Ideas and dreams..

Jervis Bay development.

Henry F Halloran.

Henry F Halloran had high ambitions for developing Jervis Bay. But his ideas and dreams relied heavily on the long promised railway line being built. The line was never extended, despite many years of lobbying by local business people, endless bureaucratic talk and large sums of public funds spent by succeeding governments. I think Jervis Bay is very fortunate that nothing came of the proposals.  It has been the major reason development  stalled and the bay preserved in such a natural state.

Tomerong Railway League 1907.

Ships in the bay

If you make you way down to the foreshore of the bay over the next couple of days you may be lucky enough to see some of the navy ships that are currently in the bay. At the moment we have the New Zealand warship Tekaha.  the New Zealand Fueler HMNZS Endeavour,  the HMAS Ballarat and two mine sweepers, one is the HMAS Diamantina.

HMNZS Tekaha entering the bay.

12th May 2016 - The New Zealand ship ”Tekaha” in the early morning light.

New Zealand fueler HMNZS Endeavour steaming towards the bay.

New Zealand fueler HMNZS Endeavour passing Bowen Island.

Jervis Bay

10th May 2016 - Today we have very strong westerly winds blowing across the bay creating a dramatic scene.

H.M.S Nelson .– Jervis Bay 1888

During the 1880’s – 1890’s HMS Nelson was a regualar visitor to Jervis Bay. The large heavily armed war ship would use Jervis Bay for much of it’s training. This involved setting up large floating canvas targets, sometimes stationary, sometimes moving, the men would practice with everything from small arms, to firing her big guns,  and in the case below,  torpedo firing practice.

The torpedos were launched with considerable force from an air gun from the broardside  at a target being towed at full speed by torpedo launches. The torpedos are driven by screw driven compressed air and travel at 24 knots per hour over 600 yards. The torpedos are unarmed and are recovered by a special boat crew. This exercise lasted all day.

As a defence against torpedos,  H.M.S Nelson deploys “torpedo netting” along the sides of the ship, hopefully stopping enemy torpedos before striking the ship.

image from the worldnavalships.com collection.

HMS Nelson was a 126-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 1814 at Woolwich.,but then laid up incomplete at Portsmouth until 1854, when work with a view to commissioning her for service in the Crimean War, but this ended before much work had been done, and the ship returned to reserve. In 1865, H.M.S Nelson was given to the colony of Victoria as a training ship, and she was finally outfitted and rigged for £42,000 and sailed for Australia in October 1867. Travelling via the Cape of Good Hope, she arrived in February 1868. She was the first ship to dock in the newly constructed Alfred Graving Dock. Her armament in 1874 was listed as two 7-in RML, twenty 64-lb guns, twenty 32-lb guns and six 12-lb howitzers.

Portsmouth, England. C.1891, Detail view of the bow of the armoured cruiser HMS Nelson  appeared after her 1889 –1891 refit.  Her sailing rig has been reduced and fighting tops containing 3 pounder Hotchkiss anti torpedo boat guns fitted to her fore and mizzen masts.  Three other 3 pounders can be seen around her bows.  The deep embrasure in the hull is to enable end on firing by her 10 inch 18 ton rifled muzzel loading gun. Above it is a 4.7 inch quick firing gun. (Naval History Collection) Public Domain Image.

Jervis Bay

S.S.Seagull II

Advertisement from 1914.

Steamers were used for all manner of things, in this case the S.S Seagull was used to tow a newly completed vessel from the Dent shipyard at Huskisson to Sydney. This was a common practice,  the newly launched timber ships would be towed to Sydney, often laden with goods and timber.  In Sydney they would undergo their final fit out in preparation for sea trials, after which the ship would be passed for operation. 1913.

The S.S Seagull was a regular visitor to Jervis Bay.   She was one of the steamers used to transport building material and other cargo for the construction of the Royal Australian Naval College located at Captains Point. 1913.

Schooner Dairymaid1867.

The sailing schooner Dairymaid was built by William Woods for the Shellharbour Co-operative Steam Navigation Company on the banks of Currambene Creek Jervis Bay.  She was taken to Shellharbour on her first trip in October 1867.

