the Catholic Church in the colony. He built a church in this area but his plans for a settlement never eventuated. In the 1920s, the area was still known as 'Priest's Flat'. Arthur J Small handled a subdivision in 1921 and chose the name Avalon.

Significant housing developments took place during the 1920s. The architect Alexander Stewart Jolly designed a number of houses that were built in the Avalon area in that period. Loggan Rock was a flamboyant log cabin combined with a stone tower; the combination of logs and rocks gave rise to the name. The house is heritage-listed.Careel House is a bungalow made of stone that was quarried in the area. Nowadays it is on the Whale Beach side of the boundary. It is also heritage-listed.Hy Brasil, located near Clareville, was built in 1936, but was originally known as The Gem. Later it was bought by Ted Herman, son of the painter Sali Herman, who changed the name, using the name of a mythical island west of Ireland. It is heritage-listed. A sandstone cottage known as Wickham, designed by Walter Burley Griffin, was unfortunately demolished with council approval in 1994.