Sawtell is a suburb of the City of Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales, Australia. It borders Toormina to the west.
History
In 1863, a cutter carrying a load of cedar logs ran aground on what would become Sawtell Beach. A Coffs Harbour farmer named Walter Harvey assembled a team of workers to salvage the logs, and a small settlement developed near the site of the wreck. Sawtell railway station, post office, school and hotel followed soon thereafter and by the 1930s Sawtell had become a thriving coastal village.
The original inhabitants of the land were Indigenous Australians of the Gumbaynggirr clan. The Aboriginal name for the land where the town now stands was Bongil Bongil.
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File:Sawtell New South Wales First Avenue median.jpg|Sawtell's main street First Avenue with fig trees in the median
File:Sawtell Beach New South Wales to the northern end.jpg|Sawtell's beach to the northern end
File:Sawtell Beach.jpg|Sawtell Beach
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Location
A suburb of the City of Coffs Harbour, Sawtell is located on the north-eastern coast of New South Wales, adjacent to Toormina and Boambee, and 10 km south of Coffs Harbour. It is served by the North Coast railway line with six New South Wales XPT services daily, three heading north and three south. Sawtell station is an optional stop for all of them.
Coffs Harbour Airport is located just to the north of Sawtell with the runway ending just to the north of the town.
Demographics
At the 2021 Census, Sawtell had a population of 3,788. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders made up 3.7% of the population. Note: after 2006, Toormina and Boambee became counted separately in the Census and Sawtell's listed population shrunk considerably.
Beaches
The Sawtell area contains several beaches. The main ocean beach is Sawtell beach, extending north from Sawtell Headland and the sheltered Sailors Bay swimming area to Murrays beach.
thumb|View from Boambee Head, looking south across Murrays Beach and Sawtell Beach
Murrays beach, also known as Sawtell Beach North, extends north from Sawtell beach to Boambee Head. Annually between September to April, Sawtell beach is patrolled by the local Surf Lifesavers who run Sawtell Surf Club half way along the beach.