One of the four parishes established there by Surveyor Campbell was Yarrawa, between Wingecarribee Swamp and the coastal escarpment. A large area of land was reserved from sale by proclamation on May 2, 1862, and a village laid out in an area known as the "Three Creeks".

This new village was first called Yarrawa, but then renamed Robertson, in honour of John Robertson, the man responsible for the passage of the 1861 Robertson Land Act. Under its provisions the Yarrawa Brush country was opened for selection.

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The first sale of town blocks took place in September 1865, when 26 lots were offered, but only seven were taken up and growth stayed slow during the first 10 years of the town's existence.

A Methodist Church, which stood on the site of the present building, was erected in the late 1860s. The public school, a neat stone building, started in 1872 with one teacher and St John's Church of England was erected in 1876.

That same year, George Schlaadt opened a store, and two shoemakers and a wheelwright started business.

A post office was built in 1884 and the School of Arts opened in 1886.

By 1887 Robertson had gained two hotels, two banks, three stores, five butcher shops, a chemist, baker, bootmaker and three auctioneers. By the next year a police station and a Court of Petty Sessions were established.

The Criterion Hotel, built by George Schlaadt, still stands as the Robertson Public House. The Royal Hotel, further down Hoddle Street, was destroyed by fire in the 1930s.

ROBERTSON'S OLDEST institution is its Agricultural Show. The first show in the district, in April 1880, was conducted at Burrawang by the Burrawang and West Camden Farmers' Club and Agricultural Society.

After several years of debate and argument, the organisation was renamed Robertson Agricultural and Horticultural Society and the first show under its auspices was held in 1886 in a paddock behind the Royal Hotel in Robertson.

From 1888 shows were held on land leased from the Hindmarsh family. A 10-acre lot was cleared, fenced and a pavilion erected with further improvements made in 1910. The showground is still at this site.

The Hindmarsh lease continued until 1986 when the Department of Lands bought the land and formed a trust to supervise the showground.

PRIMARY PRODUCTION in the area was well established by the 1890s. More than 300 farms, totalling 50,000 acres, produced potatoes, cabbages and other vegetables, raised dairy and beef cattle and ran horses.

There were eight large co-operative and about 20 private dairy factories producing butter and cheese.

These were phased out early in the 1900s once refrigerated factories were established at Mittagong, Bowral and later Moss Vale. Milk from the Robertson area was then sent by road to these facilities.

The Robertson Co-operative Dairy Society, which operated a cheese factory from 1936, was taken over by Moss Vale Dairy Farmers in 1955 and the factory closed.

A TOURIST HOTEL, named the Hotel Robertson, opened in November 1924 and two years later was acquired by the Ranelagh Club that intended to cater for golfers.

This project also failed, mainly because the Robertson mists made it impossible to play golf for days at a time. In 1931 the hotel and estate were again sold, the buyer proposing to farm the land as well as running the hotel.

During World War II Ranelagh was used as a training centre for the women's branch of the RAAF. Then it was acquired by the Catholic Church and became St Anthony's, a Franciscan Friary, until the 1970s.

MACQUARIE PASS opened in 1898, linking Moss Vale and the coast by a spectacular route passing through Robertson, thus better connecting the town and positioning it as the eastern gateway to the Highlands. Hopes were high for a tourist boom, but this never really eventuated.

As far back as 1872, Robertson locals had agitated for a railway connection. Finally a line linking Moss Vale to Unanderra on the coast, which passed through Robertson, opened on August 20, 1932. Once again, however, this did not bring any great boom in visitors.

Even though the Illawarra Highway up Macquarie pass now brings a steady influx of tourists, Robertson still retains its traditional atmosphere of calm and beauty in a sleepy rural village.

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