CUDMIRRAH BERRARA PROGRESS ASSOCIATION

The original farmhouse built by the Glanville's One of the two original houses at Kirby's Beach

still used today as the office and residence for the Caravan Park also built by the Glanvilles

Berrara was first settled in 1866 by Daniel Glanville and his wife Eliza, (Lot 1 Parish of Cudmirrah) . This was some 14 years earlier than the settlement of Sussex Inlet. Berrara was the site of a staging post from the Shoalhaven to Ulladulla. The coaches crossed at a ford constructed of stones near the entrance to Berrara Creek and on the other side where they had more stones enabling an easier entry to the road behind Berara Beach. The stones were visible in the creek for many years.

Daniel Glanville built a slab hut, with iron roof and dirt floor, as a temporary dwelling about on the site of the present Caravan Park toilets near the path to Berrara Creek. He also constructed stables and a blacksmiths shop, no doubt for the use of travellers. Berrara was a change station and a supply of fresh horses were always available. The stage coach through this area stopped in 1906.

Daniel started clearing the surrounding land for farming. His first daughter Mary was born in this year also. Later the existing home was built in the 1890's and the property was a dairy for about 90 years altogether.

In 1890 lot 34 was purchased in Eliza Glanville’s name. Eliza was a midwife to women settlers as far afield as Milton. She was still rounding up cattle in her eighties.

Daniel’s youngest son, Henry married May Hoffman in 1918 and they continued to run the Glanville property at Berrara (Lots 1 and 34) Glanville’s had a camping area on the headland of their property There was one house in the camping area and another two up on what is now known as Kirby’s beach. These were rented out throughout the year to visitors who arrived after a lengthy trip through rough dirt track now known as the Old Berrara Road. Visitors had to open and shut a few gates to drive through the paddocks where the cows grazed. There was a windmill in the home paddock. This is now the location of the Berrara Waters Holiday Chalets. Water for the campers was drawn from a concrete tank near the road. Later, a large underground tank was installed that collected water from the homestead and a spring near Waterhaven Avenue to supply campers needs. The water had to be pumped up from the tank using the hand pump mounted on top. It usually had to be primed before it would work.

The Glanville’s also have their own cemetery in Berrara . It is located at the back of a home on the corner of Sundowner Ave and Lakeway Ave. It can be reached from the road to Fisherman’s Rock.

On Henry’s death in 1942, May stayed on the property and married Vin Harrison in 1942. She then sold the property to the Kelly Sisters who continued to run the property as a dairy . In the morning and evening, milk, cream and butter could be bought from a small window in the milking shed behind the homestead. They ran about 25-30 head of cattle.

The Kelly Sisters sub-divided some of their land and the roads were given the aboriginal names of Moolianga Road, Wirrecoo Street and Myrniong Grove and one named after the Pope, namely Pope Avenue. This would have been in the late 1940’s early 1950’s.

In 1952, the Kelly Sisters sold out to the Kirpsons and their partner. A few years later old Gus Kirpson and his wife, bought out their partner and owned the property outright. The property was no longer operated as a dairy farm. Gus’s son Leon (Gus) and his wife Heather, both former schoolteachers later settled at Berrara to help run the business. The Father Gus and Leon built a lot of the weekenders around Berrara over the years. They had a rather distinctive style to the homes they built. In 1969,
N & K Developments purchased most of the remaining land (other than the camping and caravan park) and called this development the Silver Sands Estate. This swallowed up the remaining grassy paddocks of the original farm.

In the early 1960's electricity was connected. Water was put on in the early 1980's and sewer late 1980's early 1990's.

1969 was also the year that the new road to Cudmirrah and Berrara was established with the opening of the bridge over Swan Lake. This new route linked all the villages of Berrara, Cudmirrah Swanhaven and Sussex Inlet together. It also meant that visitors to Berrara and Cudmirrah no longer had to turn off at Cow Creek on the Sussex Inlet Road and come through the rough old Berrara Road dirt track.

