The first authentic European record of the area comes from the diaries of Captain Cook, who sailed along the coastline in the 'Endeavour' in May 1770 and named Cape Hawke as he passed.

Mathew Flinders' log reveals that he too, sailed close to this part of the coastline, in the 'Norfolk' on 9 July 1799 and in the 'Investigator' on 23 July 1802, as he began his long journey around the Australian coastline.

In 1816, the 'Jane', 'Edwin' and 'Governor Hunter' were wrecked within a short time of each other in the vicinity of Cape Hawke, and from these ships probably came the first white men to enter the area.

Captain Mathews of the 'Edwin', his wife, child and two of the crew ultimately reached Newcastle, but the other crew members were presumed to have been killed by natives.

Organised land exploration began when Lieutenant John Oxley R.N., with surveyor George Evans, Dr. John Harris, Charles Fraser (botanist) and party came along the coast from Port Macquarie to Port Stephens.

In 1824, the Australian Agricultural Company was formed in London. In 1825, an enormous land grant was given to the Company. The boundaries of the grant extended from the Manning River in the north to Port Stephens in the south, a line running south from the Manning River just west of the village of Gloucester down to the Karuah River, the coastline from the Manning River to Cape Hawke the following the western shores of Wallis Lake, Myall Lake and the Myall River.

Much of this grant reverted to the Crown after a report by Sir William Edward Perry, who surveyed the area in 1830.

The first survey of Forster was made by John Hall in 1869 and at this time it was called Minimbah. The survey plan on which his name appears is dated July 1870.

The name appears to have been changed during 1870, since an announcement in the Government Gazette of 9 December 1870 announced the establishment of the site for the village of Forster.

It seems likely that it was named after William Forster, who was Secretary of Lands from 27 October 1868 to 13 August 1870, just at the time the name was changed, (this is the official source of the name given by the Lands Department.

Tuncurry had been known as 'North Forster', but in 1875 the name 'Tuncurry' (Aboriginal for 'plenty fish') was given to the area by local residents and in 1893, Tuncurry was proclaimed a village.

Wallis Lake was named after Captain Wallis who, in very early days, was the Commanding Officer of the 4^th Regiment, stationed at Newcastle.

Bennett's Head took its name from a pioneer family who came to the district in 1864 and built their homestead at the foot of the headland. Their old well, which never went dry, is still to be seen just past the street corner at the foot of the hill.

During the colony's early days the Government did not encourage widespread settlement and in 1826, Cape Hawke was set as the northernmost limit to which settlers could proceed.

Within a few years the limit was extended to Port Macquarie, but the delineation of the area brought timber cutters in ships along the coast looking for suitable anchorages and profitable timber.