HISTORY IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOUNTAINS

A journey through the history of the Sapphire Coast

Part 5 – The Towns - Eden

The town of Eden The role of Twofold Bay, Eden and Boydtown in the early history of the region is described in more detail in Part 3 of this series - The Early Years. Maps of these places are on the last page of this part.

Because of its beauty, many think the town’s name was based on the biblical garden. In fact, the town was named after George Eden, First Lord of Auckland, who was First Lord of the Admiralty in England and Governor General of India from 1835 to 1842. The naval explorer George Bass first took shelter in Twofold Bay on the return leg of a voyage to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in February 1798. He entered the bay and called it Snug Cove for the security to shipping it afforded. Today, the Eden Wharf is in snug Cove. Snug Cove is also notable for the visit of the botanist Allan Cunningham in December 1817 to collect botanical specimens from the district. A number of Australian plants are named after him. The Government Surveyor, a Mr Thomas Townsend, surveyed the town of Eden in 1842. One way of mapping a community’s cultural heritage is to observe the street names. The street signs in Eden carry the names of most of the significant individuals in its early history. The main street, Imlay Street, is named after the Imlay brothers who were early pioneers in the district. Other streets are named after Matthew Flinders, George Bass, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. See the website http://eden.nsw.au/streetwise The town of Eden expanded along with enterprises in the region. The graziers from the Monaro district inland from Twofold Bay were looking for a more efficient way to transport their cattle to Hobart. Cattle handling facilities were constructed and a wharf was built at a cove on the western edge of Eden, where cattle could be grazed prior to being loaded onto the ships. This is still called Cattle Bay. The shipping of cattle from Eden ceased in the late 1890s. The Customs House in Eden was built in 1848. From the 1850s to 1950s the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company serviced the port.

Cattle Bay 1870s

Painting of the Customs House Customs House Eden grew fast in the 1850s especially after the discovery of gold in Kiandra, in the Snowy Mountains, which led to the 1859-1860 gold rush. For a few hectic months, hundreds of gold seekers landed at Eden, replenished their supplies, and then headed for Kiandra. When the winter snows fell in Kiandra, many of those gold seekers left the district. For a short period Eden flourished, then quickly returned to its previous quiet pace when the gold ran out. By the 1850s there were four hotels in Eden. One of these hotels, the Crown and Anchor Inn, first licensed in 1845, still stands. It is no longer licensed but it still provides accommodation to travellers. The Crown & Anchor Inn is an historic building listed by the National Trust and has undergone extensive heritage renovations. Check this website for its history: http://www.crownandanchoreden.com.au/

Crown and Anchor Inn Restored interior

Following Australian Federation in 1901, Eden was considered briefly as a location for the Australian capital city because it is equidistant between Sydney and Melbourne and Tasmania. However, the ‘Limestone Plains’ in Southern New South Wales were chosen instead for the capital city of Canberra.

Benjamin Boyd Benjamin Boyd was a colourful figure in the early history of the Far South Coast. Follow the link: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-benjamin-1815 . An entrepreneur, Benjamin Boyd was born on 21st August 1801 at Penninghame, Wigtown, Scotland, the second surviving son of Edward Boyd, a London merchant of Wigtonshire, Scotland, and his wife Janet, daughter of Benjamin Yule of Wheatfield, Midlothian. In 1824 Boyd was a stockbroker in London, where he also had an interest in the St George's Steam Packet Co. In October 1840 he wrote to Lord John Russell about his plans for 'further developing the resources of Australia and its adjacent Islands'. Convinced that large steamships were the only effective means of regular communication between the various settlements, Boyd told Russell that he had already sent a steamship to New South Wales, that another was soon to follow and that he also intended to go to Australia. He sought permission to select five or six locations on the Australian coast for harbours and coaling stations, with the right to buy land nearby. Boyd chose Twofold Bay as the coastal base from which he could ship livestock, wool and tallow from the Monaro hinterland. Two small townships were planned. In 1843 he established Boydtown, building a hotel, church, houses, stores, salting and whale boiling-down works, jetty and lighthouse were erected. At East Boyd he established a whaling station. Small coasters brought his wool from Boydtown north to Neutral Bay and Mosman Bay (in Sydney), where he prepared it for shipment to London.

