BODALLA

Bodalla was built on its current site in the 1870s as the township for the surrounding Bodalla Estate. It was moved eastwards from its original site to higher ground, following a massive flood in 1870, and to ensure it was adjacent to the main road south from Sydney which, at the time, was being relocated.

The Bodalla Estate owned all the buildings in the town, excepting the school, up until they were sold in 1926 – mostly to the then-occupiers of the buildings.

T.S. Mort, who owner the Bodalla Estate, strongly disapproved of alcohol, so the town originally did not have a hotel. It was not built until 1877, after it had been ascertained that alcohol was being illegally taken on to the Estate. It was demolished in 1910 and a new hotel was erected to comply with government regulations.

The impressive All Saints Anglican Church, near the bottom end of town, was erected by his family as a memorial to Thomas Mort and his first wife Theresa. It was designed by Edmund Blacket, the architect of St Andrews Cathedral in Sydney and the main Sydney University building, and is built of locally quarried granite. It was intended to have a tall spire which was never added.

(A more comprehensive history of Bodalla will supersede the above - hopefully in the not-too-distant future!)