The Bega Pioneers' Museum has countless reports and stories on local issues. This is a history of Bermagui and district researched by Bertha Davidson in 1982.
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The Bega area was the scene of several gold rushes in the 1850s. Merrigundah and Merrigen were the main sites of finds, together with Araluen, which figured prominently in the desperate deeds of a bushranging gang known as the Clarkes, who also associated with the Hall and Gardiner gangs. Bega papers of the 1867 era were full of the story of how four policemen were brutally murdered while trying to apprehend the gang.
Many people searched for gold at Brogo, but without success, as seems to be indicated by an old-timer of the region, who when asked whether there was gold around Brogo, responded to the effect that there was sure to be, as “no-one has ever removed it from here yet”.
A most interesting piece of local history is bound up with the development of the Mort Estate at Bodalla. The property’s growth apparently began with a grant of 12,000 acres of land on the Tuross River to John Hawdon in 1830. (Hawdon was the first man to drive a mob overland to Melbourne, a feat which he accomplished, overcoming what must have seemed insuperable obstacles, in the early 1830s.)
After 10 or 15 years, the estate went over to Thomas Sutcliffe Mort. Most authorities say that this was because Mort had a mortgage over much of the property. Local historians say that Mort and Hawdon entered into a word of mouth contract, by which they agreed simply to exchange Mort’s considerable Bega holdings for those of Hawdon in Bodalla.
Mort spent thousands on the development of Bodalla. He imported Chinese to clear the ground at two pounds an acre, imported grasses and cheese-making equipment, and built dairy buildings. The first cheese was produced in the early 1870s. Mort was keen on experimental farming, and tried such innovations as spray irrigation, using a horse-powered pump.
As an active businessman he had interests in Sydney in the form of coal, the Fresh Food and Ice Co., and the Sydney wool auctions. He was responsible for the building of the beautiful Blackett church at Bodalla, (and also the pub opposite, as he believed in the old English idea of a pub and a church in each village).