In the 1950’s the Kirpsons also sold the two houses on what is now known as Kirby’s Beach, a local name given to distinguish the two beaches at Berrara. Locals named it after the then Judge Kirby, (later Sir Richard Kirby) bought the second house on the headland overlooking this beach, after his neighbour from Hunters Hill, Mr Roach had purchased the first home and advised him of the other home being for sale. The rest is History. Sir Richard lived on in his beloved “White House” after he retired, until failing eyesight and poor health forced him to move.

The White House was where former Prime Minister Bob Hawke and his former biographer and editor of “The Hawke Memoirs” Blanche D’Alpuget, were staying when their relationship became headlines. Bob and Blanche were filmed walking along Kirby’s Beach for the TV news cameras.

The Kirpson’s sold out to the new owners in 1990’s who put managers in to run the Berrara Beach Caravan Park. The old house built by the Glanville’s in the Caravan Park was pulled down. The general store type shop the Kirpsons had set up at Berrara, which was connected to the original homestead, was closed down in the 1990’s. The Caravan Park is now known as the Berrara Beach Holiday Chalets.

Photos above: 1.and 2. Berrara camping ground early 1950's . 3. Kirby's beach with the two original Glanville cottages just visible.

Exposed once again in October 2015, is the path that the Cob & Co coaches used to take to cross Berrara Creek. They then entered the old track that was in the bush behind the sandhill on the southern bank. This track was still being used in the 1940's and 1950's by my Dad and family, plus others camping at Berrara, to go shooting rabbits at an abandoned farm know as "Jimmy Johnstons" in an area near what is now Bendalong. In those days you had to bring everything in when you came camping at Berrara. The only things readily available were milk, cream and butter hand milked and churned by the Kelly Sisters. Hense the need to go hunting for rabbits to have a change in diet from fish, fish and more fish.

I have just come across your web page at www.sussexinlet.info/cbpa/history.html. It is good that someone has put the effort into recording some of the area's history. In your text you wrote...

"The Kelly Sisters sub-divided some of their land and the roads were given the aboriginal names of Moolianga Road, Wirrecoo Street and Myrniong Grove and one named after the Pope, namely Pope Avenue. This would have been in the late 1940’s early 1950’s."

I would like to make a comment on this. My first trip to Swan Lake and Berrara was in 1946 when I was 1 year old. My father was Henry Seach, who lived at 9 Pope Ave Berrara until shortly before he passed away in 1999. I remember many happy holidays from my childhood at Berrara and in also Mr & Mrs Jack Pope after whom Pope Ave is named. My mum and I used to play dominoes with Mrs Pope on the veranda of their house overlooking the sea.

My father and mother were good friends with the Popes (I believe Jack was an accountant) and we would visit them often. They lived in a big house in Hurstville and they had a tiny wooden cottage at what is now Number 1 Pope Ave.

I remember the Kelly sisters, their cows and their paddock where I would fly my kites, trying to dodge the cow pats.

My dad told me that Jack Pope had bought 200 acres of land from the Kelly sisters and wanted to subdivide it and build a small town with its own airport. Jack was an entrepreneur and arranged to sell most of the blocks along what was to become Pope Ave to his friends. In the 1950's the wooden fence which divided Jack Pope's 200 acres from the Kelly sisters cow paddock was where Moolianga Street is now. There was no Moolianga Street then. Unfortunately first Mrs Pope and then Mr Pope both passed away within a couple of years and their plans disappeared with them.

To get to Berrara you turned off the Sussex Road then drove 11 miles along the Berrara Road that continued down to the Berrara campground. The only other street was Pope Avenue, which led to the Swan Lake Road (now called Collier Drive) and a track down to the Beach.

I used to spend time listening to Jack Pope when he talked with my dad. Jack had been coming to Berrara for a long time and he had learned from the local aborigines how to walk at low tide all the way out to the bomborah rock about 300m from the beach below the end of Pope Ave. I remember when I was about 7 years old, I saw Jack walk out there and go fishing, after catching a few he walked back, not going more than about waist deep. I was amazed!

I came across the history of Berrara and noticed the email on Alfred Pope . He was my grandfather who died in 1960. My father John Allan Pope (known as Allan ) inherited the property and we spent many holidays there, catching lobsters in the cray pots and enjoying the beach . Always exciting driving along the dirt road to get there dodging the kangaroos. There was no electricity and Mum used to light the hurricane lamps.The toilet was an old dunny can in a shed out the back and we used to wash in a dish. We had lots of fun in the hammock hanging between the 2 trees. I think Dad sold the property about 1968. Christine Purcell (nee Pope).

