One of Lake Macquarie’s most spectacular cultural landmarks finally receives the recognition it deserves with the opening of the Fernleigh Awabakal Shared Track (FAST). 

The four-year construction project reached its long-awaited conclusion on Sunday August 12th, with the official opening of the 3.5km track. 

Funded jointly by the Australian Government, NSW Government, and Lake Macquarie City Council, the track fills in a missing gap of shared pathway between Blacksmiths and the existing Fernleigh Track, creating a 27km continuous active transport route from Murrays Beach to Adamstown. 

Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser said the $20 million track’s centrepiece was a 400m stretch of elevated boardwalk over wetlands next to Belmont Lagoon – the focal point of the Aboriginal creation story known as When the Moon Cried, and one of the region’s best spots for bird watching. 

The newly completed northern section of the track also includes a bespoke bridge over Cold Tea Creek, with a teardrop-shaped steel framing echoing the When the Moon Cried creation story. 

A separate life-size art installation at the start of the boardwalk, by local Aboriginal artists Shellie Smith and Daniella Chedzey and fellow artist Julie Squires, features sculptural interpretations of a gunya shelter, a bark canoe, and other features of a traditional Aboriginal camp.