Notes: Werri Lagoon and Werri Beach with Gerringong in the background. The foreground shows typical South Coast dairy farming country with cows on pasture. The Lagoon appears to be closed at the sandbar.
While Gerringong was first gazetted as a postal town in 1829, it wasn't until January 17, 1854, that the Governor of NSW proclaimed the site of the "Village of Jerringong".
The name Gerringong means "fearful place" in the local Aboriginal language, however its beautiful appearance today belies any thought of fear. Surrounding settlements of Rose Valley, Willow Vale, Foxground and Toolijooa, are all areas of extreme beauty.
Format: Kodachrome slide
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons.
Repository: Blue Mountains City Library bmcc.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/default/?
Part of: Local Studies Collection, LS Images: Milton Porter collection
Provenance: Milton Porter
Date Range: March 1962
Links: www.gerringong-gerroa.com/history-l.htm
Tags: australia nsw werri beach gerringong lagoon kodak film kodachrome history
Notes: The Bidigal people of the Randwick area say the word Coogee means "hilly place" and Coogee is truly a place defined by its hills. Other interpretations suggest the smell of rotting seaweed, or the smell of a dead whale. To the Aboriginal people Coogee was a fishing spot, and today fishermen's boats are still stored at the northern end of the beach.
Coogee was gazetted as a village in 1838. The first school was built in 1863, and the building was converted into the Coogee Bay Hotel in 1873. Three years later, Coogee Public School was established. In late 1887, Coogee Palace Aquarium and swimming baths were constructed.
Format: albumen photoprint, 9" x 7" (229 mm x 177 mm)
Date Range: 1882
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons.
Repository: Blue Mountains City Library - library.bmcc.nsw.gov.au
Part of: Local Studies Collection
Provenance: Mr Hugh McBroom
Links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coogee,_New_South_Wales
www.randwickhistoricalsociety.org.au/coogee.htm
Tags: beach seaside horses carts 7/4/1882 history
Notes: Trial Bay had been recognised as a safe shipping refuge from southerlies ever since its naming after the wreck of the Brig Trial in 1817. Between 1863 and 1866 some 90 ships and 243 lives were lost, forcing the NSW Colonial government to act. In 1870 Parliament voted £10,000 towards the construction of a breakwater to form a “harbour of safe refuge” at Trial Bay.
The Trial Bay Gaol was established in 1876 as an experimental Public Works Gaol where the inmates would construct the breakwater. Although work started in 1877, it was not completed until 1886 due to difficulties in working the hard stone, inconsistent funding and contractual problems.
This may be a settlement that predates the gaol, although there is evidence of stone working in the right foreground. There is also a telegraph pole and wire on the slab building in the left foreground. The gaol ruins are situated on the headland well to the photo right. The photo date may be closer to the mid 1870s. The settlement appears strangely deserted.
Format: albumen photoprint, title from album page, 14” x 10½“.
Date Range: c.1880
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons. .
Repository: Blue Mountains City Library - library.bmcc.nsw.gov.au
Part of: Local Studies Collection - LS Images
Provenance: Album, donation
Links: www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/zivillager/h...
www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/camping-and-accommodation/ca...
Tags: boats shacks beach harbour Trial bay huts bays beaches history gaol