Thanks Barry and Christine, for your memories of Berrara. If anyone can add to this history, please email me.

More photos supplied by Jason Smith April 2016, of the original home built by John Alfed Pope at 1 Pope Ave Berrara. He built this home himself. Also pictured is John Pope with his daughter after a fishing trip, no doubt to Kirbys Beach nearby. Jason gave permission to post these photos as they might be of interest to others.

Walter Hood Monument. ( area locally known as Monument Lake)
A few beaches south of Berrara and an enjoyable walk to take, in the bush near the Lake(or correctly named Nerrindillah Creek) creek) there is the monument to the sailing vessel "Walter Hood" bound from England to Sydney, which sank in 1870. The Captain Andrew Latto, nine of his seamen and one passenger, Joshua Haynes were drowned.

Included in her inventory was the usual rum and a load of ceramic tiles for St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. It is told that quite a long party was had by the Cedar Cutters around the area as barrels of rum were washed ashore.

Mondayong, situated west of Old Berrara Road between Berrara and Sussex Inlet Road, Mondayong was purchased by Daniel Glanville (Lot 3 and 4 ) in 1868. Jesse Goodsel purchased Lot 2 at Mondayong but later sold to Daniel and moved to Conjola. The Glanville's Paul Hoffman bought the property later (If you have more info please email webmaster)

SOUTHDOWN Swan Lake on the north west shore of Swan Lake on the Mondayong Creek and is reached by Old Berrara Road.The Southdown property in the early days was known as "Swan Lake". It was settled by Paul Hoffman, who married Maria Ellmoos. . After his death, Augusta and Herman Hoffman took up residence and remained there till the 1940's when they sold the property.

Photo of the turn off at Berrara Road ( now Old Berrara Road) from Sussex Inlet Road circa around the 1940's.

Not a lot seems to have taken place at Cudmirrah before Nick Collier with his wife and three children settled there in 1948. Their first home was a tent. The nearest neighbours were the Kelly sisters at Berrara and the Blanches at The Springs – part of the area later known as Swanhaven. Nick had purchased lots 36,39 & 40 which would cover most of the area around the shop and Holiday Haven caravan park site today. He cut a track that is now known as Goonawarra Drive through to (Old) Berrara Roadand cleared his land, putting in cottages, a camping area and later the shop. He sold the shop about 1962 and the park in 1965. The shop was still there till it burnt to the ground and has been rebuilt, much changed as is the caravan park. Once campers used to camp on what now is Errol Bond Reserve opposite the shop. The shop has changed hands many times and had just as many face lifts and remains the only general store, newsagency and post office in the Cudmirrah Berrara area.

My father Nicholas (referred to as Nick) Collier won a land ballot of twelve and three quarters acres of land (My sister said it was more acres than that but at present my nephew is currently researching this information.) at Cudmirrah in 1948.This covered the whole of the point area on the eastern side of the lake where the channel entered into the lake. There was no road in, no fresh water, and no electricity it was virgin country.

There was a house at Berrara where two spinsters by the name of Kelly lived. They had a few cows and a very large bull named Ned Kelly. There was a very rough track from Sussex Road that led into Berrara. This track had huge ruts were the cars had made grooves and had been washed out by the weather. On the north eastern side of the lake at what is now know as Swan Haven, there was a house that did belong to "The Blanches". There was a reasonable track in from Sussex Inlet to there. Another track led off this track around the lake to the western side, the house there belong to one of the Glandville family and it was called "South Down"

To first access the property Dad drove his truck down the track leading to Berrara and left the track not long after Mondiong creek- weaving in and out the trees as far as he could until we reach an area that was flat with tough reeds and grass grew, we named this area "Kangaroo Flats". From there we walked to the lake and around in the water to the property. Initially Dad built the road by first lighting a fire then cleared a track towards the smoke, he had no compass. His only tools were a cross cut saw, mattock, crow bar, axe, shovel, a strong back, and a strong will. The only motorized machinery used initially was his truck, he attached a large forked limb with a steel bar attached to the limb, and he would drag this along behind his truck and it acted as a grader. In his previous occupation he drove a grader. He maintained this road in good condition for many years, until he was informed that if anyone hurt themselves on the road he could be responsible. From then on he left it to the council; part of the road is now called Goonawarra Drive. When Dad maintained this road a great majority of the people using this road had a car- not many had trucks. I believe now the major section it is only suitable for four wheel drive vehicles. The road to Berrara was so bad that cars started to come around the front of our place to access Berrara.I believe this was a major contributing factor to the loss of land at the front, from the original allotment.

