Tourist attractions in Malabar, New South Wales

The western section of the headland was transferred from the Commonwealth to the New Government on 2 March 2012. This 17.7 hectare area contains remnants of the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub eucalypt woodlands and coastal health land that now form part of a National Park. The (Gillard Rudd) Labor Commonwelth Government had planned to convert the remainder of the headland to a National Park after relocating the rifle range and completing work to make the area for public use. However the NSW Rifle Association defeated the Commonwealth Government in court scuttling the plans. A report submitted to the Abbott government in January 2015 recommended selling of the land for development but the plam met community outrage and was swiftly refuted by the Commonwealth Government in March 2015 plans to commit more of the headland to National Park and to return the horses were announced The future of the remainder of Malabar Headland remains uncertain. The rifle range on the Malabar headland was originally known as the Long Bay Rifle Range there is a long history of the site being used as a range dating back to when recreational and militia shooting first commenced on this site in the 1850s which contributed to local security.



The original ANZAC Rifle Range at Holsworthy was closed in 1967 and the rifle clubs were transferred to the Long Bay Rifle Range at Malabar. The range at Malabar was renamed the ANZAC Rifle Range in 1970 in memory of the ANZAC soldiers who lost their lives during the World Wars and the Korea Campaign The headland was shared by the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia the NSW Smallbore and Air Rifle Association the Sydney Model Aero Club and Malabar Riding School until the Commonwealth Government terminated their leases in November 2011. The long Bay Life Saving and Amateur Swimming Club was formed at the end of World War I meeting at the ambulance building on Bay Parade before a clubhouse was build in 1922.

In 1916 the Ocean Outfall was constructed on Malabar Headland and by 1959 increasing sewage discharge had severely affected water quality at Long Bay. A number of club members left to found a new club at South Maroubra and by 1973 the Mlabar club had to be disbanded. The commencement of the Deep Water Sewer Outfall in the 1990s saw some improvement in water quality but the clubhouse was demolished in the same decade after suffering severe  water damage. Malabar was named after a ship called the MV Malabar a Burns Philp Company passenger and cargo steamer that was shipwrecked in thick fog on rocks at Miranda Point on the northern headland of Long Bay 2 April 1931. The ship itself was named after Malabar a region in the Indian state of Kerala famous for its history as a major spice trade centre.