Whibay-gamba is an aboriginal naming for Nobbys, the harbour's famous landmark at the entrance of Newcastle Port.
An aboriginal reference to Nobbys depicts the significance of Whibay-gamba to local aboriginal people.
The story tells of the presence of a giant kangaroo hiding on the island. The kangaroo occasionally shakes his tail making the land tremble causing the dislodgement of large rocks from above.
The vibrations caused by the kangaroo shaking his tail is said to be a specific aboriginal reference to earthquake activity in the Newcastle area.
In the 1800's, Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld first recorded evidence of Nobbys Island being an "abode of an immensely large kangaroo."
Threlkeld noted when Nobbys was reduced to half its original height, in an effort to alleviate a loss of wind in ships' sails as they entered Newcastle Port, that this work was completed "without reaching the monster kangaroo said to dwell within the rock."
Another interpretation surrounding the story of the kangaroo in Whibay-gamba conveys how the kangaroo came to be inside Nobbys island. The interpretation suggests that the kangaroo disobeyed the law of the Wallaby Clan. The wallabies chased the kangaroo towards the sea where he slipped away aided by dense fog.
The wallabies assumed that the kangaroo had drowned, but he swam to Whibay-gamba to hide and is said to be still hiding at Nobbys today.
