BURRILL LAKE

Burrill Lake (the waterway) has a surface area of about four square kilometers, is relatively deep and is connected to the ocean by Burrill Inlet, a 3km long meandering channel. It is classed as a lake with an untrained (i.e. natural) entrance. The entrance is usually open because of the southern rocky shoreline helps maintain the channel from the sea.

The meaning of its name is uncertain. One possibility is it is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning ‘wallaby’. Another is that it is taken from an Aboriginal word for a tree with green and white leaves.

Yet another suggestion was that it was named after an Aboriginal named Billy Burriel who, in 1842, is recorded as having received a blanket distributed by the government. This, however, is unlikely because in 1828 the government surveyor Thomas Florance recorded the name ‘Bhurril’ whilst on an expedition charting the surrounding coast. On that occasion he also noted a large number of Aboriginal canoes on the lake.

The Murramarang Indigenous peoples were the traditional owners of the land and had inhabited the area for millennia. In 1931, members of the Anthropological Society of New South Wales excavated an Aboriginal rock shelter in the area that was believed to be more than 20,000 years old, and therefore to be the oldest-known Aboriginal site on the Australian East Coast.

In January 1860 James King purchased 103 acres on what is now Kings Point, on the eastern shore of the lake. He had migrated to Sydney to establish the Royal Botanic Gardens and evidently was offered the land in appreciation for the work he had undertaken there. He paid £103 for the land.

Other early land purchases occurred on the north side of the lake in 1863. The largest area was acquired by William Hood Wason (he has a street named after him in narby Ulladulla), others by William Walter Ewin, John Fisher Cambage and James Cork.

In 1870 a private school was established on land owned by William Ewin. In 1876, a government school was opened on the north-west end of the lake, pre-dating the opening of a school at Milton. It operated until 1934 when it closed down because there were then only seven pupils enrolled.
Another school, the Burrill Lake School, opened in 1898. It was at the eastern end of the lake, near the bridge.

Farming, fishing and forestry were the early mainstays of the area. There were once a number of sawmills in the area with, for example, Ireland’s sawmill being established on the southern side of the lake in 1877. It worked until around 1913.

From around 1919, until the start of World War II, the collection of shell grit and its burning to produce lime was a significant industry, mainly centred around the Dolphin Point area.

The first bridge across the lake was built in 1889 on what was then a bush track connecting Burrill Lake with Batemans Bay. However, when coaches started running between Nowra and Bega in 1893, they travelled by a more inland Shallow Crossing route.

From the 1920s, and before the township of Burrill Lake was established, the lake was considered to be a fisherman’s paradise. Campers flocked to the area.

In the 1920s, the Butson family opened a kiosk catering to the needs of campers at Burrill Lake. One Christmas Day they dressed 350 head of poultry for campers! Nearby there was a boatshed which hired out boats. The Butson’s enterprises eventually evolved into what is today the Holiday Haven Caravan Park.

In the late 1920s land was subdivided and offered for sale. It was primarily targeted at a then-growing Canberra market.

The Burrill Lake Post Office was opened in December 1934.

In 1937 the main road south from Ulladulla was constructed via a more direct Cockwhy deviation, providing employment opportunities during the Depression. A substantial bridge (replaced in recent years) was constructed across the lake in 1957.

In December 1941 the population of Burrill Lake was 195.

The village really started to grow after World War II, at a time when it had three shops.

In November 1946, George Dean opened an open air theatre in Burrill Lake. It had a seating capacity of 787. As a promotion, he brought the popular entertainer Bob Dyer down from Sydney to perform on stage. The theatre was demolished 53 years later.

In 1969 the Bush Missionary Society opened the Burrill Pines Motel to help fund its work.

Image: The Burrill Lake Bridge in 1900