TATHRA

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Tathra has had two overlapping eras in its modern history – first, providing a sea port to nearby Bega, and then emerging to become a popular holiday and tourist destination.

The first Europeans known to have intruded on the local Djirringanj lands were the survivors from the 'Sydney Cove' that had been wrecked on Preservation Island in Bass Strait in 1797. They were walking towards Sydney, and near Tathra managed to catch some ‘skate’ and a shark ‘about 4 feet long’ – no doubt welcome supplements to the food they were then increasingly dependent upon receiving from the Indigenous groups they encountered.

Settlers started arriving in the Bega Valley area in the late 1830s/early 1840s attracted by the fertile land but, if an 1851 map of the Bega district that records the Tathra area as unmapped and unexplored is any indication, there was initially little interest in the Tathra area.

This changed after Daniel Gowing, generally acknowledged as ‘The Father of Tathra’, purchased 500 acres of land on the Jellat Jellat flats (between what are now the townships of Bega and Tathra) in 1854, started having success as a farmer, and began looking at how to best transport his produce to markets in Sydney.

Transport overland was an impossibility in those days; the only viable option was by sea, which necessitated identifying a suitable anchorage (for Gowing, somewhere closer than the established alternative, Merimbula) and also constructing a road to reach that anchorage. Gowing, in his usual energetic style, tackled both tasks.

In 1857 the first road was cut from Bega to Tathra. This provided access to two anchorages, one at Kangarutha, south of Tathra, and the other at Kianinny Bay, between Kangarutha and Tathra. In 1859 Daniel Gowing had a small storehouse built at Kianinny and took 300 bushels of produce there to be shipped to Sydney on a small coastal schooner named the ‘Gipsy’.

Both these anchorages, however, were somewhat less than suitable because no direct docking was possible.

So, in 1860, Gowing and the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company (by then providing a regular service from Sydney to the South Coast) began the construction of a north-facing sea wharf and store on the headland at Tathra. It was completed in 1862. (It was extended 1873, in 1879, in 1891, in 1901 and in 1913. A two-storey shed was built on the wharf in 1908-10 and a single-storey shed (since demolished) was added in 1918. The wharf was last used by cargo ships in 1956.)

Meanwhile, in 1861, the township of Tathra was surveyed and Bega residents organized the first picnic at Tathra. ‘A large party travelled on horseback. Some 50 also came in Charles McGregor’s bullock wagon. It was slow transport, and in the afternoon a rain storm developed. The party was caught in it and so stayed at Tathra for the night’.

The wharf, ultimately, led to the establishment of Tathra township - although, in 1866, the NSW Gazette recorded that there were no buildings in town except for the Receiving Store at the wharf. Ten years later, Tathra had progressed little and was then being described as a ‘one house township’.

The replacement, in the 1880s, of sailing ships by steamers that provided a faster, regular and reasonably reliable service between Sydney and the South Coast led to growth in the town. Two hotels were built – the first was the Brighton Hotel (sited above the present hall) in the late 1870s, the other was the Tathra Hotel which was demolished 1888 and was replaced by the Ocean View Hotel (which from 1905 again became the Tathra Hotel). The Brighton Hotel burnt down in mysterious circumstances in 1880 or 1881 and its licensee was charged with arson, but was later acquitted.

By 1885 three houses had been built in the town and the 'Bega Gazette' was predicting (correctly!) that ‘Tathra is destined to become not only a great shipping port, but noted marine resort for holiday makers. Sure am I that your eyes will in a few years see the ‘iron horse’ bring the Sydney excursionist to our delightful watering place. The precipitous sides of Tathra’s headland will be dotted over with fine substantial houses.’

The steep road down to the wharf was completed and macadamized in 1890, and in 1895 a road was constructed to the mouth of the Bega River and a small hand-operated punt, capable of carrying a horse and a dray, was installed to provide access to the coastal areas to the north. The story goes that one punt operator, Jim Preo, would regularly ask his passengers to help turn the wheel ‘while I fill my pipe’ – a task that would take until the punt arrived at the other side of the river! The punt crossing was replaced by a bridge in 1959.