Benjamin Boyd (1801-1851), by unknown artist

Benjamin Boyd was a tall, imposing looking individual who possessed a good deal of business acumen and social flair. Georgiana McCrae, artist and diarist, who entertained him at dinner in June 1842 at Port Phillip, wrote:

'He is Rubens over again. Tells me he went to a bal masque as Rubens with his broad-leafed hat, and was considered ‘comme il faut'. In the palmy days he entertained lavishly at Sydney and Boyd Town. He had the sanguine temperament, exuberant vitality and daring enterprise of the typical adventurer; according to his friend Brierly, he was 'always devising some plan of pleasure or business'.

The heritage sites at Boydtown and the Ben Boyd National Park are reminders of this significant person in the early days of this region.

Oswald Brierly, naval artist, 1817-1894 Oswald Brierly, a talented naval artist, came to these shores with Benjamin Boyd. Brierly was born into an old Cheshire family at Chester. He studied navigation and naval architecture in Portsmouth, England and exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy, London, before joining Boyd on his voyage to Australia in 1841. Brierly lived at Twofold Bay for five years at East Boyd in his cottage, ‘East Merton’ managing Boyd's whaling enterprises until 1848. This experience provided the subject for a major watercolour, painted after his return to England in 1851. This watercolour captures the drama of whale hunts as clearly as any photograph. An earlier version of this painting is in the National Library of Australia in Canberra.

Whalers off Twofold Bay, Oswald Brierly 1863 Brierly was much affected by his whaling experiences. In his manuscript, 'The Cetacea or Reminiscences of the Sea', now in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, he vividly recounts his experiences near Twofold Bay. His grasp of English was as colourful as his painting.

"It so happened that I was in the boat wh[ich] was the first to come up with the whale wh[ich] we had sighted. After the [harpooner] had successfully cast his [harpoon] and fastened to the whale it turned towards us & made a dive – him coming to the surface exactly under our boat. I shall never forget the new & sickening sensation of finding the whole boat suddenly lifted out of the water by the rising back of the whale, and the sliding gliding helplessly slipping motion of the boat as it shot down the back of the monster under us. The powerlessness of the situation flashed through the mind – oars were of no use. We were literally 'out of our element' but truly only for a moment and then as we touched water again down came the great tail of the enraged monster cutting our boat in twain with one smashing blow as a hatchet would chop a pat of butter and in a moment the whole party were plunged into a boiling eddy of foam & water made by the whale as it plunged into deep water & left us struggling for dear life, & handicapped by a thick coat and sea boots – Luckily for us assistance was at hand and beyond a ducking and a fright none of us were any the worse for the novel experience".

Years later, after returning to England, he was appointed official Marine Painter to Queen Victoria, largely due to his magnificent paintings of ships, and was

subsequently knighted. It is doubtful that anyone in Australia, let alone the people living in this part of the coast, saw the painting until well into the 20th century.

Oswald Brierly, A fresh breeze off Revel, France

Early Architecture The areas around Eden are rich in the built heritage of settlement and are located in breathtaking settings that continue to inspire architects today. The ‘grand designs’ -magnificent houses - and commercial premises and monuments, can still be seen around Eden, Boydtown and throughout the region.

Eden Courthouse Eden Courthouse is listed on the Register of the National Estate. Dating from 1857, Eden Courthouse has a long association with the social history of Eden and district. Part of the importance of the courthouse is in its design that is quite different from 19th century New South Wales courthouse design. The building is asymmetrical with a flanking section to one side only, and it lacks the imposing formality of courthouses of the time.

Eden Courthouse

Boydtown Boydtown owes its existence to the early Australian whaling industry, which was already flourishing in Twofold Bay in the early 1830s. In 1843, Benjamin Boyd established Boydtown as a base for his whaling and pastoral operations. Boyd had a great deal of financial backing (he raised and lost millions in speculative and questionable subscriptions and lawsuits), which was evident in the grand style in which Boydtown was built. He built brick workers houses, a store, a woolshed and a jetty where his vessels could be berthed. He was trying to create an English feudal manor, with himself as the lord – something he could never have aspired to in England.

http://www.seahorseinn.com.au/history.htm He constructed a lookout, designed by Oswald Brierly, known as Boyd's Tower. It is a solid structure built of Pyrmont sandstone from Sydney and was intended as a prominent landmark to reflect Boyd's good name and enterprises, as well as a lighthouse. Like most things associated with Boyd, it was never completed and permission for its use as a lighthouse was refused because it was private property. However, it served well as a whale-spotting site. The letters B-O-Y-D are clearly chiselled into the stones forming the apex of the tower. The woodwork of the internal staircase has been destroyed. A church was also begun, but never completed. The tower and church ruins can still be seen today. Boyd's Tower can be viewed as part of a walk, which departs from ‘Edrom Lodge’.

Boyd’s Tower

The Depression of the 1840s hit Benjamin Boyd and brought an end to many of his operations. From a prosperous commercial centre with 200 inhabitants, Boydtown

soon became a deserted ruin, with buildings abandoned and deteriorating, and part of the population moving to Eden. Boyd left Australia for the Californian gold fields, but disappeared ashore at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The best remaining evidence of Boyd’s ‘grand design’ is the historic Seahorse Inn, built in 1843 using convict labour. After Boyd left, there were several owners and it subsequently fell into disrepair. In 1973 it was bought with the intention of renovating it for a boutique hotel. The Seahorse Inn is now completely renovated to provide first class accommodation and conference facilities for local and international tourist markets. There is a bar, a restaurant and an enviable beach frontage. http://www.seahorseinn.com.au/

Seahorse Inn, Boydtown

Ruins of Boydtown church The church ruins at Boydtown have considerable archaeological value. The church is set on a hillside amongst trees overlooking Twofold Bay. The four-storey tower and shattered walls are all that remain. The style is Tudor Gothic made of orange coloured bricks. Some gravestones remain in the overgrown churchyard. The Boydtown group of buildings is listed on the Register of the National Estate, a national recognition of their heritage importance.

Edrom Lodge http://www.edromlodge.com.au/ The house ‘Edrom Lodge’ was built between 1910 and 1913 as a family residence approximately 35km south of Eden overlooking Twofold Bay. The house is in a breathtaking location that looks back towards Eden and the mountains beyond. ‘Edrom Lodge; is a prime example of the Federation Arts and Crafts style of Architecture and is on the Register of the National Estate. The house exhibits many characteristics of the style with interiors of high quality workmanship. The impressive setting on a peninsula on Twofold Bay and its historic associations with the original owner J Logan enhance its significance. The site is of historical significance as it was the base for Benjamin Boyd's activities at East Boyd. The manager's house, occupied by Oswald Brierly, was sited in what is now the front garden of ‘Edrom Lodge. ‘Edrom Lodge’ is now a venue available for dormitory style accommodation, conferences, educational and group activities. It provides an ideal setting for groups to study landscaping, art and photography, as well as geology, marine biology and many other areas of outdoor study.

Edrom Lodge

Bittangabee Bay ruins Bittangabee Bay near Green Cape in Ben Boyd National Park, was a base for the whaling operations of the original owners, the Imlay Brothers, and subsequently taken over by Boyd in 1848. The stone ruins of an old house set amidst an unfinished garden area, can be found adjacent to the Bittangabee camping area. The ruins are on the Register of the National Estate. They are considered to be of considerable architectural importance as part of the outstanding group of 1840s Rustic Gothic structures at Twofold Bay, inspired largely by Boyd's grandiose vision.

Davidson Whaling Station Davidson Whaling Station is located on the southern shore of Twofold Bay, 35km by road south of Eden on Kiah Inlet at the mouth of the Towamba River. This Whaling Station is of State heritage significance. It was the longest operating whaling station in Australia and the last of its type to close down. It has associations with the 19th century shore-based whaling industry of southeast Australia, in particular with the

Imlay brothers, the Davidson and Boyd families, Oswald Brierly and the Aboriginal whalers and their families. Although some of the structures no longer exist, those that remain still give a sense of the original use of the site as a whaling station. Later additions are associated with Boyd’s occupation and with 20th century use as a rural retreat. The buildings on the site include the cottage 'Loch Garra', the detached kitchen/dining room that may pre-date the cottage, a garden shed and a shower shed built by the Boyd family. The buildings are timber construction of traditional weatherboards or timber slab external cladding and corrugated iron roofing. Remnants of the Davidson's gardens include the collapsed and overgrown fences of the orchard to the east of the cottage garden and the lawn outside the garden fence. This section also includes an old dam. The existing garden is a creation of the Boyd family. Only fragments of the brick footings and fireplace, some roofing timbers and three ship's tanks used as pots for the storage and transport of whale blubber remain on the site. The surrounds are open woodland of eucalyptus species Woollybutt and Silver-top ash on the exposed ridge, with a moist forest of Black Wattle and Pittosporum in the gullies and Monkey Gum with bracken undergrowth on the slopes above Kiah Inlet. A number of Aboriginal middens are recorded. One is located under the brick footings of the try works and extends towards the inlet. Another, located above the cottages, is known to have been the site of a women's camp during the whaling period. There is a large midden on the headland and isolated shells and artefacts are scattered throughout the site. A tree (now dead) from which an Aboriginal shield has been cut is enclosed in-situ within the storage compound. The Davidson Whaling Station site is relatively undisturbed and hence has high archaeological value as a source of information on shore-based whaling, Aboriginal occupation and their later contact with Europeans, and 20th century alternative lifestyles. With its small cottage buildings, fruit trees and garden flowers, overlooking the try works and Kiah Inlet, the site engenders a sense of history (NSW National Parks 1995).

'Loch Garra' the Davidson family home

The try works for removing and boiling down whale blubber

Green Cape Lighthouse and Residences

Listed on the Register of the National Estate, the Green Cape Lighthouse, built in 1883, is significant for its design and construction. At the time of building it was the largest mass concrete structure in New South Wales and it is the tallest of the three concrete lighthouses designed by Colonial Architect, James Barnet. With its square base merging into an octagonal form, it is a break in form from the traditional circular towers found in many other lighthouses. The Green Cape Lighthouse was constructed following a number of shipwrecks in Disaster Bay (including the City of Sydney in 1862). Mr A W Aspinall commenced the project in June 1881 but he experienced financial problems and his creditors eventually completed the project in 1883. The light was first operated on 1 November 1883. A clockwork mechanism, fired by oil, originally turned the light. The light intensity was changed several times, including 1912 and 1923. The light was electrified in 1962. Adjacent to the tower are the head lighthouse keeper's quarters and the quarters for the assistant keepers. In May 1886 the vessel Ly-ee-Moon, en route to Sydney from Melbourne ran onto the rocks below the light and was wrecked. The lighthouse keepers helped with the rescue and although 15 survived, 71 people died. Some of the bodies were recovered and are buried in a small cemetery near the lighthouse station. The dead included Mrs. Flora Hannah MacKillop of St Kilda, Melbourne, who was travelling to Sydney to visit her daughter. Her daughter was the nun Mary MacKilllop, now granted sainthood and known as St Mary MacKillop,

Green Cape Lighthouse complex Ben Boyd National Park

Wreck of the Ly-ee-Moon Ly-ee-Moon shipwreck site memorial Green Cape

Cemetery – Green Cape Ly-ee-Moon cemetery

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