Ettalong
Ettalong is an Aboriginal word meaning "place for drinking".
Surveyor-General Sir Thomas Mitchell, who directed the main survey work in this area, ordered that names used by local Aborigines be ascertained and used wherever possible.
The first reference to Ettalong appeared in a letter from the Surveyor-General on November 12, 1830, in which he wrote: "I have determined the average valuation of land in the County of Northumberland, Tuggerah Lakes, Ettalong and Wyong at 3/- per acre or 288 pounds for 1920 acres.
Soon afterwards prices were raised to 5/- per acre.
Ettalong was also known as Gittens Lagoon, after an early white resident, and Dogherty's Beach (pronounced Dockerty) and to the crews of passing ketches as Dogherty's Hole.
They filled their water casks from a hole sunk in the sand behind the beach at low tide.
The ketches tied up close to this spot while waiting for the ebb tide to go over Half Tide Rocks.
Historical monograph, 1970
Eileen Pratt, Place Names of the Central Coast