SS Merimbula Advertising Poster

This stunning advertising poster dates from 1910 and promotes the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company’s ship SS Merimbula.

From the earliest days of European settlement in the local region, the ocean served as the highway in and out of the district, with people, produce and goods coming and going on the ships that plied the coastline. After its establishment in 1858, the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company (later the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company) became the dominant operator serving the various ports south of Sydney, providing an all important link between local communities and metropolitan markets.

SS Merimbula alongside Eden wharf.

Constructed at Troon, Scotland in 1909, the TSS Merimbula was the largest vessel ever ordered by the company. In addition to her cargo carrying capacity, she provided accommodation for 96 first class and ten second class passengers.

She remained on the south coast run until grounding on Beecroft Peninsula in March 1928. Initial hopes of salvage were abandoned as she continued to slide from the rocks and into the sea. The loss of the SS Merimbula marked the end of the Illawarra Company’s passenger services.

© Angela George. All rights reserved.

Chinese gardener’s timber yoke:

Formerly used by Chinese market gardeners to carry baskets of produce around Pambula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Chinese immigration to Australia grew significantly with the Victorian and New South Wales gold rushes of the 1850s and 1860s, many lured from the impoverished areas of southern China by the potential wealth of the Australian goldfields.

Once the 1860s Snowy Mountains rush at Kiandra waned, many luckless Chinese miners returned to the coast, taking up residence in local towns including Pambula, as well as Merimbula, Wolumla and Bega. Described as industrious and hard-working, they soon turned their attention towards establishing market gardens. 

Those who are known to have lived in Pambula at various times included Willy, Wey Lee, Ah Kee, Ching Pong, Ah Tin Gut, Joe Ah Yup and Lamby. In 1906, Pambula had four resident Chinese males, but no written or other accounts indicate that there were females amongst their number.

Their gardens at Pambula were initially located on the corner of the Princes Highway and Sandy Lane on the Flats. However, although that ground was rich and fertile, it was also in the midst of a flood plain, and not surprisingly their crops and huts were often affected by the almost annual inundations. When waters rose to serious levels, the men were forced to seek refuge at the local courthouse, and during the particularly severe 1919 floods, Joe Ah Yup’s garden was completely destroyed.

Eventually the group relocated to the site where the Colonial Motor Inn now stands. There they grew an assortment of fruits and vegetables that they peddled from house to house using small handcarts or baskets suspended from wooden yokes such as the one pictured here. A small timber house and a number of sheds stood within the gardens, and it was there that most of the local Chinamen lived.

In 1927 when Joe Ah Yup decided to return to China, the Pambula Voice reported that "After over 30 years a citizen of Pambula, Joe Ah Yup leaves for China on Saturday. During his residence here, he has proved himself to be most law abiding, honest and straightforward. His purse was always open to every charitable and sports object and he never had to be asked for his annual subscription to the hospital. Joe will be greatly missed by the children when he fails to do his rounds on Saturday afternoons with his fruit baskets. A collection was initiated prior to his departure, when he was presented with a set of pipes by the townspeople as a small token of esteem and appreciation of his past citizenship."

It was after Joe's departure that Lamby moved from Bega to Pambula, taking up residence in a cottage at the rear of Baddeley’s tannery and opposite the Chinese market gardens. According to former local resident Terry Dowling, he had a large egg shaped growth on his neck and was an old man by the time he arrived in the town.

He also had a taste for echidnas, which he and his fellow gardeners reportedly ate. Terry recalled "One and six they'd give you for them. Puddin' Burgess and Jackie Newlyn and I walked those bushes and bagged every poor old echidna up...Wouldn't matter if you took them fifty, they had the money to buy them. They must have loved them...We took them live, they didn't want them any way else, any other way bar alive, not damaged or anything..."

Lamby was apparently the last of Pambula’s Chinamen. In 1934, he was sent to the Lidcombe State Hospital and Home for Men in Sydney where he is likely to have died.

Little remains today as evidence of Pambula’s Chinese except this wooden yoke, a few stray plants growing wild on what was once their garden plot and a dwindling number of residents with memories of their presence.

This yoke is in private ownership.

© Angela George. All rights reserved.

Pambula Voice collection:

Collection of artefacts associated with the Pambula Voice newspaper.

The first issue of the Pambula Voice was published by founder William Daniel Pfeiffer on 27 August, 1892. Pfeiffer had previously operated the Moruya Advance, but after this closed down, he moved to Pambula, bringing the printing press with him.

W.  D. Pfeiffer. 

Four years before the Voice’s establishment, gold was discovered at nearby Mt. Gahan and consequently mining news held a prominent place within the paper’s pages for twenty years. Correspondents also reported from all the outlying areas, with weekly columns from Greigs Flat, Nethercote, Lochiel, Millingandi, Towamba and Merimbula to name just a few.

