Searching for a way between Bong Bong and the coast

There was immediate interest in settling the Bong Bong district after young explorer Hamilton Hume ventured south into the rich volcanic country along the Wingecarribee River in 1814, as the colony needed more farming and grazing land.

However, the southern inland was unknown territory and as Hume’s track from Liverpool went through rugged terrain, access was difficult.

At first only one settler, John Oxley, followed Hume’s track and in 1816 established a cattle station at Wingecarribee.

Dr Charles Throsby, meanwhile, considered an approach from the coast. This was after he had moved cattle in 1815 from his property Glenfield near Liverpool, down the Bulli Pass with the guidance of Aboriginals to the Five Islands district (Illawarra) where good grazing was found.

Gazing at the towering escarpment, Throsby asked local Aborigines to show him a pass to Bong Bong and made a partial approach in 1816.

Then in February 1817 he followed a track from near Dapto, up the escarpment and passing north of the Wingecarribee Swamp to Bong Bong.

This was, however, only suitable as a track for horsemen and stock.

In August 1817 Throsby, with Hume as guide, took an exploring party south from Glenfield to Bong Bong and immediate surrounds. Recognising its potential, Throsby resolved take up land in this area.

GOVERNOR Macquarie initiated an inland expedition to this south country in early 1818.

With Surveyor James Meehan in charge, it set out in March ‘to try if a communication can be effected from Sydney to Jarvis’s Bay by land’. Throsby obtained permission to go with this party, and Hume was also included.

They headed beyond Bundanoon Creek to the Shoalhaven River which was in flood and could not be crossed so, having retreated west to present day Marulan, they split up.

Meehan’s group attempted to find a way further south.

Throsby’s party returned to head the Bundanoon Creek and, with Aboriginal guides, proceeded to Meryla Pass and down into Yarrunga gorge.

Then after passing through the Kangaroo Valley they climbed over Bugong Gap and three days later reached Jervis Bay.

On his return via Meryla Pass, Throsby heard from passing Aboriginals that Meehan had abandoned his attempt to head the Shoalhaven gorge.

Thus the gallant attempt to find a wheeled traffic route to Jervis Bay failed. The Meryla Pass track was not suitable as a coast road, but did provide a well-used link between Bong Bong and Kangaroo Valley.

Several obstacles to a coast connection remained. First, a heavy vehicle pass down the steep, rugged escarpment remained elusive. Second, the extensive gullies that broke up the highland plateau towards the south-east created difficulties. Third, to the east, north-east and south-east of the Wingecarribee Swamp was a belt of forest land covered with fine gum and messmate, some of the trees attaining gigantic proportions.

This rugged, almost impenetrable terrain was due to flows of igneous rocks that covered the area in an earlier geological time.

From these deposits a rich red soil was formed. This basalt country enjoyed a heavy rainfall and in the course of time was covered with thick brush.

Here grew dense rainforest with cedar, sassafras, treefern, cabbage-palm, lilli-pilli and eucalypts, all intertwined with vines that often held the trees from falling.

AS WELL AS being a challenge for roadmakers, the difficulty of clearing the dense brush meant it was avoided by the first settlers seeking land in the district.

From 1818 land was taken up around Bong Bong and Sutton Forest by settlers arriving via the inland south track and in 1820 a more serviceable cart road opened from the Cowpastures to Bong Bong and beyond.

It was built by Throsby under Macquarie’s instructions and for this service Throsby received a grant of land at Bong Bong.

In the early 1820s, prominent Sutton Forest settlers James Atkinson and Benjamin Crew made use of the Meryla Pass to establish cattle in Kangaroo Valley.

Other settlers and timber getters followed and the track continued to be used by farmers taking produce up to the railway at Werai Siding.

Hopes still remained high for a major link to the coast but reports told of ‘brush too thick to penetrate’, and ‘mountain tracks too steep, narrow and dangerous’.

Atkinson, who explored the country widely, stated in 1828 that he believed a road could be made from Bong Bong to the Shoalhaven, descending the mountain to Broughton’s Creek through Kangaroo Valley.

The next article will relate how surveyor Robert Hoddle investigated a route to Kiama in 1830.