CAMBEWARRA VILLAGE

The original inhabitants of the area were the Dharawal people and the name ‘Cumbewarra’ or ‘Cambewarra’ is believed to be derived from their word meaning ‘mountain of fire’, possible reflecting the frequent cloud that shrouded Cambewarra Mountain.

There was an abundance of cedar in the area and it was cut from 1812. Cedar getting continued to be big business throughout the 1830s and 1840s.

There were settlers in the surrounding area from at least the 1830s. A Charles Staples then owned a 1,280-acre property called ‘Cumbewarra Farm’. However, ownership of it passed to Alexander Berry in 1840.

The first settlers in the town, which was then called ‘Good Dog’, were Alexander Bice and his wife. They arrived in 1851. By 1855 there were 43 voters (property owners, so males) in Good Dog. A private school operated from the mid-1850s and in June 1859 Cambewarra School opened with an enrolment of 48 pupils. (A West Cambewarra School opened in July 1879. It closed in August 1927.) The Post Office opened in 1866 and a School of Arts was established in 1879. It operated with varying success well into the 20th century.

The area became dairying country. A private cheese factory opened in 1889. The Cambewarra and Meroo Dairy Company was established in 1899 and functioned until 1906. Another factory, the Foley Brothers factory, operated until 1912 after which most of the cream from the district was taken to the Nowra Co-operative Dairy Company that had been established in 1901.

Berry’s vast Coolangatta Estate extended as far west as Cambewarra Village, with Berry owning several town allotments in the south-eastern section of the town. These properties were auctioned off in 1892.

Cambewarra Village was at its peak in the latter years of the 19th century after a water supply was connected in 1893. It included three hotels (one of which had the sales yards at its rear), the post office, general stores, a bakery, a butcher, a tinsmith, a blacksmith, a bootmaker, a tannery (at one stage there were three tanneries in the area), a saddlery, a soap factory, a solicitor, and a brickworks. The town also supported the School of Arts, a cricket ground, a racecourse and a rifle range.

Originally the town was connected by road to the Bangalee Wharf on the Shoalhaven River, giving it access to shipping and markets. However, from the early 20th century, motor transport became important and this was accompanied by a rise in tourism to the area. A lookout was opened on Cambewarra Mountain in 1910 (those on early coaching parties to the lookout were forced to walk the final section of the road because it was too steep for the horses) and later tea rooms and a kiosk were built at the lookout.

The route of the main highway south (the Princes Highway) and the railway to the east, however, bypassed Cambewarra. That, along with its proximity to Bomaderry and Nowra, ultimately led to the decline of local industries and a shrinking of the village.

In March 1906 a Cambewarra Shire Council was incorporated. It functioned until 1948 when it, along with a number of other small nearly Councils, was merged into the Shoalhaven Shire Council.