The region is rich in history. The first notable piece of European history in the area being the observation by Captain James Cook, on 13 May 1770, of smoke from a fire on a mountain which he duly named Smoky Cape. The headland in front of the mountain is now the location of Smoky Cape Lighthouse.
Trial Bay was named after a brig, The Trial, which was stolen and wrecked by convicts in 1816 in the bay that now bears its name. When the area was developed, Arakoon was intended as the major town in the area, but history has a way of changing the plans of men, and South West Rocks has taken on that role.
There are a number of stories as to how South West Rocks got it's name, but one of the most favoured is that the captains of passing ships where told it was safest to moor their vessels near the rocks, south west of Laggers Point (the point on which Trial Bay Gaol is built). An alternate story is that they were told their moorings would be safe if they kept the rocks to their south west.
