A HISTORY of the Kangaloon area, located in the Shire's north-east, was compiled by Bernadette Mahony and published in 2013 as Kangaloon Footprints. Extracts continue here.

Aboriginal people inhabited the district for at least 40,000 years. Although the eastern area was first explored in 1817 when Charles Throsby and Joseph Wild found a way up to Bong Bong from the Illawarra, it was many years before settlers established farms and villages.

The track Throsby took started at Dapto and emerged on top of the escarpment north of Mount Murray, and then continued west along the northern edge of the Wingecarribee Swamp. Known as Bong Bong Pass, it was only suitable for horses and stock. Late in 1818 Wild, following the directions of a local Aborigine, found another way down the escarpment that linked the area at the top of Kangaroo Valley down to Albion Park and Jamberoo - this was later used as the 'Butter Track'.

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Every official report of the eastern area, known as the Yarrawa Brush, contained references to bush that was too thick to penetrate, forests of huge trees, and roads that were too steep and narrow for normal traffic and it was not until March 1830 that Surveyor General Thomas Mitchell instructed Robert Hoddle to take a party of convicts and "open the brush from Bong Bong towards the sea coast".

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Hoddle records that, having surveyed the Wingecarribee Swamp, he then encountered the most formidable brush he had seen in the colony, abounding with every species of prickly bush, vine, bramble and nettle. The vines were so thickly entwined around the huge trees as to obscure the brilliance of the sun.

After Hoddle's report it was agreed that the cost of clearing this land for farming would be unprofitable so it lay untouched until the early 1860s when a Land Act was passed that encouraged settlers to clear land for agriculture and settlement.

The Robertson Land Act was introduced into NSW Parliament by John Robertson in 1861 and allowed for free selection before survey of unreserved Crown Land in lots of 40 to 320 acres. The cost was one pound per acre with a down payment of 25 percent and interest on the balance set at 5 percent. A period of residence was imposed and improvements had to be effected. The main purpose of the Act was to stop squatters from owning too much land at the expense of smaller settlers.

The Act stimulated the free selection of the Yarrawa Brush country around the Wingecarribee Swamp by pioneers who came mostly from the Illawarra District. John Hanrahan is acknowledged as being the area's first free selector. He took up his selection near Robertson in February 1862 and by 1865 about 30,000 acres of land had been taken up and about 1200 residents were settled in the area. A basic track was cut from Kiama in 1862 and another from Albion Park in 1863.

A formidable task presented itself to the early settlers of the area. M J Carrick, in a family history, describes it thus: "farmers had to clear the land selected and prepare the land for future use, including building a home for their families. It is very likely that most of the early houses were made of roughly cut timber slabs with mud filling the gaps between the slabs. Windows were a luxury that many homes did not possess. This was very basic housing with limited light inside and dubious protection from rain and wind. Very good rainfall was one of the reasons the land provided such lush grazing for the dairy cattle that were soon covering the cleared acres. Some houses were simply made of tree bark fastened to a wooden frame."

Further insights are gained from a talk by Wes Morrow published in the Southern Mail in January 1950. Wes was the son of J J Morrow, school teacher at West Kangaloon between 1888 and 1908.

He commenced by stating that "there were two distinct types of country: the brush and the forest. In the brush the timber was completely felled, while in the forest the undergrowth was brushed and the trees rung. It had been proved that if the forest were felled immediately it would not grow crops as well as where it had been rung and left for a period. The clearing of the brush country with the thick vines through it was a very difficult task and those early settlers had very few tools to work with. Then came the cattle and the dairies."

To be continued

This article compiled by PHILIP MORTON is sourced from the archives of Berrima District Historical & Family History Society, Bowral Rd, Mittagong. Phone 4872 2169.

Email bdhsarchives@gmail.com.

Web: berrimadistricthistoricalsociety.org.au

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