Pages 9 - 77 (1600kb) - Eurobodalla Shire Council

EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE STUDY
South Coast NSW
settlement was focused, provided a major resource historically as it continues to do
today. The dairying and other agricultural activities that occurred in the valleys
involved large scale land clearance.
The late nineteenth century saw a dramatic increase in timber getting on the south
coast as contracts to supply sleepers for the state’s developing railway network were
acquired. By 1883 there were 13 mills operating in the Clyde River area alone. These
mills were located in many areas including: Bawley Point, Kioloa, Pebbly Beach,
Bateman’s Bay, Tomakin, Mogo, Runnyford, Benandarah, Brooman, Shallow
Crossing, Currowan Creek, Bridge Creek, and Termiel. 104 Although there are only
limited references relating to the involvement of Aboriginal people in the timber
industry in the Eurobodalla area, it is undoubtedly the case that Aboriginal people
were involved as workers in the timber industry as they were throughout the state.
From the mid 1860s a shift began on the South Coast from beef cattle to dairy cattle.
The Bodalla area, at that time the property of Thomas Mort, was one of the early
properties intensively developed as a dairy from the mid 1860s onward. The Tilba
Tilba area was also developed as a dairying centre early on. By the end of the 1870s,
all of the good dairying land in the area had been selected. 105
The 1880s and 1890s saw a large scale move to dairying throughout the region and
the development of the butter and cheese industry in the region. While the Bega
Valley was the centre of the development of the dairying industry the shift impacted
throughout the region. 106
In an article published in the Moruya Examiner in 1888 the author wrote of the
emergence of the towns of the area:
Nelligen also became a busy little town, as large quantities of wool
found its way from the Braidwood district to the steamer at that place,
en route for the metropolis. Bateman’s Bay, too, sprang into note, by
reason if its saw mills; and Mogo kept a small, but steady body of
diggers at work, and there are yet very strong indications of a good
gold-field being found within its limits. Tomakin, on the shores of
Broulee harbour, has supplied Sydney and other ports with a vast
quantity of timber, and is still able to do so, if prices would only
improve. 107
Speaking of what essentially constitutes the Eurobodalla district the author described
the area in 1888:
The district has made great strides within the past few years, and tens
of thousands of acres have been selected. As a rule the inhabitants are
an exceedingly thrifty body, and not behind any part of the colony. The
district is well supplied with schools, and churches are numerous, large
sums of money being collected every year for the advancement of
104
James, op.cit., pp.11-16.
105
Pacey & Hoyer, op.cit., p.3.
106
Jack & Jeans, op.cit., pp.166-169.
107
Wolbar [appears to be Richard Barlow], ‘Moruya, Past and Present’, Moruya Examiner, 26/1/1888,
p.4.
Goulding Heritage Consulting Pty Ltd
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