Lake Macquarie (Awabakal: Awaba) is Australia's largest coastal salt water lake. Located in the City of Lake Macquarie and Central Coast Council local government areas in the Hunter and Central Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia, it covers an area of and is connected to the Tasman Sea by a short channel. Most of the residents of the City of Lake Macquarie live near the shores of the lake. Lake Macquarie is twice as large as Sydney Harbour and is the largest coastal salt water lagoon in the Southern Hemisphere. It is slightly smaller than Port Stephens, which is about to the northeast of the lake. History Aboriginal people of the Awabakal nation lived in the area surrounding what is now known as Lake Macquarie for thousands of years. The name Awaba, which means "a plain surface" was used to describe the lake. There are several significant sites in and around this country. Including; Butterfly Cave, Glenrock State Reserve and Pulbah Island Nature Reserve. Lake Macquarie was first encountered by Europeans, in July 1800, by Captain William Reid, who had been tasked with obtaining a cargo of coal from the outcropping seams on the southern side of the Hunter River. Mistaking Moon Island for Nobby's and the entrance to Lake Macquarie at Swansea Heads for the mouth of the Hunter River, he obtained his cargo of coal from a seam outcropping in the southern headland at the lake's entrance—a headland since known as ‘Reid’s Mistake’—and so accidentally revealed to the settlers both the lake and the coastal coalfields of the area. Since the location seemed to match the description given to him, he presumed that he had reached the Hunter. It was only upon his return to Sydney that Reid found that he had not travelled far enough north to have reached the Hunter River. The name "Reid's Mistake" was used for the lake until 1826, when it was renamed in honour of Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Geography and environment The lake is of irregular shape and the land separating it from the ocean is only a few kilometres wide along most of its length. While there are several small, sandy, low-level islets in the lake, some of which are grouped near the mouth, Pulbah Island, located south of Swansea is a large island offering views from rocky cliffs. Lake Macquarie is connected to the sea by two channels, Swansea