Cronulla Sand Dunes

The Cronulla Sand Dune is estimated to be about 15,000 years old and began to stabilise, between 9000 and 6000 BC. The Cronulla sand dunes are a protected area that became listed on the NSW State Heritage Register on 26 September 2003. The Cronulla Sand Dunes are apart of the Kurnell Peninsula which was the first landing spot for Captain Cook on Australian soil and the site of first contact between the English and the Australian Aboriginies in NSW. On 29 April 1770 the Endeavour anchored in Botany Bay and Cook stepped ashore. (The area is now marked by a stone memorial (1890).

 

Forby Sutherland, a crew member, died on 30 April and was buried at Kurnell and Cook named the headland to the south in his honour.

 

The desert atmosphere attracted many filmmakers. In 1941, the Charles Chauvel movie, Forty Thousand Horseman about the Australian Light Horse Regiment during World War One , was filmed on the sand hills. Other films that have utilised the dunes as a location include The Rats of Tobruk, Thunder in the Desert, Phar Lap and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.