Sawtell is a suburb of the City of Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales, Australia. It borders Toormina to the West. History In 1863, a cutter carrying a load of cedar logs ran aground on what would become Sawtell Beach. A Coffs Harbour farmer named Walter Harvey assembled a team of workers to salvage the logs, and a small settlement developed near the site of the wreck. Forty years later, the land around Sawtell Beach was purchased and subdivided by Oswald Sawtell for housing and farmland. Sawtell railway station, post office, school and hotel followed soon thereafter and by the 1930s Sawtell had become a thriving coastal village. The original inhabitants of the land were Indigenous Australians of the Gumbaynggirr clan. The Aboriginal name for the land where the town now stands was Bongil Bongil. Location A suburb of the City of Coffs Harbour, Sawtell is located on the north-eastern coast of New South Wales, adjacent to Toormina and Boambee, and 10 km south of Coffs Harbour. It is served by the North Coast railway line with six New South Wales XPT services daily, three heading north and three south. Sawtell station is an optional stop for all of them. Coffs Harbour Airport is located just to the north of Sawtell with the runway ending just to the north of the town. Demographics Sawtell has a population of 3,490 people. Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people make up 3.78% of the population. Sawtell, Toormina and Boambee (all with postcode 2452) have a combined population of 19,477 people, 5.5% of whom are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders. Sawtell Beach Sawtell beach extends north from Sawtell Headland and the sheltered Sailors Bay swimming area to Murray's beach. The beach is patrolled by the local Surf Lifesavers who run Sawtell Surf Club half way along the beach. Due to the dunes there are no true beach front properties on Sawtell Beach. Some properties look over Bonville Creek and some over Murray's Beach. The beach has singing sand when walked on in dry conditions. Sports and events Sawtell has numerous sporting clubs and facilities. The Sawtell Panthers junior and senior Rugby League clubs play out of Rex Hardaker Oval, Toormina – along with Coffs Rugby, and the pigeon racing club. The Sawtell Scorpions are the local soccer club, based at Toormina Oval. The Sawtell Saints are the Australian Rules Football club, based at