The unearthing of some significant history of the area has paused the ongoing construction of the Tathra to Kalaru shared pathway.
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As work on a section of the bike path at the base of Evans Hill was being undertaken, some brick foundations were revealed and reported to NSW Heritage.
Further investigation to determine the heritage significance of the area was advised and pathway works were stalled in the immediate area to allow for this to occur.
Bega Valley Shire Council (BVSC) engaged a local archaeologist, who undertook a preliminary assessment of significance, which involved further historical research into the find and the land on which it is located.
Research conducted by the archaeologist led to the McGovern family, who were brickmakers in the area, and an evaluation of the brick remains states there is a possibility the bricks are remnants of a kiln.
Long-time Kalaru resident and local historian Margaret Evans has written several books about the district and confirmed these details about the discovered bricks, having had long associations with landholders in the immediate area.
Ms Evans estimated it was the early 1920s when the brick kiln was built.
She said it was at this time for a period of about six months the McGovern family took up residence on the property on which the brick remains were found, while the title was exchanging between the Bland and the Evans families.
"The McGoverns lived in the big Bland house and made bricks in the area, Isabel McGovern's father built a kiln there at the bottom of the hill," she said.
"The little lagoon that is now right beside Evans Park - it wasn't there until McGovern excavated to make bricks.
"And they would often build bricks on-site, a horse and cart couldn't carry many bricks, so they made them where they were working."
Ms Evans said in later years her husband Norm became a brickmaker and travelled to Cobargo with McGovern, where they made bricks for the Cobargo Hotel on-site.
According to a number of Kalaru residents, the shared pathway is being constructed on the actual old road to the Tathra Wharf, built across Jellat in 1857, to take produce via horse and bullock teams up Evans Hill.
In the 1930s the road moved to its current alignment, to improve the gradient on the steep hill.
The Tathra to Kalaru bike path project was funded in 2017 when BVSC received $3million in funding under the NSW government's active transport program for the design and construction of the 4.6km shared path.
Several residents now believe there is an opportunity for local history to be acknowledged and featured on the shared pathway.
"People don't make bricks like that any more, they're handmade sandstock bricks," Ms Evans said.
"Those bricks have been there for 100 years and deserve to be called antique, I really do think they deserve to be recognised."
Prior to the find, the path project was due for completion in early November. However, with an excavation permit now necessary in order to clean up the site in a careful manner and more fully assess the potential heritage significance of the find, BVSC forecasted completion of the path should be able to go ahead in December.