An early photo of staff on front of the Pambula Voice office.

Pfeiffer continued as editor until November 1904 when he sold the business to George W. Hall of Bega. Six years later, Hall sold out to Charles Arthur Baddeley. A tanner by trade, Baddeley employed J. B. Wilkins as manager and editor until, at a later date, Wilkins appears to have purchased the business from his employer.

Sales agreement between G. W. Hall and C. A
Baddeley, for the Pambula Voice business,
dated 22 June 1910.

Employment agreement between Charles Arthur
Baddeley & John Bellamy Wilkins, dated 12
December, 1911.

             







 

Sealing the road in Quondola Street, Pambula, outside the
Voice office.

The disused Pambula Voice office building, C. 1960s.

Eustace Phillipps Olga Smith & Allan George
Snr outside Pambula Voice office late 1930s 

Wilkins continued to run it until his death in 1933 when his son Edgar Claude Wilkins took over. Three years later, the business again changed hands when it was purchased by Eustace Phillipps of Eden. He was to be the last owner of the Voice as it then was.

In 1939, WWII broke out and with it came rationing and increasing shortages, including both labour and the paper supplies needed for the weekly publication. As a result, the Pambula Voice was finally forced to amalgamate with the Eden Magnet in 1941, becoming the Magnet-Voice.

The Pambula Voice collection consists of printing blocks, letters, invoices, photographs and the most compete hard copy collection of the publication in existence (loaned to the State Library of NSW for microfilm copying in about the early 1990s). It is privately owned.

A small selection  of Pambula Voice invoices
ranging in date from 1898 and 1904.

Collection of newspaper printing blocks used to publish the Pambula Voice.

© Angela George. All rights reserved.

Early surf boat, said to be Tathra Club’s first:

There are perhaps few more iconic symbols of popular Australian culture and history than a surf boat slicing through the waves.

Sly Brothers apparently introduced the first boat for surf rescue at Manly Beach in 1895, a small fishing row boat. This was followed by a double ended ship life boat. In 1906, Bronte surf club member Walter Biddell designed “Surf King”, a catamaran style vessel made of timber, tin and canvas with kapok-stuffed tubes; and then “Albatross”, a double-ender with buoyancy tanks. A major innovation in surf boat design came in 1911 when Fred Notting of the Manly club developed a vessel based on Norwegian design that became known as the “banana boat”.

 There is some debate as to whether Bronte or Bondi were home to the first surf life saving club, but nonetheless, the sport rapidly spread from Sydney beaches to the south coast. Kiama, the first club outside Sydney, was founded in 1908 and just three years later, Tathra’s was established.

The Southern Star newspaper had reported on 16 August, 1911 that “Surf-bathing has started at Tathra. Another effort should be made to form a surf club and secure proper dressing quarters and a life line.” Residents were quick to respond, and on 13 December that year, about twenty people attended a meeting in the Bega picture theatre “…for the purpose of forming a surf club…” Called the Tathra Surf Club, the colours were blue with white edgings and a shield on the left breast bearing the letters “T. S. C.”

Although details as to when the club got their first boat are sketchy, the secretary was instructed at their 1920 annual meeting “…to write to the Navigation Department re a surf boat…”   

David Payne, Curator of Historic Vessels at the Australian National Maritime Museum, pictured inspecting the surf boat to develop a Conservation Management Plan and also for inclusion on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels.

This early surf boat of timber design and originally featuring a waterproofed canvas skin is on display at the Tathra Wharf Museum.

© Angela George. All rights reserved.

Exit lamp made from recycled oil tin for use at Nethercote Hall:

An exit lamp made from a repurposed oil tin with the word “EXIT” cut out of the metal. Red glass highlights the wording and it was probably backlit with a candle. This piece was made for use in the Nethercote Hall.

From the earliest of days after European settlement, "making do" was a familiar aspect of Australian life. People had to learn to adapt and improvise for even the simplest of things with whatever was available. This resulted in a culture of inventiveness and ingenuity where nothing was wasted and imagination turned out that which was needed or wanted with what was at hand. The Nethercote Hall exit light is a fabulous example of how our forebears recycled long before the term was fashionable.

Nethercote exit lamp.
Courtesy of a private collection.

Moves towards establishing a School of Arts hall at Nethercote began when a public meeting was called in 1899 to consider the idea. With the local community clearly supporting the proposal, fundraising commenced and by August that year the Nethercote Progress Association had secured a site. Although a slow, drawn out process, the community did not give up and in 1910 the construction tender was finally awarded to Mr. A. Wright.

Completed in October, a grand ball was staged to mark the occasion when it was reported that “The very welcome rain commenced to fall at about midnight, and this only added to the enjoyment as the copious downpour gladdened the hearts of all present, and dancing was continued until daylight.”

