biology

Narrabeen

Narrabeen is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Narrabeen rather than just read about it. In short: Narrabeen is a beachside suburb of northern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of the business district, shared by the local government area of Northern Beaches Council and the Northern Beaches region. The bay was named Broken Bay by James Cook as he sailed past.

Key takeaways

Narrabeen belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Narrabeen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Narrabeen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Narrabeen is a beachside suburb of northern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of the business district, shared by the local government area of Northern Beaches Council and the Northern Beaches region. The bay was named Broken Bay by James Cook as he sailed past.

History There are a number of theories on the origin of the name "Narrabeen". The most fanciful is that Narrabeen is named after "narrow beans" which the English in the first year of settlement (1788) found and ate from a vine growing over beach sand. Surgeon White indeed recorded getting ill from such beans but this was well north of Narrabeen, near Broken Bay. The name Narrobine Creek appears in 1801 in records relating to two escaped convicts, and thus the name appears to have been in use before then. Another suggestion is that it derives from an Aboriginal word meaning "swan". Surveyor James Meehan placed the name Narabang Narabang Lagoon on a map in 1814 and thought the word meant swan. According to The Budawa Aboriginal Signage Group Inc., Narrabeen means "source of fresh water". The most popular theory involves Captain Henry Reynolds, a first fleeter who took his family to live near the Narrabeen Lagoon. They were all massacred by escaped convicts turned bushrangers, who burned their homestead. The location was then named after the young Aboriginal girl Narrabine/Narrabeen who tried to assist the victims and helped soldiers capture the killers.

The first land grants were made to John Lees (40 acres (16 ha)), Philip Schaffer (50 acres (20 ha)), and James Wheeler (80 acres (32 ha)) all along the south bank of Mullet Creek. Alex Macdonald was granted 80 acres (32 ha) at the beach in 1815 and west of this land JT Collins had 93.5 acres (37.8 ha) by 1857. During the nineteenth century, travellers had to ford the lake until 1880 when the first bridge opened. A second bridge at the mouth of the lagoon in Ocean Street was built in 1925. Narrabeen Post Office opened on 1 August 1898. Narrabeen North Post Office opened on 19 August 1926 and closed in 1984. With the extension of the tram to Narrabeen in 1913 providing easier transport, the whole area around the lake became popular for holidays and camping. A large camping ground became established on the north shore of the lagoon. In 1946 the Wakehurst Parkway was opened to North Narrabeen connecting the whole Pittwater area directly to Frenchs Forest and Seaforth. Narrabeen East Post Office opened on 2 June 1947, was renamed Narrabeen Peninsula in November that year and closed in 1965. In January 2005, workmen excavating beside the bus shelter on Ocean Street at Octavia Street found a skeleton, which subsequent investigation revealed to be 4,000-year-old remains of a man. He has become known as Narrabeen Man.

Population In the 2021 census, there were 8,255 people in Narrabeen. 71% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 6.8%, Brazil 2.2%, New Zealand 2.0%. 84.3% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Portuguese at 2.6%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 39.1%, Catholic 23.2% and Anglican 17.4%.

Beaches There are four beaches along the Narrabeen stretch of beach, North Narrabeen, Narrabeen, South Narrabeen and Collaroy beach. Although Collaroy is a separate suburb, its beach lies along the same stretch. All beaches have their own Surf Life Saving Club. Narrabeen beach is mentioned in the Beach Boys song Surfin' U.S.A., which in their live concert on 28 November 1992 at North Narrabeen Reserve they performed at the end of the encore. It remains an internationally recognised premier surfing beach. Writing celebrating this beach is featured in "Guide to Sydney Beaches" Meuse Press. It suffers regular challenges from storm damage and beach erosion. The grassy parts of the beaches are situated on the endangered Themeda Grassland ecological community.

Lagoon and catchment

Narrabeen lagoon is fed by Deep Creek, Middle Creek, Mullet Creek, Narrabeen Creek and Nareen Creek, and occupies about 2.2 square kilometres, and has a catchment of about 55 square kilometres. The catchment of Narrabeen Lagoon consist of just under half bushland, one quarter parks, sports fields and rural lands, with the remainder being used for residential or industrial purposes, and Garigal National Park making up a third of the bushland. Despite the significant urban impact there are some twenty six vegetation communities to be found within the catchment, some of which are not found in either Garigal nor its neighbouring Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, in particular, Blackbutt -Turpentine Forest and Angophora - White Mahogany Forest, both of which are components of the Duffys Forest endangered ecological community. (See Duffys Forest Ecological community.) Most of the remnant ecological communities within the catchment have been defined as endangered ecological communities (EECs), e.g., Swamp Mahogany Forest is a component of Swamp Sclerophyll Forest, Coastal Freshwater Wetland a component of Freshwater Wetlands on Coastal Floodplains both declared as EECs, see the List of endangered ecological communities in NSW and Native Vegetation (2016). Narrabeen Lagoon Trail is an 8.6 km (5.3 mi) path around the lagoon.

Sport and recreation The Sydney Institute of Sport is based in Narrabeen and has recently become the headquarters of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rugby league club. North Narrabeen beach is commonly used for surfing competitions.

Education Narrabeen is home to two public primary schools (Narrabeen Lakes and North Narrabeen), St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School and the public Narrabeen Sports High School.

Jim Somerville Bridge James Graham Somerville, an environmentalist, is commemorated by the Jim Somerville Bridge on the Narrabeen Lagoon Trail.

Notable residents Tessa de Josselin, actress Jackson Heywood, actor Nathan Hedge, surfer Holly Lincoln-Smith, water polo player Elisabeth MacIntyre, writer Ian Palangio, curler Alan Thompson, rugby league player Harry Van der Saag, footballer Max Whitehead, rugby league player Laura Enever, surfer

References

External links Media related to Narrabeen, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons "Gosford Lagoons & Sydney Northern Beaches" (map). Office of Environment and Heritage. Government of New South Wales. Guide to Sydney Beaches "Sand in our Souls - the Beach in Australian History" Leone Huntsman, MUP, 2001

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Narrabeen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Narrabeen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Narrabeen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Narrabeen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Narrabeen

In research: Narrabeen appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Narrabeen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Narrabeen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Beaches of New South Wales, Endangered ecological communities, Northern Beaches Council, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Narrabeen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Narrabeen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Narrabeen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Narrabeen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Narrabeen in simple terms?

Why does Narrabeen matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Narrabeen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Narrabeen.