When we arrived on the property the scrub and the underbrush was so thick you could not see any lake or anything else. Dad told us if we went anywhere to place sticks up against the trees and to break branches as to mark the trail so that we could find our way back. I saw the remains of one of the tracks down by the beach last time I was there. Dad gradually cleared the land without motorized equipment initially), or power tools, he used a brush hook, scythe, steel rake, axe, shovel, maddock, crow bar, and a cross cut saw. The scythe was used as the lawn mower to cut the bracken fern and any native grass. Dad toiled from daylight to sundown. The reserve as it is now called was part of his lease which he cleared with a lot of back breaking effort and kept it like a park. This was where tents or caravans would stay. Regulation were brought in during the sixties that placed this land in the hands of the Council (?) so Dad had to place the tents up the incline further away from the waters edge.

To build the cabins dad used the larger trees for timber as the original 3 buildings were made up all of timber except the roof which was second hand fibro roofing from some chook sheds. At the time building material was still in short supply due to the war. We all participated in the loading of the logs onto the ford truck with the help of a block and tackle. The logs were taken to the saw mill in Wandandian. These trees were growing on his allotment area only and were to my knowledge the only ones cut down for use, they also were limited as not many tall trees grew there that were suitable for logging. Majority of trees on the allotment did not grow straight.

The first building is not there today but it was in the western side of the shop and was a long cabin with three rooms, the middle room was the first "shop". On the shelves mum had a lot of tinned food. In the first year they made one shilling. They received no money from the government but we lived on the food that the land provided, and the money from the properties that they had sold at Windsor. When Dad built our home he built a shop at the front. In the period of our occupancy this was expanded three times and there were nine buildings used for cabins. Dad had the first boat hire business, six wooden row boats.

We were the only ones in the area who had cabins at the time the Government surveyors were sent out to survey the area so that the area could be expanded. As children we overheard them talking to mum and dad of a bridge going over the channel we were very excited about this, thinking that we would be able to ride our bikes to school! (This bridge was not built until after I married.) At the time we rowed across the lake to the vacant house that belonged to the Blanches the area now is known as Swan Haven. The school we attended was in South Sussex and was a one roomed cabin that belonged to Mrs Glandville. That school was about to be closed as there had to be twelve students; luckily we arrived we made up the numbers. The teachers name was Mr. Murton.

The Blanches house remained vacant for some time before Mrs Dyball, her husband and her mother arrived. It was the only house there and they lived in that. By this time Dad had established a camping area, a shop and cabins. This was a deal more than a cottage. Visits between Mum and Mrs Dyball were very limited. The lake was surrounded with thick scrub, the lake at the time had little sand but thick reeds grew around the water. The only way was to row a boat across the lake. To me the area now know as Swan Haven was an extension of South Sussex. All of our supplies that were not brought from wholesalers were brought in from Nowra and all business transaction were in Nowra, as Sussex Inlet at the time did not have the facilities.. The only time there was any contact with the Cudmirrah area and the area known as Swan Haven was with us as children going to school.

Eventually when the surrounding land became available for settlement, (On a ninety nine year lease plan bet out by the Government,) Dad kept a map in the shop which he produced and would encourage anyone who may have been interested in the area to apply.

