The history of Meryla locality verified by two local women in 1970s

A history of Meryla was provided as a 3-part series in this column in November 2019. Following here, after a brief summary of the history, is an additional series based on further research.

From the 1860s, the parish of Meryla encompassed the area that includes today's Manchester Square and Werai localities. It also extended south to Sandy Creek and down into Meryla Valley at the western end of Kangaroo Valley, reached by a steep track at Meryla Pass. In March 1818, Aboriginal guides led explorer Dr Charles Throsby and his party down the Pass which he described, but did not name, in his journal.

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From the 1820s the Pass served as a stock route for settlers including James Atkinson of Sutton Forest. The first known use of the name Meryla was as a mountain and a creek, appearing on Robert Hoddle's 1831 map of Kangaroo Valley. By the 1860s settlement had begun in the more accessible parts of the parish. As well as being adopted for the Pass, the name Meryla was given to a siding (later Werai) on the Southern Railway, and by the 1890s there were farms in Meryla Valley, accessed by Meryla Road. While some of the Meryla locality remains as private land today, much of its area is now NSW State Forest or lies within Morton National Park.

Details about Meryla Valley's early settlers and their fate, and also about motor vehicle enthusiasts using the Pass in the 1930s, will come later in this second series.

The history of Meryla became of great interest, in the 1970s, to Janet Cosh and Rachel Roxburgh, two local women. They undertook research, interviewed 'old-timers', and visited the Pass which they ventured down on foot.

Janet Cosh (1901-1989) had a direct connection, being a great grand-daughter of James Atkinson who, as noted above, used the Pass in the 1820s. Granted land at Sutton Forest, in 1828 he built a residence, Oldbury, but died at the age of 34. An intelligent and successful farmer, he wrote An Account of the State of Agriculture and Grazing in NSW, a much-acclaimed book published in London in 1826. His youngest daughter Louisa became a well-known novelist, painter and naturalist. Her daughter Annie married Dr John Cosh, and Janet was their daughter.

Janet Cosh was a proficient botanist. She collected and documented innumerable flora specimens unique to the Southern Highlands and beyond. Her collection is now housed at the University of Wollongong's 'Janet Cosh Herbarium'.

Rachel Roxburgh (1915-1991), was an artist, conservationist and architectural heritage campaigner, born at Point Piper, Sydney. In the 1950s she joined the National Trust of Australia (NSW), working to identify the colonial architectural heritage of NSW. She moved to Moss Vale in 1968, converting the old barn at Throsby Park into a residence. She was the first locally elected female councillor, serving on Wingecarribee Shire Council from 1977 to 1980.

Of prime interest to the ladies was Dr Charles Throsby's part in the 12-man expedition of 1818, led by James Meehan, to find a way to the coast from the Southern Highlands. Hampered by heavy rain, the expedition split into two groups at the Shoalhaven Gorge. Throsby headed back northeast and found a way to the coast, but historians disagreed about his route down to Jervis Bay. It was this that Janet Cosh established beyond doubt: "The first record of travelling down Meryla Pass is found in the note-books of Dr Charles Throsby. In March 1818, guided by natives, he crossed the Bundanoon Creek south of Manchester Square and went along an easy line to Sandy Creek and then came upon the gorges of the Lower Yarrunga valley into which the party descended by way of the Pass. The horses had to be unloaded and the packs carried down. It took 41/2 hours to reach Yarrunga Creek. The next day the party climbed over rough country but then dropped to meadow land on the banks of the Kangaroo River."

Rachel Roxburgh's description of Throsby's route, based on Janet's research, was published in the Royal Australian Historical Society Journal of March 1981.

The two ladies thus verified the early historical significance of Meryla Pass.

Part 1 of 4-part series. To be continued