On this day – 1st July 1822

Today marks the day Alexander Berry first walked to the top of Mount Coolangatta.
Measuring 320 meters high the Mount dominates the coastal landscape in this area.

The history of Coolangatta Estate stretches back to the early 19th Century. It was in 1822, that partners Alexander Berry and Edward Wollstonecraft settled on the foothills of a mountain named Coolangatta, after obtaining a grant of 10,000 acres and 100 convicts from the NSW Government. The date 23 June 1822 has since been recognized as the first European settlement on the South Coast of NSW. Alexander Berry wrote: “For my headquarters I fixed on the north side of the river at the foot of a hill called by the natives ‘Collungatta’. I located the 10,000 acres grant in this locality” ‘Collungatta’ was the Aboriginal word for fine view, a description that Berry found difficult to dispute. On 1 July 1822, Alexander Berry climbed Mt. Coolangatta to view his vast estate. He spent the night atop this ancient mountain, pondering the future of his settlement and possible uses of its fertile land. Aboriginal Importance. Cullunghutti (the proper spelling) has great significance to the local Aboriginal people and this was recognised more than 100 years ago by anthropologists and in recent years the National Parks and Wildlife Service purchased 67 hectares of land on the mountain. That land has been gazetted as an Aboriginal area under the National Parks and Wildlife Act.