The Stewart Street headland in Port Macquarie overlooks Town Beach and is adjacent to the historically significant Gaol Point. The site is an iconic foreshore location providing magnificent views of Town Beach, the break-wall and up the coast looking north towards Point Plomer. It also provides an alternate route to the break-wall for people walking between Town Green or the CBD and the beaches.

Increasing accessibility, utilisation and enjoyment of this location has been a story of community collaboration.

From 2015 onward the Tacking Point Lions Club significantly enhanced the appearance and functionality of the Gaol Point site.

The Rotary Club of Port Macquarie Sunrise (Sunrise Rotary) also took up the challenge. The focus was:

• providing commemorative seating for those who pause to enjoy the view
• installing pathways to improve accessibility and to connect access with existing stairs down to Town Beach

In 2015, with the assistance of a Port Macquarie-Hastings Council Community Place Making Micro-Grant of $5,000, Sunrise Rotary designed, constructed and installed four seats along the Stewart Street headland. With the sale of the memorial seats, the additional funds enabled the project to be expanded and in 2016 a pathway adjacent to the Gaol Point carpark and associated landscaping was completed. A pathway was also constructed to link Gaol Point to the stairs leading down to Town Beach
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In 2017, a further Community Place Making grant of $10,000 was obtained by Sunrise Rotary to enable the construction of a 110m concrete pathway along the Stewart Street headland which connects the four seats installed in 2016. After 250 hours of volunteer labour by Sunrise Rotary members along with the employment of specialist contractors to undertake the earthworks and concrete finishing, the pathway was completed over a two week period in August 2017.

Feedback from locals who regularly visit the location has been extremely positive.

After completion of the latest work one local couldn’t thank Rotary enough...

you have achieved in two weeks something for which we have waited decades!