FUN FACT --- "Hyams Beach, NSW, DOES NOT have world's whitest sand according to the Guinness World Records." It's a claim that has been published repeatedly for decades. The Sydney Morning Herald refers to it as far back as 1987. And now, every few months, a major news publisher (including this one) or someone on social media picks up that tag and runs with it. No questions asked. The only problem is, it's not true. The tiny coastal town in New South Wales, near Jervis Bay, has become a victim of fake news and its own popularity. Home to only 100 people, the population swells into the thousands over the summer as tourists flock to this seaside village to see the "world's whitest sand" and take the perfect Instagram shot. Sure, it's white - whiter than the sand at Bondi and St Kilda. But it's not the world's whitest - Hyams Beach is not even home to Australia's whitest sand. And to further debunk the myth, the Guinness World Records doesn't even have a "world's whitest sand" category. So, where is the whitest beach? It started as an afternoon banter over beers for Noel Schoknecht, soil scientist and former chairman of the National Committee on Soil and Terrain, to find the country's whitest beach. A term of reference was then drafted and samples taken from beaches across the country. The samples had to be taken from the swash zone (the gently sloping area between the water and the dunes) and they could not be treated in any way apart from air-drying. The winning beach was Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park on Western Australia's south coast. Followed by Hellfire Bay in WA, Tallebudgera Beach in Queensland, Whitehaven Beach in Queensland, Squeaky Beach in Victoria, Boat Harbour Beach in Tasmania, Hyams Beach in New South Wales, and Bromby Island in Northern Territory.
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FUN FACT ---
"Hyams Beach, NSW, DOES NOT have world's whitest sand according to the Guinness World Records."
It's a claim that has been published repeatedly for decades. The Sydney Morning Herald refers to it as far back as 1987. And now, every few months, a major news publisher (including this one) or someone on social media picks up that tag and runs with it. No questions asked. The only problem is, it's not true. The tiny coastal town in New South Wales, near Jervis Bay, has become a victim of fake news and its own popularity. Home to only 100 people, the population swells into the thousands over the summer as tourists flock to this seaside village to see the "world's whitest sand" and take the perfect Instagram shot.
Sure, it's white - whiter than the sand at Bondi and St Kilda. But it's not the world's whitest - Hyams Beach is not even home to Australia's whitest sand. And to further debunk the myth, the Guinness World Records doesn't even have a "world's whitest sand" category. So, where is the whitest beach?
It started as an afternoon banter over beers for Noel Schoknecht, soil scientist and former chairman of the National Committee on Soil and Terrain, to find the country's whitest beach.
A term of reference was then drafted and samples taken from beaches across the country. The samples had to be taken from the swash zone (the gently sloping area between the water and the dunes) and they could not be treated in any way apart from air-drying.
The winning beach was Lucky Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park on Western Australia's south coast. Followed by Hellfire Bay in WA, Tallebudgera Beach in Queensland, Whitehaven Beach in Queensland, Squeaky Beach in Victoria, Boat Harbour Beach in Tasmania, Hyams Beach in New South Wales, and Bromby Island in Northern Territory.
Wow- thanks for the information - had no idea- this is helpful.