The Shellharbour Co-operative Steam Navigation Company was formed because of the  uncertain nature of the coastal shipping trade. Many ships would by-pass Shellharbour leaving local producers witout a way to get their produce to Sydney markets.  The local farmers had grown tired of being left out of the coastal trade and formed their own shipping company. The Dairy Maid described as a ‘smart little vessel” was built especially for this trade, she measured 85 feet (25 metres)  in length, and around 25 tons, she was placed in the command of Captain W.Wilson the son of a local Shellharbour resident and shareholder. The vessel transported pigs, calves and butter to Sydney in a trip taking about 60 hours. This would sometimes cause considerable risk to the livestock when headwinds and delays caused the journey to take much longer, sometimes as much as a week or ten days, and needless to say the produce didn’t improve on the voyage. The venture was very successful and the profits of the Dairymaid paid for the vessel within five years. Pressure mounted to purchase a steamer, but the owners and shareholders resisted until the Illawarra Stream Company started running a steamer to Shellharbour,  named the Blackwal, this vessel started to receive a lot of support.   This development prompted the local farmers to invest in their own steamer which was also named the Dairymaid. The Shellharbour Co-operative Steam Navigation Company was replaced by the Shellharbour Steam Navigation Company, the farmers prompt action in securing their  own steamer and the unfortunate running aground of the Blackwal saw the local farmers co-operative survive in profit for many years. The schooner Dairymaid was eventually sold leaving the steamer to carry on the trade.

From what I have been able to find out the schooner Dairy Maid may have ended it’s days as a pearling vessel and foundered in a gale 6 Miles North of Roebuck Bay taking 4 poor souls with her in 1887.  But this information is yet to be confirmed. If you have any information regarding the Dairy Maid please don’t hesitate to contact us here.

Voyager Park Huskisson.

Opened on April 22nd 1972

Huskisson 1936

Deserted Farm – The World News.

Huskisson 1932

Cape St George Light House

The ruins of Cape St George lighthouse are still visible to passing ships today. The remains almost disappear back into the very stone it was built from.  Built in the wrong location the ruins stand as a sad but fascinating reminder of miss management, and tragedy. Pay a visit to the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum and have a look at the fantastic  objects collected from the lighthouse.

Previous Posts about Cape St George.

Nerriga’s slab house.

After a bit of research I have more information about the old slab dwelling on the eastern side of the road coming into Nerriga. Previous Post and pictures.

Built around 1860-1870, In two sections,  the kitchen/dining area is separated from the living/ lounge area. The chimneys are built from timber lined with scraps of flattened tin and corrugated iron, the ceilings were ply wood and others hung with hessian. The bread oven is the only one still standing in Nerriga today,  and was possibly built around 100 years ago,  it stands by itself behind the building and is covered with corrugated iron to protect the bricks and mortar. There was also another large slab shed that stood nearby and was used as a blacksmiths shop by the Donnelly family who lived in the cottage in 1950. They also made coffins. Today. Unfortunately the inside is a mess,  ceilings are coming down and some have been removed…the walls are covered in rotting paper and remnants of plaster, old furniture is strewn all over the place. Such a shame,  hopefully someone with courage and determination will one day soon,  save the old building from rotting away.

Ref: Nerriga on the Wool Road.  A fantastic little book that covers the history of this small historic town and community.  All proceeds from the sale of the book go to the Nerriga Historical Museum.

Previous Post and pictures.

HMAS ADELAIDE

In a long held tradition of the Royal Australian Navy conducting training exercises in Jervis Bay HMAS Adelaide has been making regular visits to the bay over the last few months. Today I was lucky enough to get a ride out to HMAS Adelaide to shoot a few close up pictures as the ship was conducting exercises. Large barges were being loaded and unloaded through the large opening in the stern of the vessel. It was a spectacular site,  at the same time the barges were doing their exercises  helicopters were taking off and landing on the ship.

Reversing out.

Nerriga

The name "Nerriga" was first recorded by surveyor Robert Hoddle  during a  1828 expedition of the Shoalhaven River.

The village of Nerriga in situated on the southern tablelands around 1 hours drive from Jervis Bay.  The historic wool road which at one time played such an important roll in Jervis Bay’s past,  passes through what is left of the old town. In 1840, James Larmer surveyed a village site and a route over the mountains from Nerriga to Vincentia. It was intended that this pass, known as the Wool Road would allow movement of agricultural produce to a port on Jervis Bay from the Braidwood and Goulburn districts. The road was completed in 1841, a distance of approximately 37 miles (60 km) at an estimated cost of £997. In 1842, the existing road linking Nerriga to Braidwood was substantially upgraded. Both projects utilised convict labour under the command of Nerriga landowner Colonel John Mackenzie.

While passing through Nerriga last weekend I had the good fortune to meet the son of the current owner of a property where one of the oldest slab houses of the district still stands.  I have passed  it for many years and have seen it slowly falling apart, but never stopped to have a close look. I was kindly invited onto the property to take some pictures of the old building. He said his family had only owned the property for 12 months and didn’t know a lot about the old house other than it was used as a residence, a bakery and by a coffin maker. It’s a shame to see it deteriorating so badly – one day it will probably fall over and another peice of our history will disappear.

Hardwood slab construction

The original bakers oven.

Cloth ceilings, timber walls and rough slab floor.

Slab Walls

REF; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerriga,_New_South_Wales