[1] The local story of the origin of Barrys Reef refers to a man who was exiled from the town of Blackwood after a drunken brawl so he started walking to find a suitable place to live.

After an hour of walking northwards away from Blackwood, the man (Barry Francis) found gold in the area and set up camp eventually building a house.

Later on in the gold rush days Barry's Reef grew in size and at one stage had six hotels.

[3] After the gold rush the town eventually started to dwindle in population and was usually mistaken for North Blackwood.

[4] Nowadays the local people use the towns name as an excuse for not living in Blackwood or Trentham.