As the population increased, so did the need for goods and services. When Dad applied to have the Post Office they were told they could not use the name of Swan Lake, this is what the area was commonly known as then, and they had to choose another name as a Swan Lake existed already. It was mum (Louisa or Lou) who came up with the name of Cudmirrah which in aboriginal means the "home of the swans". Dad had successfully applied for the newspaper agency- the first in the area. We had the first petrol browser in the area. (It was a hand pumped bowser as there was no electricity at the time.) He became the local builder in the winter months and built many of the surrounding houses, many are still standing there today. (These are more than likely what are referred to as "the post war houses" that are described in the sign). In the summer months he delivered milk, bread, papers, meat, and any other supplies to people in the surround area- including the Berrara area.

Dad encouraged the starting up of the Progress Association. He was the first President of this association. When the shop closed at night it was used for their meetings and fund raising efforts like housie etc. He was also the major voluntary person used in the construction of the hall. From memory this was in First Avenue.

Eventually after Dad was successful gaining the necessary support for the phone it was installed. We had the switchboard in the store room of the shop it was a plug in variety. He also encouraged the community to apply for the electricity to be brought to the area. He had great faith in the Cudmirrah area. I have a clipping from the Nowra local paper wrote in the early nineteen sixties period. This better describes his forward thinking.

There were three major events that occurred while we were there that would have broken anyone's will to stay. Not long after we had arrive a cyclone hit, during the very strong wind gusts the trees would bend back nearly touching the ground, then, as the wind would ease slightly, they would come back and in doing so snap off. The waves from the sea broke over the sand hills at a gap that was in the in the trees the waves were washing over into the channel at the bend in the channel. This was the first time I saw the waves come through there. At the time the sand hill was very tall. We were totally cut off from the world, if a tragedy had occurred it would have been some time before anyone found us, as it was not genuinely known that we lived there. We were nearly burnt out by fire when bushfires raged around us- twice, at that time we had established ourselves, and it was know we lived there. Mum and dad both had wills of steel.

When mum's health began to suffer dad had the shop cut off in a separate allotment then he sold this at the time it was a newspaper agency/ Post Office/Garage and general store that sold anything from a paper clip to an elephant- if one was available. He built a house on the northern side of the shop as a residence for the caravan park. Eventually even that had to go as Mum could not physically keep up. When this was sold they built a house in Koolyn Drive. This eventually had to be sold as well, as Dad and Mum moved closer to the family and away from the lake. Mum had a heart attack and passed away in Newcastle hospital 9.11.1976. Shortly after mum died Dad moved back to Sussex Inlet, close to his Son and Granddaughter. Dad was not back there long before he suffered a stroke. After surviving for some years he passed away in Shoalhaven Nursing Home in Bomaderry in 6.7.1996.
I hope you can understand my view after reading this brief history of the Cudmirrah area, Mum and Dad had a huge impact in first pioneering the area. Then they continually work for nearly twenty years towards the development of the Cudmirrah area, I feel they should be recognized. Many of their descendants still live in the Shoalhaven Shire.

THANKS to Collier descendants: Dianne Kennedy for supplying this history and Wendy Mumberson for her assistance into the history of the shop and the Colliers. July 2008

On Tuesday afternoon 31^st October, 2006 – rather appropriately Halloween, the remains of a young aboriginal man and that of a small animal which could have been his pet dog were discovered by a local man on the edge of Swan Lake in Errol Bond Reserve Cudmirrah. The Police set up a crime scene around the site and called in the forensic department. National Parks were advised.

Shoalhaven City Council have not long finished upgrading this reserve with landscaping, new seats, tables and very appropriate interpretive signs explaining aboriginal occupation of this area.

On Wednesday archaeologist Sue Feary was called in to identify the bones and on Thursday gave a press conference on site. Our Cudmirrah Swan Lake Man was the lead news on WIN TV on Thursday night.

I was speaking to Archaeologist Sue Feary from the Dept of Conservation and Rod Wellington, Aboriginal Heritage Conservation Officer on Friday morning 3/11/06, as they were working on the burial site. They explained that the banks of the lake used to extend out to where the stakes are located in the water.(see photos). The young male was buried in a midden and sand, as was the usual practice around here. He most certainly predates white settlement and could be thousands of years old. He appeared to be in good health with no damage to the cranium and there was one broken femur leg bone, which could have happened later. He had two front teeth missing as a result, no doubt, of an initiation ceremony. He was buried on his side.

