LANDMARKS OF LENNOX: THE ‘SMALL LAGOON’
Words by Robyn Hargrave
Until the mid 1970s the southern end of Lennox Head was endowed with a tea tree lagoon in the area where Tresise and Aurora Places are now located. Known as the ‘Small’ or ‘Little’ Lagoon’ it was dwarfed by Lake Ainsworth. It was remembered fondly as the place to catch poddy mullet for bait with oyster bottles, play pirates in a communal tin boat which would often sink, dam the waters and build bridges.
Occasionally, during cyclones the sea broke through the dunes into the Lagoon.
In 1959 a local consortium, Ta-Land Enterprises Pty Ltd, (John Allen Taylor, Allen Taylor and Alan Jones) purchased the farm which included the Small Lagoon and developed a sub division, Allen’s Parade and Dress Circle Drive. Allen’s Parade was named appropriately after the developers.
A subsequent proposal to reclaim the Lagoon and develop Tresise and Aurora Places caused quite some controversy. Many believed that buildings on the site would subside but others with a view to capitalising on the location, were keen to proceed. Nearby home owners on the new estate celebrated the disappearance of the ‘swamp’, as it had become, and its resident families of venomous snakes.
Ultimately, drainage issues and objections were overcome, the Small Lagoon was emptied and filled and became house blocks in Tresise and Aurora Places.
Sources: Manyweathers, R; McGrath, M, Ringing the Bell Backwards, Hilary Wilson (ed), Lennox Head Heritage Committee (LHHC), Lismore, 2003; Taylor, PA (letter), Silent Echoes, The story of Upper North Creek and Lennox Head Post Offices 1880-2000, Dorothy Thompson, LHHC, Lismore. Photos: 1. ‘Small Lagoon’ and sandhills, c1910, Richmond River Historical Society Inc, Lennox Head, 1953-254-39; 2. Dress Circle Drive/Allen’s Parade estate early 1960s, Alstonville Plateau Historical Society; 3. Dress Circle Drive/Allen’s Parade estate 1973, LHHC
Readers with information on this or other Landmarks of Lennox, please contact, Robyn Hargrave by phone 0412 660 994, email harg1rob@gmail.com.
Lennox Head Heritage 
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