The flood that deposited a coastal steamer in Moruya’s swimming pool, 1925

Bushfires and floods are a recurring, regular feature on the South Coast. Every one is unique, every one impacts the area differently.

The 1925 flood of the Moruya River was one that broke all records. It overtopped the Moruya Bridge by two feet (0.7 metres), inundated the town and the flood plains north of the river, and swept the Bermagui, a 144-foot, 400-ton coastal steamer, over a retaining wall on the riverbank and into the town’s swimming hole.

This is how that flood was reported:

‘Previous to the main flood, several minor floods occurred in a period of six weeks and during this period it rained almost every day, with the river somewhat swollen more or less all that time. In the late afternoon on the eve of the disaster the rain came in torrents and worsened through the night. By morning the upriver water started a rapid rise of 25 feet in one hour…late that afternoon a strong wind from the south sprang up, increasing during the night to a furious gale with almost continuous claps of thunder and rain, the like of which I had never seen before or since. In one burst I registered six inches in 40 minutes…

By daylight the river had risen a further 35 feet, a total rise of 60 feet with the flats [to the north of Moruya township] under an average of 39 feet. This volume of water about half a mile wide was roaring over the flats at terrific speed, causing great waves to break on the hillside like a rough sea on the beach...

Take a stroll with me down to the Illawarra and South Coast Co.'s sheds and store-rooms.

The first thing that meets the eye is north side of the shed canted over and apparently tearing away from the main building; further away is the steamer ‘Bermagui’ washed clean over the stone retaining wall into a billabong alongside, on even keeL, and when I saw it [it was] able to be moved about in the stillwater. How they will get her over again in the river is work for experts. The chances are very gloomy of ever shifting her once the flood waters subside and she rests on dry mud or sand...

With the river rapidly rising, Captain Jackson, who was in charge of the SS ‘Bermagui’ which was moored at the town wharf, decided to anchor out in the stream for safety. The force of the flooded waters increasing caused the boat to drag her anchors and she was swept over the retaining stone wall many yards inside, into what is known as the swimming hole. This seems to have been an act of Providence, as otherwise she would have been swept down by the rushing stream and probably smashed to pieces.’

25 feet (7.5 metres) of the river’s retaining wall had to be removed, and a channel had to be cut through sand in the river, to free the Bermagui. The steamer was undamaged.