Originally, Tea Gardens was a convenient site near the mouth of the Myall River where a low sand bank had formed adjacent to the deepwater channel, providing a location where timber could be stockpiled before being shipped elsewhere. Sailing ships arrived, dumped their ballast along the foreshore and replaced it with the waiting timber which had been carried there by hand-propelled punts from the Bulahdelah - Myall Lakes region. At that time, Tea Gardens was located on the eastern margin of the Australian Agricultural Company’s Port Stephens Estate (granted in 1824), the Company having exchanged (in 1830) all the land east of the Myall River and north of Broadwater Lake to the Manning River for more suitable sheep properties near Tamworth.

Following requests from would-be settlers to buy land in the area, the A. A. Co. Superintendent, E. C. Merewether, authorised the Company Architect, Charles Ogden, to subdivide about 100 acres in 1864, leaving a reserve of 99 feet width along the waterfront. Ogden suggested the village be called Myallton but the final choice was made to call it Coweambah (or ”The Tea Gardens”). It was not until about the 1920s that Tea Gardens became the dominant name. Superintendent Merewether’s foresight in insisting upon a waterfront reserve did not sit well with potential developers of the time but it was a decision of great benefit to many later generations. Gradually a small number of settlers arrived, set up home in the area, and worked in the timber and fishing industries or opened businesses to provide goods and services for the small but growing population.

Before leaving the wharf, look around at some of the features of the landscape. To the east, rising to the right of the Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest bridge, is Yacaaba Head, situated at the entrance to the Port. The settlement beyond the northern abutment of the bridge is the twin village of Hawks Nest, best viewed from the centre of the bridge.