South Coast NSW History Stories

The Bodalla Arms Hotel is mentioned extensively in the classic Australian book 'Gone Fishin' because its author, John O’Grady (perhaps better known as Nino Culotta), was a regular patron...

All Saints' Anglican Church in Bodalla is widely considered to be ‘one of the finest Churches in Australia’, ‘one of the choicest ecclesiastical structures out of Sydney’...

The size and prominent location on a corner make Lynch’s Hotel a landmark in Narooma. And it contributes significantly to a group of heritage structures that present a section of streetscape with impressive historic character...

Glen Luna has historic significance for having been associated with the Tilba Tilba dairying industries and for its links to early land selection in the Tilba area...

Several Roman Catholic buildings are prominently and distinctively located on the crest of a hill on the outskirts of Cobargo village – a Roman Catholic Church and Presbytery, a Roman Catholic School and a Roman Catholic Convent. Together they form an impressive streetscape, whilst also demonstrating the strength and nature of Catholic practice in the Cobargo region during the early twentieth century...

The Beach House in Bermagui is historically significant because it is one of the oldest continuously operating commercial buildings in Bermagui, even though much of the detail of the earlier building has been over-clad. Because of its prominent position it has also been a long-time, major feature of this town’s seaside streetscape...

The Brown Mountain Power Station produces hydro-electricity…but, today, ‘it is an anomaly…an insignificant trickle…and only a sneeze worth’ of power is generated. It is probably the oldest and the smallest power station still feeding electricity into the NSW grid...

The Bemboka General Store is a typical small country town general store, very much the 'heart' of the town. It was run continuously by the Hobbs family for 80 years, supplying everything from teaspoons to veterinary supplies 7 days a week…and petrol could be purchased ‘any hour night or day’...

This was Bega's hospital from 1889 to 1956. it is listed on the Australian Institute of Architects’ Register of Significant Architecture in NSW and on Bega Valley Shire’s Schedule of significant heritage items...

In 1876 Edmund Blacket, the NSW Colonial Architect and the architect most favoured by the Church of England in NSW, was engaged to design Bega’s St John’s Anglican Church with seating for 300. The Church was built by well-known local builder R W Thatcher and was opened in January 1878...

The King’s Theatre was built in 1935. It was designed by Kaberry and Chard (a Sydney-based theatre architectural company that also designed Sydney’s Empire Theatre (later Her Majesty’s), the Enmore Theatre and the Valhalla Theatre) in the then-popular art deco style. The interior displayed Mayan motif decorations...

Littleton House was built in 1875. It was designed to be a ‘gracious residence, fit for a professional gentleman and his lady’. It is of a style common to the period...

Bega’s Dr Evershed Memorial Clock Tower is believed to be the first monument to have been erected in NSW to honour the significant community contribution of an ‘ordinary’ (non-official) citizen...

Baronda's owner wanted a simple two-bedroom house. His architect had other ideas. The Council Building Inspector (of course!) had different ideas again. What resulted ‘powerfully distils the spirit of the 1960s...(having) literally grown from its site…pioneering environmental self-sufficiency’.

This attractive, late Victorian style residence exemplifies the development of Tathra township following the construction of a wharf on Tathra Headland in the 1860s...

Tathra Wharf is the only one of 15 open sea wharves on the eastern seaboard of Australia that has survived. The town of Tathra was also established and grew as a direct result of activity at this important wharf...

From 1933 to 1990 bricks were produced (in huge quantities) in wood-fueled kilns at Stafford's brick works in Kalaru...

A group of early 20th century dairy buildings associated with the South Wolumla Butter factory have survived and now are an attractive and historically-linked group of buildings...

Mitchies colourful Jetty and Shed is today one of the most photographed locations on the NSW South Coast...

Merimbula’s Black Dolphin motel was considered to be ‘one of the ten best buildings designed and built anywhere in Australia in 1960 – 1961’, ‘the most significant motel building in Australia’, and ‘an original and highly significant architectural response to the native environment’...

The Old Pambula Court House, Police Station and adjacent cell block in Toallo Street are the oldest complex of publicly accessible buildings in Pambula. The buildings – which were described as ‘built after the government model of ugliness’ - were completed in September 1861 but have been altered or added to on a number of occasions...

In many ways, Pambula’s Royal Willows Hotel is typical of single-storey Australian country pubs: architecturally, it is an undistinguished, modest building; it has been constructed of common, often locally-sourced materials; it has changed in function and in appearance over time to reflect changing circumstances in the town; it has been an important social centre of the town and its licensees have been active supporters of the town’s popular community activities.

The building now known as Toad Hall is one of the most recognisable heritage structures in Pambula. It has been used over the years as a post and telegraph office, general store, saddlery, accommodation house, fisheries inspector's office, mining warden's office, and gift shop...

The Hotel Australasia is Eden's architectural 'jewel'. Built in anticipation of Twofold Bay becoming the national capital's port, it was once considered to be 'one of the finest hotels in the state'...

The Crown and Anchor Inn was the first substantial building in Eden and today is the oldest standing building in Eden. It is an elegant Regency building...

Originally a Girl Guides hall, Eden's Log Cabin is now a community hall...

The building, between 1881 and 1883, of Green Cape Lighthouse presented enormous challenges...which ultimately led to its builder committing suicide...

Edrom, on the southern shore of Twofold Bay, was originally the home of John Logan and his large family. It was designed by Logan, was modelled on his Scottish home, and was named after his Scottish home. It is a superb example of Federation Arts & Crafts style architecture...

The history of the South Coast timber industry is particularly interesting because of the of the changes that occurred to it over that time: it was an industry that was gradually transformed from a labour-intensive, manual industry to one that became highly mechanized; it changed from being based on small, family-led enterprises to one dominated and operated by large companies; a reliance on bullocks and horses disappeared as trucks and specialist mechanical timber-getting equipment were introduced; there were significant periods of ‘boom’ and ‘bust’; and the gathering and production of some timber products simply disappeared completely over this period...

A brief history of South Coast dairying:

Commercial fishing grew to become one of the South Coast’s major industries – but also has been an industry that has been typified by periods of significant boom and bust...

For a century, from 1828 to 1929, whaling in Twofold Bay was a significant industry...

The carcus of a whale once provided a 'cure' for Rheumatism...

Munn's Maizena works became one of the most commercially important establishments on the NSW South Coast. It operated in Merimbula from 1867 to 1918...

In 1920, a syndicate of Sydney businessmen established the Austral Starch Company Limited to extract starch from the Burrawang plant. They acquired a ten-year lease over 31,000 acres of State Forest at Currowan (upstream from Nelligan) and a licence to ‘exploit the Burrawang industry in the Nelligen district’. They then erected a factory near the mouth of Currowan Creek along with a tramway that ran along Mimosa Street linking the factory to the town's wharf...

A report from the Sydney Morning Herald of the May 1870 Tuross River flood...

A report in the Sydney Morning Herald of the devastating January 1952 bushfires...

When petroleum became scarce in World War II, motorists turned to charcoal-burning producer gas units...

Artificial Intelligence - is it a boon or a curse to historians? This essay examines that question.