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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THOMAS Sutcliffe Mort was responsible for the building of the beautiful Blackett church at Bodalla.
Part of the commemorative plaque in that church reads: To the glory of God, And in the memory of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, And his wife Theresa Sutcliffe Mort. This church was erected in 1880. Born in England at Bolton, Lancashire, in 1816, T S Mort came to this country in 1837. A pioneer of Australian dairying through the creation of the Bodalla Estate, of engineering and shipbuilding at Balmain, Sydney, and of the wool industry and other enterprises, he devoted the last fifteen years of his life to the invention of a process of freezing and exporting Australian meat to supply the needs of England.
It is noteworthy that some of the early Bega farming families (many of whose descendants still have property in Bega), were originally stone masons from Bavaria, who were brought out to Australia for building projects at Eden and Merimbula. Once their task was completed they walked inland to Bega and settled. One example of these is the prominent Ubrihien family.
In the early 1880s, there were high hopes in Bega and the surrounding districts that a railway line would be put through to link Bega to Bombala, and ultimately Nowra to the north. Wolumla people were so confident of success in the venture that a hotel was built which rejoiced in the name “The Railway Junction Hotel.” Alas, these hopes did not come to fruition. Despite the promises of the great Sir Henry Parkes, premier of the time, whose daughter was a resident of Bega, the people of Bega did not receive their railway line, but instead they received a grant of 120 acres of land to be used for a lunatic asylum. It is now used as farming land.
The little town of Bermagui, though not spectacular in size or activity, at least for the greater part of the year, has enjoyed a most interesting past. As we have already seen, Bermagui’s first development was really the result of Tarlinton’s bringing his cattle to the area, and using Bermagui as a port. During the 1840s there was a depression in Australian pastoral circles, because of the decrease in Britain’s purchasing of our cattle. The price of beasts was as low as sixpence a head.