In the early 1880s there was a proposal to build a tramway linking Tathra to Bega, but the advent of the motor car effectively killed the idea. The first motor vehicle excursion from Bega to Tathra was organized in 1911 and, the following year, a motor car service was introduced that connected Bega to the shipping service at Tathra.

That shipping service, for almost a century, shaped the town significantly. The area that is now the headland park was once a coal dump and a storage area for timber and railway sleepers that were despatched from Tathra.

A Post Office was opened in Tathra in 1880. A telegraph line to Bega was opened in 1897.
With the emergence of surf-bathing in the early 20th century (following the lifting of prohibitions on sea bathing during daylight hours) and a rise in popularity of recreational fishing, Tathra became Bega’s playground. In 1909 a Tathra Surf Club was formed, one of the earliest in the state.

And the first week-end cottages were erected, initially by keen fishermen and by the-then Manager of the Kameruka Estate, Arthur Champneys (in later years, having a holiday house at Tathra became something of a status symbol among Bega’s well-to-do; and, later again, Snowy Mountains Authority staff at Cooma bought seaside houses in Tathra instead of buying in Cooma where heavily subsidized rental housing was available to them). The opening of a new Methodist Church in 1909, the Public School in 1911, and the Tathra Hall in 1913 were indications of the growth and consolidation of the town.

An increase in ownership of motor cars and the improvement in roads led to an upturn in the popularity of holiday camping, with Tathra becoming a popular camping destination. The Tathra Beach Reserve and Camping Grounds (at the foot of the hill and along the beach side of the road towards Mogareeka) were gazetted in December 1934 and responsibility for them was vested in a committee of locals. Initially a brick fireplace and kitchen area was built. Toilets were later added. A well was dug and a pump was installed to provide water to campers. And an enterprising Mrs Caddey (the wife of one of the Trustees) started selling hot water so that campers and day visitors could enjoy cups of hot tea.

At Christmas and Easter, Tathra would (and still does) regularly attract thousands of campers.

Tathra has had its fair share of natural disasters. In 1940 a major bushfire destroyed the supermarket and petrol station along with two houses near where the current Tathra Friendly Grocer is located (‘After surveying the ruins the next day, things moved quickly to get the Henderson family back to business. Within days it was “Business As Usual”, with a huge canvas sign saying just that. This was made possible through the generosity of the late Paul D’Arcy and Mrs D’Arcy (and a band of willing helpers) who at the time owned a small holiday cottage on the sand dunes on Tathra Beach; this only being permitted if the structure was mounted on wheels, and could be moved. This small building was quickly moved up the hill to a block adjacent to the store ruins, the petrol pumps restored over the unharmed petrol storage tanks and as the sign said, “Business as Usual” and this building was used as a store until the new store and dwelling was built by A.C. Thatcher and Co.’); in 1971 a flood washed the central spans of the Handcock Bridge north of Tathra into the ocean (it was never found, and it took seven years to rebuild the bridge); and in March 2018 a bushfire swept through the town destroying 65 homes and 70 caravans and cabins (the town is gradually recovering).

After the coastal steamers stopped calling regularly at Tathra in 1954, the wharf fell into disrepair. In 1973 it was in such a poor state that it was proposed to demolish it. The move, however, was strongly opposed by the local community and, with the support of the National Trust, an appeal was launched for it to be restored. That work was completed in 1988.

Today, the wharf (only about 80% the size it was in its heyday) is Tathra’s most recognizable feature – and, as the last remaining open sea timber wharf complex on the eastern coast of Australia, is an ongoing reminder of how important coastal shipping once was to New South Wales.

Sources: The History of Tathra by W.A. Bayley in Bega District News 6.8.1942; Some Glimpses of Tathra’s Past and Further Glimpses of Tathra’s Past by Commander P.C. Card (Tathra Historical Society); Tathra Memorial Garden & Surrounds: A Brief History (Tathra Lions Club); Roads to Water by Norm Evans.

Photograph: Tathra Wharf