Sue said it is not uncommon to discover burial sites along the coast. Many are found where sand mining is carried out. Others are exposed by weather and this one on the shores of Swan Lake, because of the rise in the lake levels and the wash and lapping of the waves on the lake. Both remarked that the edges of the lake need protecting and the lake level dropped to prevent further erosion.

Sue and Rod had the burial site sandbagged then drained the water out, before the removal of bones took place. After examination, it is hoped to find a secure site for the remains to be re-buried. The local aboriginals will have a great input into the final resting place of this young but ancient man who I think should be called "Swan Lake Man" or "Cudmirrah Man".

Left photo: Sue Feary Archaeologist and Rod Wellington Aboriginal Conservation Officer at the site.

Right: To left you can see the sandbagged burial site and the stakes in the water show where the lake bank used to be at the time of the burial.

Louisa Pauline and her husband, John Robert Blanche, a local sawmiller, who took up 17 acres of land, Lot 54 (The Springs), This property was sold to Chas. and Phyl Dyball in 1951. They built cottages to add to the camping area on the shores of Swan Lake. The remainder of this area was released by the Government for ballot in 1955 and has now become Swanhaven Village. The Springs cottages are still there and available to rent for holidays. https://www.springsonswanlake.com.au

Above photos taken in 1959 showing "The Springs" cabins on the banks of Swan Lake Swanhaven.

The photo on the right shows Phyllis Dyball, second from right, showing the Chapman and Twiss families her garden and the Spring, after which this area was named.

Swanhaven resident Geoff Kleem forwarded three photos of artifacts that only became visible because of the drought and Swan Lake water levels dropping to an all time low as far as long time locals can remember.

Thought this might interest you, attached are some interesting aboriginal artifacts revealed by Swan Lakes falling water level. Opposite Lake Drive some grinding stones have become visible and further north along the lakes edge there seems to be the remains of a series of fish traps – definitely man made structures and very old. I saw them when the lake dropped in around 2002 and here they are again, Interesting to think that they might indicate the water level of the lake in by gone times, to be able to work the fish traps would have to be situated in a tidal situation. Interesting.
Later in the month, after a period of heavy rain the artifacts have again disappeared from view

Grinding grooves in rock on the eastern bank of Swan Lake and Aboriginal fish traps

BELOW ARE TWO EXTRACTS FROM "TIME", A LOCAL COMMUNITY PRODUCED PAPER BETWEEN 1982 AND 1988. IT WAS LATER CALLED THE "INLETTER", ONE ARTICLE WRITTEN BY PHYLLIS DYBALL .

This article is very true and we should look before we leap. We have lived in Swanhaven for 3l years in November and in those days we truly had nothing. No phones, roads or light. I was only 45. No doctors, or chemists a phone call away. Now we have everything, mail, broad, milk, grocery, meat and green grocery deliveries if needed. Charl has been sick for about three months and friends and neighbours have truly been fantastic - thank you all. For unless you reach this stage you'll never know how much it means to have calls, etc.

When we first came I lived here for 3 months the first winter and never left this property or saw another face except Charls, So, to me everything now is fairly good.

I would like a bus sometimes or a trip to Sussex Inlet now and then. I know I only have to ask, but I would like something definite in the way of payment.

So maybe a caring community would be the answer. Keep prices low and I’m sure a lot of "Lonelies" would gladly take advantage of help, and be willing to pay towards time and petrol.

Goodbye Charl, thank you for the many years of happy holidays in your cabins. You were there to give friendly advice to the young, tell a yarn or two with the old, together with your better half Phyl, a friend and lovely lady to all. Swan Lake as we still call it, has lost one of its finest friends and so have we. Our memories will remain, our good times remembered, as you will be, with love and friendship - remembered by -The; Lloyds, Heydons, Hills, MacLachlans and all their families,

CHAS AND PHYLLIS DYBALL purchased "THE SPRINGS" a property of 17 acres, from the Blanche family in 1951, and built cottages to add to the camping area on the shores of Swan Lake.

His passing on Sunday, 24th July, 1982 aged 82 years, leaves a void in that small community.

Sources for information: A story of Sussex Inlet – Eva Kemp & Carole Coshaw -Kemp, 1880-1980 , extracts from old community newsletters and local knowledge of the area.