South Coast Histories

Kezie Apps (born in Bega in February 1991) is (in January 2025) the co-captain of the Jillaroos, the Australian women’s national Rugby League team (the current world champions, having won the last three Women's Rugby League World Cup tournaments), and the NSW Sky Blues, the NSW Women’s Rugby League team.
‘I was born with League in my blood,’ Apps suggests...

Pearl Gibbs was an energetic and compelling advocate for Aboriginal rights.
In 1941, on 2WL in Wollongong, she became the first Aboriginal woman to speak on Australian radio. This was by no means her greatest achievement...

Bettie Fisher

Bettie Fisher was an Aboriginal singer, theatre administrator and activist who was once described as ‘a loudmouthed woman, rough, arrogant, independent of men, and has this animosity for whites'...

Elizabeth epitomises the South Coast’s pioneering women. 'They' (as the authors of ‘They Made This Valley Home’ contend) ‘survived isolation, hardships and the risks of childbirth to be homemaker, wife, mother, grandmother, cook, baker, butcher, garment maker, gardener, poultry famer, etc…they were the glue that held the family together.’ And, when called upon, they provided essential services to their fledgling communities...

Rose Hunt (1882 – 1967) was a battler, but Rose saw the value of opportunities! For that, she deserves to be remembered...

Emily Wintle’s fascinating story, as a South Coast pioneer, certainly deserves inclusion here.
But, there is also a second lesser-known story concerning her - one that Mark McKenna, Professor of History at the University of Sydney, indicates (writing in 'Meanjin', Summer 2018) 'is a story that continued to unfold long after it was published, unsettling the memories of the families involved, revealing previously hidden details and shifting at the edges as more information came to light' – that is just as intriguing...

Undoubtedly, there have been many exceptional teachers on the NSW South Coast. Bridget Johnston was one of them – the Sydney Morning Herald even deeming it appropriate to write a piece about her and include a picture of her in the Herald when she retired.
Bridget Ann Ryan was born at Duea River in 1859. She completed her formal education with a two-year teachers’ training course at Blackfriars Teachers’ College on Broadway in Sydney before receiving postings to Moruya Public School...

Ann White arrived in New South Wales from England with her two children on Christmas Eve 1846.
Her husband, Isaac, had arrived in March 1832 as a convict, having been transported following a conviction for housebreaking. In 1842, 1846 and 1847 he was granted Tickets of Leave (these enabled him to work for himself in specified geographical areas), before receiving a Conditional Pardon (which gave him freedom to move anywhere within NSW) in 1848...

Two women are often mentioned as having greatly influenced the history of Eden. One was Sabina Pike who, like Ann White, built a hotel in town and was a hotelier. The other was Flora MacKillop who never resided in or visited Eden, but whose death had a significant impact on the town.
From the 1890s, Sabina Pike (or ‘Aunty Pike’ as she was known) had operated Eden’s Commercial Hotel and then Eden’s Great Southern Hotel...

Flora MacKillop was the mother of Saint Mary MacKillop...