Wattamolla, Lagoon and beach in Royal National Park, Australia

Wattamolla is a lagoon and beach located within Royal National Park on the southern coast of New South Wales. Two creeks converge and form shifting water channels that connect the lagoon to the open beach.

On 29 March 1796 Matthew Flinders, George Bass and William Martin, caught in a southerly gale in the boat Tom Thumb, shot across a sandbar into the sheltered lagoon and named it Providential Cove. On 15 May 1797 a fisherman spotted three crew members of the wrecked Sydney Cove on the beach, after they had walked from Ninety Mile Beach in Victoria to seek help.

The name comes from an Aboriginal language meaning place near running water, with early explorers documenting it as Watta-Mowlee. This word choice reflects how local peoples understood and named the land based on its natural features.

Road access is from the southwest of the lagoon. From the car park, stairs usually descend to the outlet of Cootes Creek on the east; when that outlet carries large volumes of water, a seasonally placed bridge across the west of the lagoon is used instead. Works completed in 2022 added a fenced lookout above the waterfall and a newly landscaped picnic area.

In 1797 three survivors from the Sydney Cove shipwreck reached this beach after walking from Ninety Mile Beach in Victoria. Their arrival here represented a crucial moment in their desperate journey to find rescue.