Suburb of the Month, FORSTER, NSW.

 FORSTER, NEW SOUTH WALES

Location

Forster is a large coastal town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales. It belongs in the Great Lakes Council LGA, about 308 km north-north-east of Sydney. It is located south of Lake Wallis, which divides Foster and its twin sister town Tuncurry.

Description

Foster is a popular tourism destination, predominantly attracting families with its beautiful white sandy beaches and plenty of lakes. There are also a growing number of high rise apartments in the area and during the school holidays the population swells considerably.

Facilities

There are a number of educational facilities available in and around the Forster area, including three primary and three secondary schools. 

Forster Private Hospital is the only hospital facility in the locale, however planning is well underway for the development of HealthOne Forster-Tuncurry, adjacent to the Private Hospital, within a local health precinct that includes several other primary and ancillary health services.

There are several beaches in and around Forster, with Main Beach being one of the most popular as it includes ocean baths. Other beaches to choose from are Pebbly Beach, The Tanks, One Mile Beach, Burgess Beach, McBrides Beach and the famous Forster Seven-Mile beach. They all provide the usual water activities of surfing, fishing, snorkeling and diving, along with dolphin and whale watching. For more water adventures, Lake Wallis is very popular for boating, water skiing, jet skiing and kayaking.

There are various National Parks and state forests nearby, so tourists and locals can experience both the pleasures from the ocean lifestyle and Eco adventures inland.

There are various events happening at Foster all year round. Some of the events not to miss are the Forster Film Festival in October, the Wildcat regatta, Viking six-a-side football challenge in March and the Forster Anaconda Adventure race in May.

The Forster-Tuncurry Fishing Competition and Forster Cultural Festival are held in June, an open art exhibition in September, the Oyster Festival and the Open Gardens Scheme in October, and a market is held at the Forster town park on the second Sunday of the month.

Industry and Employment

At the 2006 Census, the most common industries of employment for usual residents aged 15 years and over was:

School Education - 5.1%
Cafes, Restaurants and Takeaway Food Services - 4.9%
Residential Building Construction - 3.7%
Supermarket and Grocery Stores - 3.6%
Local Government Administration - 3.4%

Population

In the 2006 Census (held on 8th August 2006), there were 18,372 persons usually resident in Forster-Tuncurry (Urban Centre Localities): 47.9% were males and 52.1% were females. Of the total population in Forster-Tuncurry (Urban Centre Localities) 3.4% were Indigenous persons, compared with 2.3% Indigenous persons in Australia.

Housing Market
Residex Statistics (updated for Forster)

Find real estate in Forster on homesales.com.au

June 2011