Canoelands is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Canoelands is 60 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Hornsby Shire and The Hills Shire. Geography Canoelands is a small hamlet near Glenorie, consisting of some 80 houses and 247 people extending out towards the east from Old Northern Road. Canoelands is between the hamlets of Forest Glen and Maroota and is 10 km north of the village of Glenorie and 20 km south of the village of Wisemans Ferry. By road, Canoelands is 55 km north of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The landform of the area is on Canoelands Ridge, a high, undulating, dissected plateau of Hawkesbury Sandstone with many steep gullies covered with dry sclerophyll forest, predominantly tall varieties of hardwood trees of the genus Eucalyptus. It has an area of 60 km2 and is surrounded on three sides by the Marramarra National Park, a wilderness area of 11,759 ha. Mount Blake lies some 2 km east of the eastern end of Canoelands Road. The geodetic survey station there is 270.3 m above sea level. This makes it one of the highest natural points between the northern side of Sydney Harbour and the Hawkesbury River. The highest point at 278m is at 49 Canoelands Rd. All drainage from the area is into the Hawkesbury-Nepean Basin. History Aboriginal culture The area was inhabited by Indigenous Australians of the Dharug-speaking tribes. To the west they join the Boorooberongal clan (which extended to Windsor) and the Cattai clan (extending to Richmond) and to the south they joined the Bidjigal people around Castle Hill. To the east they joined the large Eora-speaking tribes which covered the coastal area. Within Canoelands there are many Aboriginal rock carvings in caves and on rocky outcrops. These are all under the care of the National Parks and Wildlife Service. European settlement In early times, it became a timber-getting area for Sydney. The treefellers found tall stringybark gumtrees (E. cephalocarpa) with large, uniform patches of bark missing. These pieces of bark were cut out with stone axes and used by the local Aboriginal people to make canoes to use on the Hawkesbury River. Such trees were aptly named canoe trees. As the trees were used for mill logs, none remain in the area but preserved specimens may be examined at other places, e.g., in