JASPERS BRUSH

Cedar getting commenced in the area around Jaspers Brush from the 1810s. The area then became part of Alexander Berry’s Coolangatta Estate and, following the cessation of convict transportation to NSW in 1840, much of the area was occupied by share farmers who were initially tasked with clearing the land.

Jasper Brush was an Aboriginal employed by Berry who helped clear the land and who camped in the area.

Once cleared, the area proved to be ideally suited to dairying, so that became principal undertaking in the area.

A community developed at ‘Jaspers Brush’ with the construction of a road linking Broughton Vale and Bomaderry, and from the early 1850s it seems the area had become commonly known as Jaspers Brush. A wharf was constructed at the junction of Jaspers Creek and Broughton Creek (at the end of what is now O’Keefes Lane) to serve the community. In 1884 a Public School was opened in Jaspers Brush. In 1888 a large Jaspers Brush Dairy Company factory was erected and this processed milk from around 50 local dairy farms. In 1893 a Jaspers Brush railway station was opened when the railway line was extended from Kiama to Bomaderry (this station closed in 1951), and in 1889 a Post Office was established in the town. At one time the village also had its own School of Arts.

Stories of settlers in the area are included in a The Dairy Lane Project series of podcasts available at https://rss.com/podcasts/season-1-the-dairy lane-project/