House washing in Terrigal, from unit blocks to family homes

What does a Terrigal unit block or beach house need cleaned?

European settlement began in 1826 with John Gray, who named his property Tarrygal after the Aboriginal place name, said to mean 'place of little birds'. Sawmilling and shipbuilding came early, and the town has become substantially more urban since the 1970s, when it had one market, one medical centre and several orchards.

That growth shows in the 2021 Census, which recorded 71.0% of occupied dwellings as separate houses, 21.5% as flats or apartments and 7.3% as townhouses or semi-detached homes. For a strata block, washing the outside is a matter for the owners corporation, since it maintains and repairs the common property; houses are booked by their owners, and both get a low-pressure wash for walls.

Terrigal Lagoon, an intermittently closed saline coastal lagoon used for kayaking and paddleboarding, sits beside the town, and Council has put a stormwater drainage system into the town centre. Under NSW EPA rules, washing runoff must never be sent down those drains, because stormwater reaches waterways untreated; the FAQ explains why that matters for the lagoons.

Key figures

1826

John Gray settles and names his property Tarrygal

21.5%

of occupied dwellings were flats or apartments

71.0%

were separate houses at the 2021 Census

Sources

• Wikipedia, Terrigal
• ABS 2021 Census QuickStats, Terrigal
• NSW Government, Strata repairs and maintenance
• NSW EPA, The drain is just for rain
• NSW Spatial Services, Administrative Boundaries (postcode, council, distance, neighbours)