Within a year, tenders for additions were called, the contract being awarded to Mr. Dunn. Furthers extensions were made in 1914 and 1926.

Nethercote Hall remained the heart of the community for many years, but by the 1960s dairying was in decline. With the population dwindling the local school also closed its doors. Finally, in 1969, the Nethercote Progress Association ceased to function, and the hall gradually fell into disrepair. By the 1980s, it was virtually derelict.

During the 1990s however the population began to grow again and the idea of revamping the old hall gathered pace. Over a twelve year period from 1996, fundraising was undertaken until in October 2009 a grand re-opening was held. 

© Angela George. All rights reserved.

Hand-made Union Jack flag, used locally during WWI recruiting rallies.

A hand-sewn Union Jack flag, made by Alice Maud Baddeley of Pambula and used by her husband Charles Arthur Baddeley during recruitment rallies and meetings in and around the Pambula district during WWI.

Courtesy of a private collection.

Alice Maude Baddeley.
Courtesy of a private collection

Involved in many facets of the local community, Charles was appointed to the local Bench of Magistrates in 1882; the licensing bench in 1890; and the Eden Local Land Board in 1900. He served as coroner for the Eden Police District from 1895; and deputy licensing magistrate from 1898. After establishment of local government he was elected to the Imlay Shire Council and became the Shire President in 1907.

As well as serving as trustee for facilities such as the Pambula Recreation Reserve (now known as Panboola) and the Pambula General Cemetery, he was also an active member and sometimes committeeman of numerous local groups including the local Masonic Lodge, Lodge Baddeley, named in his father’s honour; the Pambula Local School Board; Pambula School of Arts; Eden-Pambula Cottage Hospital (now Pambula District Hospital), Pambula Football Club, Pambula Cricket Club, Pambula River Aquatic Club and Pambula Progress Association.

Although too old to enlist himself, Charles was actively involved in local recruitment activities from the outbreak of WWI, continuing until the armistice in 1918.

Charles Arthur Baddeley.
Courtesy of a private collection.

© Angela George. All rights reserved.

Pair of early scrimshawed whale teeth from Davidson Whaling Station.

Pair of scrimshawed teeth originating from the Davidson family's Kiah whaling station. The scrimshander (or artist) is unknown. 

Front (face) engraving on the two whales' teeth.
Courtesy of a private collection.

Rear (back) engraving on the pair of whales' teeth.
Courtesy of a private collection.

"Bay Whaling off the Boyd Town Light House, Twofold Bay", by O. W. Brierly.
Courtesy of the State Library of NSW.

Scrimshaw, the art of engraving and carving materials such as bone or ivory, has been practiced for centuries. Pieces were traditionally created by whalers using by-products of the catch, including sperm whale bones and teeth, the baleen of other species, and walrus tusks.

Twofold Bay, situated as it is on the main migratory route travelled by a number of commercially valuable whale species, unsurprisingly became the focus for whaling activity early in colonial times. Thomas Raine established mainland Australia’s first shore based station at Twofold Bay in 1828, and others soon followed: among them the Imlay brothers in the 1830s; the Walker family and Scottish-born entrepreneur Benjamin Boyd in the 1840s.

George Davidson (right) with a collection of whaling tools.
Courtesy of the National Library of Australia.

It was in the wake of Boyd’s financial collapse that Alexander Davidson entered the industry. After purchasing equipment from Boyd’s bankrupt estate, Alexander and his son John commenced a business that would span three generations and involve many members of the extended family.

As well as European whalers, the Davidson’s also employed indigenous crew members and the family business soon embraced the close symbiotic relationship that the local Yuin people had shared with the pods of Twofold Bay killers (or Beowas as they knew them) for centuries. Although other whaling parties came and went, it was this co-operative association that always put the Davidson crews ahead of others in the hunt for the lucrative giants of the sea.

One of the Davidson boats whaling in Twofold Bay, with Old Tom alongside.
Courtesy of the National Library of Australia.

The third generation, George Davidson, commenced his whaling days around the age of 14 and by the 1890s had taken over the family business. However, development of alternative products led to dwindling demand for whale oil and bone and, accompanied by the falling number of killers returning annually to the Bay, the family’s annually catch continued to decline. Finally, the death of “Old Tom” in 1930 spelled the end of the Davidson’s Twofold Bay operation.

Today, Davidson’s whaling station is maintained and operated as an historic site by National Parks and Wildlife Service.

These local examples of scrimshaw are crude and unsophisticated in style, indicating that the artist was not particularly proficient in the practice of scrimshandering when they were made. These pieces are privately owned.

Courtesy of a private collection.

Courtesy of a private collection.

Courtesy of a private collection.

Courtesy of a private collection.

© Angela George. All rights reserved.