North Arm Cove, New South Wales
North Arm Cove is a suburb of the Mid-Coast Council local government area in the center of the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located adjacent to Port Stephens and extends well north of the Pacific Highway. The suburb is sparsely populated, with most of the residents living in the southern portion of the suburb. History. 1918 subdivision. Port Stephens was under consideration as the main seaport for New South Wales, as well as the national capital, and a large city-style subdivision of the peninsula was designed by Walter  Burley Griffin. Unlike the previously made plans for octagonal shaped Canberra or Griffith (1914), Port Stephen City was designed to fit into the narrow finger shaped bay peninsula. It provided for various urban city functions grouped into precincts or urban zones. The major railways and rail-water interchange (the port) was planned on the western side of the peninsula, towards the Carrington village, with nearby Custom House and Administration Centre occupying the land to the East of the rail and port links. Adjacent to the north of this governance district the land was reserved for Commercial Centre and Factory District  forming an employment zone of the future city. Further North there was a retail district lining the main Boulevard with Markets square and a Wholesale district conveniently located to the east of the main railway station. A Residence District was planned to the North towards the old Pacific Highway. Within the residential zone Griffin had also reserved 3 large lots for two primary school and one high school, a church site, 2 theatre sites, library centre and public recreation reserve. Plans were approved by Stroud Shire Council on 6 May 1918. Marion Mahony Griffin credited her husband, in her unpublished  biography "Magic of America", with the identification of the locality as one of only two ‘"natural seaports’" in Australia. She wrote that ‘"in his innocence he interested a client, who was carrying on a considerable real estate business, in the opportunity offered at Port Stephens … It was surveyed and staked out and the allotments rapidly sold"’. During the work on survaying this land, Griffins have had their first encounter with local Australian Aboriginal people and that is where their interaction and love for Australian native vegetation has started. ""Contact with the ancient peoples should awaken us to the fact that  they use a different kind of thinking from ourselves an experience which, if we were open minded, would lead us on to the investigating and mastering of that kind of thinking, to take as much pains as we have taken in the mastery of rational thinking in these modern times.""Plans were further extended and land further subdivided in early 1920s by Henry Halloran, well known surveyor, planner and developer at the time. Many dirt roads, still visible from the air, date from the original subdivision. Land use today. Land from the 1918 subdivision is now zoned "non-urban", meaning  that construction of dwelling is not permitted under any circumstances, while other uses are allowed with permission from authorities. Consequently, land sales at North Arm Cove have been the subject of controversy for many years, even being raised as a matter in the NSW Parliament. Despite that, many blocks are purchased as an investment and/or for use as weekend retreats. Land is regularly sold and resold as owners become frustrated with being unable to develop their properties. In 2013 NSW Parliament has passed legislation for dealing with historic "paper subdivisions" (Schedule 5 to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979NSW ) together with Guidelines for achieving full subdivision status.]Restrictions on land use in the area has meant that only a limited number of residential blocks are available, mostly urban sized of less than "quarter acre". The Mid-Coast Council has stated that there are no plans to rezone non-urban land for urban purposes. The local population is concentrated mainly in the village of North Arm Cove, located on the western shore of North Arm cove itself, and on the northern shore of Port Stephens. Many of the small houses that used to be in the area have been demolished and  replaced with more expensive homes. North of the Pacific Highway, land use is mainly rural, and kangaroos are wallabies are commonly found throughout the area.