Our first peoples

The Wodi Wodi people have lived in the area for at least 12,000 years and probably much longer. Theirs was a good life, fishing from canoes and collecting shellfish along the coastline. They also ate wallaby, the young white shoots of the cabbage palm and wild fruit. The remains of many kitchen middens can still be found in the area. It is thought that the meaning of the word Kiama is derived from the local aboriginal word for "good fishing ground".

Invasion, colonisation, settlement

The first white settlers were men who came to cut and ship out cedar. The countryside at that time, in the early 1820s, was a sub-tropical jungle with cabbage palms, figs, gums, cedar trees, climbing vines and much heavy undergrowth. Often they worked for agents in Sydney. The trees were felled by two men and loaded onto sailing vessels and shipped to Sydney.

The cedar cutters and occasional stockmen lived in primitive huts. The bush tracks were poorly defined and a pocket compass was necessary to find the way about. The open land in the late twenties was devoted to beef cattle, although some settlers carried on a small amount of farming. Many of the cedar cutters were wild men and spent all their money on liquor.

A new town

In 1826 a site was reserved for the proposed townsite of Kiama but it was not until 1839 that the streets were surveyed and 1840 that the first allotments were sold. In 1841 the first Post Office opened, the mail being carried on horseback.

1842 saw the first magistrate court in town. In 1848 there were eighteen permanent houses, two inns (Gum Tree Inn and Fitzroy Inn), two stores, a wooden church (the first Church of England) and a jetty at the bay. At this time one 250 acre farm in the district employed seventy people.

Shipping

From the earliest days Kiama was served by sailing vessels which anchored in the bay where the harbour is today. The ships came in with supplies and took away goods such as butter, pigs, calves, poultry, wheat, barley, potatoes, ale and timber. All the, farmers came, to town when a ship came in and these were the market days. Improvements were made in 1848 when mooring chains were laid and a year later a new jetty and shed were built.

In 1853 the Kiama Steam Navigation Company was formed and two years later the company's paddle wheeler "Kiama" began regular journeys to Sydney. From this time onwards Kiama was served by a steamer twice a week although bad weather often held up the service..

Throughout the years many people had been urging that a permanent harbour basin be built at Kiama and eventually construction began in 1871. It was officially opened in 1876. During these early years it was quite dangerous for ships travelling up and down the coast when the weather was bad and there were many shipwrecks.

In 1887 shipping became safer when the lighthouse at Blowhole Point commenced operations. It was lit by acetylene gas, but in May, 1969 it was converted to electricity to give a greatly increased range.

Farming

In the 1830's convicts were used as labour on clearing, farming and road building work but by the 1840s this practice had been discontinued and much of the land clearing was carried out under a lease system. Settlers were let about 20 acres for five years rent free from the large estates and given free food for the first five months. These people lived in small huts.

The Kiama district was the birthplace of dairying in Australia. By 1850 a local breed of dairy cattle had begun and through cross breeding this eventually became known as the Australian lllawarra Shorthorn Durham breed.

Because of the lack of refrigeration it was very difficult shipping dairy products to Sydney but from quite early on butter was sent in special barrels. Later, in 1881, the first cheese factory in the area opened at Jerrara in the Jamberoo valley and from this time cheese joined the exports. Three years later the Pioneer Butter Factory opened near Spring Creek. It was the first truly co-operative butter factory in Australia, the capital coming wholly from local farmers.

Mining

The year 1870 marked the commencement of the blue metal industry in the Kiama district. Most of the blue metal was shipped or railed to Sydney for use in building tram lines, roads and railway lines. Various areas were quarried over the years including Pike's Hill at the western end of Terralong Street, Minnamurra, Bombo headland and other areas near Bombo.

In 1882 a jetty was built in. the bay known as the Boneyard north of Bombo and in 1883 four hundred tons a day were being shipped out of Kiama harbour by both sail and steam vessels. Special loading facilities were in operation at Kiama harbour and the blue metal was carried to the harbour by horse drawn carts. However, by 1893 the railway line from Sydney to Kiama was completed and from this date much of the metal was taken to Sydney by train.

In 1913 tramway lines were laid in Terralang and Manning Streets and steam trams were used to carry the@ blue metal from the quarries to the harbour and railway siding. The quarrying of blue metal is still carried out at the railway quarry and the new Boral quarry to the west of Bombo.

Modern Kiama

By the mid-twentieth century most of Kiama’s mines had closed, and shipping had been superseded first by the railway (opening in 1893) then later the growth of road transport. