Introduction to Balls Head

The Aboriginal name for Balls Head is 'Yerroulbine'. Many Aboriginal sites including archaeological deposits, middens, art sites and rock engravings are still present today. 

Named after Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, Commander of the ship 'Supply' in the First Fleet of 1788, Balls Head was the original foreshore land included in the large Wollstonecraft Estate. Strong public protests over proposals to develop the land for residential purposes saw it declared as public parkland in 1926. 

The reserve contains several picnic areas, plaques, a car park and public amenities, a variety of walking tracks, foreshore caves and a historic flagpole, used in early settlement times to communicate with Government House. 

Vegetation is predominately open forest, with Sydney Red Gums, and Red Bloodwoods and an understorey of Grevilleas, Wattles, Banksias, Geebungs, as well as shrubs and grasses. Cheese Trees, Sweet Pittosporum, Blueberry Ash, NSW Christmas Bush, Lillypilly and Mock Olive flourish in sheltered gullies. Balls Head reserve is a refuge for native fauna, with Geckoes, Blue-Tongue Lizards, Skinks, Common Eastern Froglets, Brushtail and Ringtail Possums, a colony of Eastern Bent-Wing Bats, and many species of birds living and visiting the area. Sea birds can be found on the rocks around the foreshore and Parrots, Lorikeets, Kookaburras, Butcher Birds, Wrens and Figbirds can be found in the trees. Overhead, the White-bellied Sea-eagle (a NSW-listed Threatened Species) can be seen scanning the bays for prey.

Extract from:  Bushland Plan of Management 2022 Page 14