Lake Macquarie

Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia is the largest coastal lagoon in the country.

The lake is situated in the City of Lake Macquarie and Central Coast Council local government areas in the Hunter and Central Coast regions of New South Wales. It is twice the size of Sydney Harbour, with an area of 110 square kilometres (42.5 sq mi), and is smaller only than Port Stephens, which is about 43 kilometres (27 mi) northeast of the lagoon.

The region surrounding Lake Macquarie was home to the aboriginal people of the Awabakal nation for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans in 1800. The aboriginal name for the lagoon was Awaba, meaning "plain surface." This area has several historical sites, including Butterfly Cave, Glenrock State Reserve, and Pulbah Island Nature Reserve. Captain William Reid, on his quest to obtain a cargo of coal from the outcropping seams in the southern side of the Hunter River mistakenly mistook Moon Island for Nobby's and the entrance to Lake Macquarie at Swansea Heads for the mouth of the Hunter River in July 1800. When he obtained his cargo of coal from the southern headland situated at the lagoon's entrance, he mistakenly revealed the lagoon and coastal coalfields of the area to the settlers. Reid's mistake was named after the headland, and the lagoon was renamed in honor of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1826.

Lake Macquarie has an irregular shape, with land separating it from the ocean only a few kilometers wide along most of its length. The lagoon has several small sandy low-level islets, with Pulbah Island located south of Swansea.