Evans Head is a small and compact costal village on the North Coast of New South Wales. It supports some local industry and a lot of tourist-orientated activity. Just to the south is the Dirawong Nature Reserve that fronts on to Chinaman’s Beach. The reserve is adjacent to the much larger Bundjalung National Park the stretches even further, all the way to Iluka. The reserve was created about 30 years ago to protect indigenous culture.
The beach is an easy ride from the village on a mainly quiet, dead-end road. From the park at the road’s end there is a short track through coastal heathland to the ocean.
This landscape features some beautiful banksias (possibly Banksia integrifolia). Overhead, in the canopy, we heard and saw a gaggle of noisy friarbirds (Philemon corniculatus).
The beach itself was wide and largely deserted. There were some fishers, a couple of board riders and walkers, but they were few and far between. What makes this place special is the relative absence of human development or activity, although it is easily accessible. As you walk south, a low headland approaches. It has impressive, deeply-coloured and wind-eroded rockfaces.
According to Theresa Gilroy the beach got its name because it contained a camp for Chinese miners in the 1870’s. It may have been a base camp for further gold mining activity up the Richmond Rivers valley or there may have been some sand mining in situ.