TERARA

Terara was the original settlement on the southern shores of the Shoalhaven River, before a number of major floods caused its residents to move slightly west to higher ground – to the area that developed into the township of Nowra.

The fertile floodplains of the Shoalhaven River had obvious attractions to early settlers. In 1824 a French tea trader and merchant, Prosper De Mestre, was promised a 1,200-acre land grant on the southern shore of the Shoalhaven River by Governor Thomas Brisbane. However, he did not receive the grant until 1836 when given it by Governor Richard Bourke. He named the property ‘Terrara’ that subsequently became ‘Terara’.

A substantial township was then developed and became the commercial centre for the district. A wharf (Adams Wharf) was built on the river and a bank, several large general stores, hotels, a School of Arts, an iron foundry, flour mill, school, post and telegraph office, town hall and churches were erected.

De Mestre himself had been a very successful businessman (he was one of the early directors of the Bank of New South Wales), but like many other South Coast pioneers (the most notable of whom was Benjamin Boyd) he was bankrupted in the early 1840s following the onset of a severe economic depression. He was forced to sell his many properties in Sydney and relocated to Terara, where he died in September 1844. His son, Etienne De Mestre, became a successful horse-breeder and trainer; his horse ‘Archer’ won the first two Melbourne Cups.

From 1860 to 1870 Terara was impacted by a number of severe floods.

In February 1860 a flood carried 54 dwellings and shops and 21 barns downstream. Potato, wheat and barley crops were completely destroyed and 387 head of cattle, 22 horses and 601 pigs were drowned. The Illawarra Mercury (21.2.1860) reported:

‘…Commencing at Burrier above the navigable part of the river the water suddenly rose 120 feet, and rushed a perfect avalanche, as if the pent up waters of an inland sea, for years accumulating, burst its barrier banks, and poured down directed by the avenging hand of an angry God, upon the district, devoted to destruction, sweeping all before it…

I now come to the great, the awful, and most appalling scene of wild desolation, irrecoverable wreck, loss of life, and annihilation of houses and property - Terara Township. It would appear as if the avenging fury and power of the flood were reserved for the special destruction of this locality. Truly, it is a melancholy and soul-harrowing sight, to look abroad upon the spots where goodly dwellings once stood, and happy, too confident families, once dwelt - living in peace and comfort, the creation of their own industry, and smiling in contentment and feelings of independence.

The following houses, with all the furniture and property, have been destroyed, the greater number washed wholly away:- The Commercial Bank, cash and bills saved through the great exertion of the manager, Mr. Whittingham, and at much risk; Mr. Holmes' dwelling-house and goods much injured in the Terara Store; the steamer store burst open, and turned round, front on to the river, it is a complete wreck; the bank manager's house washed away; Widow Mallock, and store, washed away, body not yet found; Griffiths' house, built on sleepers, raised on blocks two feet, washed away.

Here a heartrending scene occurred. Mr. Griffiths took his aged mother on his back, made four attempts to carry her to the Royal Victoria Hotel, and each time was driven back by the eddy formed by the water rushing against it; at length, going with the flood, he swam and waded, still carrying his mother, until he reached Terara Steam Mill exhausted, he laid his mother down, and, as he did so, she died. Nothing but the great moral power of his filial love and high sense of duty could, with God's help, have given him the physical strength and courage to breast the raging torrent as he did for so long a distance, and throughout so great and so protracted a struggle. May God reward him for his labour of love, even though that labour was lost.' (And so on...)

Another major flood followed in July, but that was nothing compared to one in early April 1870:

‘It is my painful duty to record the visitation of a most ominous flood to our district. We ought to be very thankful that no human life was sacrificed, considering the rapid rise of the sweeping river, or that no dwellings were hurled down amid the giant fury of the destructive element. The great flood of 1860, which will never be forgotten for the lamentation and woe it left through our district, was a warning of terror to everyone, and had the salutary effect which experience taught of necessitating the farmers on our river to erect their dwellings on elevated ground…The accounts from Terara are the same as usual - the submerging of that unfortunate township, and the water level in the houses at various depths, from a few inches to a few feet. There are many houses erected here on high blocks, which, of course, rendered them safe from the flood, but, had the rain continued twenty-four hours longer, who can tell what would have been the result. It is madness in people remaining on such low, unsafe localities when they have elevated grounds above floods to fly to…The Company's storm wharf at Terara was swept away; a new wharf has been erected for the accommodation of the shippers. Strange to say one of the stone blocks was moved away from under the Company's store, and several of the ironbark sleepers for the new Government wharf lying handy thereto were shifted several yards. This will show the force of the current in this port, which was fearful…’

Moving the main commercial centre for the district to higher ground at Nowra then became inevitable.

De Mestre’s Terara estate was purchased by a Mr. Hugh Mackenzie in 1886. He built the (surviving) 23 room mansion between 1900 and 1904, using sandstone that was quarried several miles upstream and floated down the river on barges from Flat Rock. Then, in 1926, it was sold to Michael Hyam who operated the estate as a dairy farm.

Image: Terrara House, now a venue for weddings and other events.