KIAMA

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Kiama is probably best known for its Blow Hole – created by sea erosion along the line of a fracture in the surrounding Latite, a rock deposited by volcanic eruptions.

In December 1797 George Bass entered the bay that is now Kiama Harbour on his voyage exploring the NSW South Coast. The noise created by the Kiama Blow Hole attracted his attention and he recorded:

The earth for a considerable distance round in the form approaching a circle seemed to have given way; it was now a green slope. Towards the centre was a deep ragged hole of about 25 to 30 feet in diameter and on one side of it the sea washed in through a subterraneous passage, with a most tremendous noise.

It was not long after this (probably by around 1810) that considerable numbers of timber-getters were attracted to the area, primarily to cut the valued cedar that grew in profusion along the valleys in the area. Kiama’s main beach, Black Beach, became the ‘port’ where the timber was loaded onto ships bound for Sydney. By the 1820s, 90% of the cedar arriving in Sydney was coming from the Kiama area.

The local Aboriginals proved to be very troublesome in the early days, so in 1826 a detachment of the 40th Regiment was stationed in the district for a time to protect the white population.

It is likely that Kiama’s first permanent European resident in the area, David Smith, was one of those cedar-cutters. He settled in what later became Kiama in 1821, and he built a permanent house in 1832. In 1837 this became Kiama’s first tavern, the Gum Tree Inn.

A survey of the Kiama area was undertaken in 1819 by Assistant Surveyor-General James Meehan. John Oxley, the NSW Surveyor-General at the time, also explored the area, noted the fertile soils in the area, and named it ‘Kiarami’ (from an Aboriginal word, Kiarama or Kiarmai, meaning ‘place where the sea makes a noise’). The land around the harbour was reserved by 1826 and surveys laying out the town were conducted in 1830 and 1831.

From the 1840s, Kiama developed as the shipping and service centre for the local area.

When convict labour ceased to be available, Kiama became a major centre of ‘chain migration’ in Australia (chain migration is the social process whereby immigrants from one area follow others from that same area to a particular destination; ‘sponsored immigration’ is one form of it) with significant numbers of assisted migrants coming from Northern Ireland to settle on ‘clearing leases’ (immigrants were let about 20 acres from large estates for five years rent free and given free food during the first few months. Generally these settlers lived in small huts). Half the marriages performed in the Kiama Anglican Church over a one hundred-year period had Northern Irish Protestant ancestry, reflecting this period of ‘chain migration’.

A public jetty was built in the bay at Kiama in 1849, and was extended when steamer traffic began to arrive in 1852.

In 1853 locals set up the Kiama Steam Navigation Company and two years later the company’s 104-ton wooden paddlewheel steamer, the “Kiama”, began regular journeys to Sydney. From this time onwards (weather permitting) Kiama was served by a steamer twice a week.

It was soon obvious that Kiama was in need of better harbour facilities, so lobbying began in 1864 seeking the construction of a shipping basin. That construction didn’t start for another 7 years and it took until 1876 for work to be completed on Robertson Basin (named after Sir John Robertson, the Premier of NSW, who had supported the project). The adjacent Kiama Pilot’s Cottage was finished in 1881 (now the museum) and the Kiama Lighthouse in 1887.
Construction of Robertson Basin made it attractive for large Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company vessels to use the port, greatly improving accessibility to the area.

The opening of Robertson Basin turned out to be well-timed for Kiama. The growth of railways and roadways throughout NSW and tramways in Sydney triggered an enormous demand for blue metal. And Kiama was well positioned to supply it from the abundant basalt outcrops around the town.

The basalt from the Kiama area was first used in the building of walls of public buildings in Kiama and Sydney. But the supply of crushed basalt – blue metal (much of which was initially hand crushed) – was to become the town’s greatest export.

Kiama’s first quarry (now the site of the town’s aquatic centre) was established in 1855. Others were opened shortly afterwards.

Up to 30 dray loads a day of crushed stone from the quarries were taken to a fleet of small ships in Robertson Basin. This created an unacceptable amount of dust and continual damage to the surface of the main street, Terralong Street.
So, in 1881, it was decided to build a 3’ 6” gauge steam tramway down Terralong Street from the quarries to the jetty. Two staithes for loading the stone were erected at Robertson Basin and steam locomotives were imported. However, the tramway did not work effectively and was abandoned.

By 1883 the export of blue metal from Kiama reached 400 tons a day. At times six ships were waiting offshore to load their cargoes.

Not all of these arrived at their destinations safely, with at least 11 of these so-called ‘stone fleet’ coming to grief between Kiama and Sydney. A memorial on Black Beach records the details of one of these, the SS Bombo, which capsized and sank outside Port Kembla harbour in a huge gale after departing Kiama for Sydney on 24th February 1949. Twelve of the fourteen crew lost their lives.

The dust menace in town remained, however, until the tramway idea was later revived. A 2’ gauge tramway was built along Terralong Street in 1914 by the Public Works Department and operated until 1941.

The blue metal industry was to remain the major employer in the district until the 1960s by which time most of Kiama’s quarries had closed.

The railway transformed Kiama in other ways. It made the town more accessible – both to day visitors from Sydney and to holiday makers. So, tourism then became an important part of the town’s economy. Upgrades to the Princes Highway and the widespread use of motor cars have since made the town an even more popular tourist destination.

Kiama’s easy accessibility has resulted in the town becoming a dormitory suburb of Wollongong, with the town expanding from the 1960s from its compact central area into ‘suburbs’ such as Kiama Heights, Kiama Downs and Gainsborough.

Much of Kiama’s early character has been preserved. Dates on heritage buildings reflect Kiama’s growth peak in the 1880s, and rows of modest miners’ cottages from No. 24 to No. 44 Collins Street are reminders of the town’s important mining history.