The parish of Meryla existed from the 1860s. It encompassed today's Werai and Manchester Square localities, and extended southward to Sandy Creek and down into Meryla Valley, at the western end of Kangaroo Valley, accessed via Meryla Pass.

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As noted previously, from the late 1820s some early settlers at Sutton Forest and Appin were moving cattle down Meryla Pass to graze on the fertile flats in Kangaroo Valley. In 1831 Robert Hoddle made an official survey of Kangaroo Valley and his map showed the names of the valley's various mountain ranges, including Mt Meryla, and the Kangaroo River with its branches including Yarrunga Creek (with Fitzroy Falls at the head) and Meryla Creek.

The 1831 map is the earliest known documented use of the name 'Meryla'. As no other place in the world bore the name at the time and, as most of the other features in Kangaroo Valley are named from Aboriginal words, perhaps also is Meryla, but its derivation is unknown. It is listed on the NSW Geographical Names Board's place names index, but with no details about its origin or history, and the name has not been found in any Aboriginal name compilations.

Mentions of 'Meryla Falls' began appearing in the press in the 1890s. One of these, illustrated with a photo showing a twin drop, described the Falls as being "situated at the entrance to an immense ravine . . . where rises a large, table shaped mountain, called Mt Meryla, forming the southern extremity of a huge line of cliff, through which the water descends to join that of the Kangaroo River".

As they do not appear on maps of today, what happened to Meryla Falls? Research reveals that all mentions had ceased by 1910. It appears that Meryla Falls was an earlier name for Twin Falls, a still existing twin-drop waterfall near Fitzroy Falls, but which only flows after heavy rain, being fed by a branch of the same Yarrunga Creek that feeds Fitzroy Falls. A lookout on the eastern side of Twin Falls had previously been known as Meryla lookout.

It remains a mystery why the Meryla name for the Falls was changed, and why, similarly, maps no longer show a Meryla Creek. Numerous earlier references to it include in the Farmer and Settler 6 May 1919: "Mountain pass (Meryla Pass) from Moss Vale reaches Kangaroo Valley at the point where the Meryla Creek flows into the river, about 3 miles above the Bundanoon junction." It seems this account and others were using the locality name for the creek and gorge, that is 'Meryla', but actually were describing Yarrunga Creek (said to flow through Meryla Valley) and Yarrunga Valley.

While the various earlier uses of the Meryla name may be confusing today, its most consistent and long-lasting usages still apply to a pass, a road, a valley and a locality, all named Meryla, and all associated with the area at the western end of Kangaroo Valley.

In the 1890s settlers established farming and grazing in Meryla Valley, initially accessed from Moss Vale via the track from Sutton Forest to Meryla Pass that opened in the 1830s. Valley dwellers gained improved vehicular access when a new road was built in the 1890s, opening as Meryla Rd in 1896. From a turn-off at the main Yarrawa Rd out of Moss Vale, it proceeded to a bridge across Bundanoon Creek and continued to the Pass, which was upgraded for vehicles, and down into Meryla Valley and to the Kangaroo River.

The valley is described in 'Down in Old Meryla' an article in the Moss Vale Post in 1947: "Those who stand on the top of Meryla Mountain and look down upon the dense forest and undergrowth with occasional sparsely spaced orchards gone to ruin, or an aging cherry tree, denoting the home of some of the first settlers in this district, find it difficult to realise that, in the memory of those still with us, the verdant valley was worked by upwards of 20 farmers, and where once there was a public school. The coming of the rabbit and the spread of the blackberry changed the outlook of the residents of Meryla."

More next week about those good old days.

Pt. 2 of 4, Meryla 2nd series. To be continued

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