Wandandian 1936.

In 1936 in the Catholic Press, a correspondent writing under the name of Bluebell had a column where children wrote in from all over the country, telling many wonderful and varied stories about their location and their life.

One such story was sent to him by a young Dorris Sperring in response to receiving a Christmas Card from Bluebell.

"My Dear Bluebell, – I received your very nice card and thought it was lovely.  Santa Clause brought me a sewing machine. Father Cannon said Holy Mass at Wandandian.  It was offered up for my little brother Ken,  I went to Confession and Holy Communion. Wandandian is situated 591/2 miles from Batemans Bay. It is a very small district.  There are two stores, a post office, and a sawmill.  It is mostly a dairy farming district.  I will close now,  Hoping you are well. 
Love from DORIS SPERRING.

Bluebell responded.
Glad you liked the card, dear Dorris, and that dear old Santa did not forget you. Thanks for telling me about Wandandian. I often wondered if it were a large town and all about it.  I am very well, thanks, my dear, and will be looking forward to hearing from you again, please, Doris.
Love from BLUEBELL.


These type of stories provide us with small pieces of interesting information about a particular point in time of our local history.

Wandandian Hotel C.1917

A group of people waiting for Harrisons Cadillac.


Wandandian Hotel.

An application was brought before the Shoalhaven licensing Court on the 14th April 1897 by Francis Stapleton for a conditional hotel license to be situated at Wandandian. Mr. Stapleton who resided at Yatteyattah said in reply to Sergent Crawley's objection to the application "He believed a public
house was necessary at Wandandian; a man named Louitt who kept an accommodation house there told him he could not accommodate half the people that called, as his present building was not large enough, and he was not going to build anymore on to it, and he had heard of travelers stopping on the road for the night."

Sergent Crawley opposed the granting of the license, for the reason that a hotel was not required in the locality.

The Presiding Magistrate, after taking into account there was no guarantee Mr. Louitt's operation would continue into the future granted the license subject to the plans submitted being adhered to.

The Wandandian Hotel operated under many different owners and licensees for another 27 years until the hotel license was canceled by the Licence Reduction Board on October 17, 1924, bringing another chapter of the local regions history to an end.

Mr. E.C.Chard was the last owner/licensee of the Wandandian Hotel, his license to operate had only been renewed by the Licencing Board in July of the same year. He was compensated 1600 pounds by the Licencing Board for the closure.



Travellers outside the Wandandian Hotel – Ulladulla / Milton Historical Society.
https://muhsinc.org.au/holidays-by-the-sea/.


Licence Reduction Board - The purpose of the Board was to reduce the number of publican's licenses in New South Wales by selecting the public houses to be closed and fixing compensation payments. The Board was appointed for a period of three years from 1 January 1920.


Continue reading about Wandandian

Yalwal Cemetery.

Hard Times.
An historic cemetery is located on the side of a hill overlooking a beautiful valley.  There is a collection of graves still standing,  but three of note mark the resting place of three Payne childen who passed away in a 48 hour period of diphtheria in May 1911.

Yalwal - Dangera Dam

It had been many years since I have been to the area west of Nowra known and Yalwal.  At it's height the now quiet valleys and hills were a alive with the the noise of industry.  Gold was discovered in the area in 1872 sparking a gold rush, with hundred of miners moving to the area.  There is little sign of those days, other than the hand dug mines which dissappear into many of the hillsides.
The area is beautiful, the dam sits quietly reflecting the surrounding tree covered hills and blue sky.

The dam lies at the confluence of the Dangera and Yarramunmun Creeks which then forms Yalwal Creek which flows into the Shoalhaven River.


The dam was completed in 1971, it has a catchment area of 114 square kilometers, the height of the dam is 29.5 meters. The area is easily accessable these days, but as you decend into the valley you can't help but wonder at the effort the early pioneers put into cutting the road through such steep and unforgiving terrain moving machinery and stores with bullock teams and the extreme lengths mankind will go to seeking their fortunes.




Continue reading about this historic and fascinating area.

Huskisson 1930's

Royal Australian Naval Cadets conducting drill practice on Owen Street Huskisson in the 1930's.

Young Endeavour–Jervis Bay

A glorious sunrise bathed the bay in a subdued orange glow, before turning to a golden light.

Ships in Jervis Bay

HMAS Leeuwin 245
In the hazy subdued afternoon light HMAS Leeuwin entered the bay.

Leeuwin enables the Australian Hydrographic Service to gather high quality hydrographic information at a much greater rate than the ships they replace. The ships are 71 metres in length, with a beam of 15 metres, and a draught of 4.3 metres. Each ship displaces 2,550 tonnes and is manned by a crew of 46 officers and sailors.

Ref: http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-leeuwin.

Jervis Bay the Young Endeavour.

The Young Endeavour sailed into the bay today.  She made an impressive sight under full sail with Point Perpendicular in the background.

There is a fair amount of sea mist about today and these photographs were taken from Huskisson so the end result is not as clear as they might be.

Continue reading about the Young Endeavour.

Huskisson 1930's

An amazing view of Huskisson from the 1930's. The bay side town was a lot quieter place back then.
Izard's store from the photograph below this one, can be seen where the present day RSL is located.
I believe the building on the left forground was moved and became the scout hall behind Huskisson oval which was then burnt down in the devestating 2001 bush fires.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Huskisson 1935

Izard/Bryce/Roux's general store Owen Street.

Built by Bert Raunch; later owned by Bryce, Chancellor, Hindmarsh, then Izard.  It was used for Army accommodation during WWII, then was empty for some years before being reopened as a store by Norman Roux, who ran it as a successful milkbar and cafe.  He later sold it the the RSL.

I have no information on who the young lady is.

Huskisson 1961

Pedersen's Friendly Service Store




Pederson's Store C. 1952 - 1970
Pederson's store formerly Auld's and others, was one of the longest-lived mixed businesses in Huskisson. It sold everything from milkshakes to fishing tackle, including veggies and cups of tea, and got very busy in holiday time. But things were a bit more laid back in those times.

"Regular campers would come every year, young blokes in their 20's.  If we were really busy they would jump the counter and serve themselves,  then help us serve the other customers.  We'd often get knocked up at three in the morning to dish up fisherman's breakfast.

Lightning across Jervis Bay

Half way through Autumn and the area has been very dry and hot more like the middle of summer.  Last night the bay was in the grip of a large violent thunderstorm which despite the dark and rumbling skies didn't produce any worthwhile rain.
 
Below are a few photo's of the lightshow which ensued.

Continue reading about other lightning storms over Jervis Bay.

Cape St George Lighthouse - William Markham –

William Markham was the assistant lighthouse keeper at the Cape St George lighthouse from about 1878 to 1883. He was kicked in the head by a horse and died before he reached Nowra Hospital.




Living and working in such an isolated and unforgiving location was full of risk. William Markham was the sixth death at the lighthouse since it's construction in 1860, shrouding the lighthouse in misery once again.

Travelling along the dirt road to the lighthouse now is a relatively easy journey, but one can easily imagine how ardueous it would have been by horse and buggy.


Continue reading about the Cape St George Lighthouse.

Princess Highway 1930's

How times have changed
Old newspaper articles speak of a time when a journey from Jervis Bay to Ulladulla could take up to 8 hours, even days when it flooded and washed away bridges.




Princess Highway Tomerong 1930's.

Inside the Kingfisher.

11 April 2018
An ongoing project.

Today I took some photos of the inside of the Kingfisher.  Built shortly after World War Two at A.W.M Settree’s boat shed on Currambene Creek for the purpose of fishing for kingfish on and beyond Jervis Bay.


Detailed view of the bow.

The bow.

Looking towards the stern.

Detail of the engine cradle.



Continue reading about the Kinfisher.

Whaling in Jervis Bay.

15 July 1914.


Debate about the benifits of whalers operating from Jervis Bay was still going on.

News of the prospective arrival of Danish whalers in the bay was viewed with abhorrence by local residents. The locals could not see any benefit for the local economy saying the ships brought
all necessary supplies and did not deal locally, they also complained about the stench from the operation being unbearable.

Supporters of the whalers denied this and said the ships spent considerable amounts on stores and goods.

"It certainly does not seem possible for a vessel to carry provisions to last 100 men some months, let alone bunker coal."

Supporters saw the whaling industry growing and urged the Huskisson residents to reconsider the matter by welcoming and assisting the ships when they arrived in the bay.

Supporters  - The smell in the bay was not nearly as bad as alleged.  Anyhow, there's surely room for all.

- That last statement doesn't seem all the convincing! -


Have you wondered what whale oil could be used for.
Taken from the same paper.

Shark stories –Jervis Bay

I found this story in a copy of the Australian Womans Weekly dated March 5 1938.





Lured by the beauty of the blue-green of a rock pool, Miss Anne Grey set out on an adventure which might easily have ended in tragedy.  Lurking in the depths was a 7ft shark.

While on a holiday at Jervis Bay I went through an experience I shall never forget.  One morning I decided to go for a walk around the rocks.

After walkinjg some distance, I thought I would sit down and have a rest.  From the rock I was sitting on I noticed a delightful pool, so I took my shoes off and started to paddle. Looking towards the beach I noticed two fishermen coming in my direction.



One of them called, "Get your feet out of the water"

I just looked silly,  and still went on paddling, when all of a suden I was pulled up roughly to a standing position.  Then the fisherman said,  "Now look in that pool and consider yourself lucky your've still got your legs."

I looked and noticed a movement of what I thought was another rock.

It was a seven-foot shark which had been washed through a channel in the rocks and got caught in the pool.  The fishermen had seen it earlier and went back to get tackle to catch it.

When later I saw it dead and it's jaws open you can imagine how I felt. That was my greatest adventure.

Continue reading about other shark encounters in Jervis Bay.