The Beach House, Bermagui

The Beach House in Bermagui is historically significant because it is one of the oldest continuously operating commercial buildings in Bermagui, even though much of the detail of the earlier building has been over-clad. Because of its prominent position it has also been a long-time, major feature of this town’s seaside streetscape.

The original building on this site was erected in 1888 by William Windsor, a miner and Moruya publican. He was unsuccessful in obtaining a liquor licence (possibly because Bermagui already had a hotel – the Royal Hotel), so it became The Good Templars Hotel, simply offering facilities to those in need of a rest or a holiday by the seaside. (The Independent Order of Good Templars was a total abstinence temperance organization. From its inception, the group accepted men and women equally as members. The temperance movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was closely aligned with the women's suffrage movement.)

In the 1880s, Bermagui’s emerging tourism industry was dependent on attracting visitors from Sydney, and they had to travel to the area on steamers. A Sydney Morning Herald article from that time reported that the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company vessels called to Bermagui twice a week, but that the company was, in effect, price gouging in charging £2 – the equivalent of about 6 week’s wages for most – for the journey from Sydney of just 160 miles.

In 1902 a Mr Trewnick bought the property, paying near to £1,000 for it, and then added a second storey to it. In 1904 a Mrs Walledom was operating the Seaview Coffee Palace from the building.
In 1908 new owners changed the name to Beach House. It was described at the time as ‘the premier guest house of the south coast of N.S.W’.

In 1918 it again changed hands and was renovated. The property was then advertised as having 23 rooms and good stabling with prime horse feed.

In 1928, the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company ceased carrying passengers, resulting in a downturn in patronage of the Beach House.

In the early 1940s, the building was sold again and was again renamed. It became Sorento Lodge.
A second two-storey building was erected behind the main building in 1951 to increase the amount of accommodation.

The building is currently called Bermagui Beach House and its café, Bermagui Beachside Café.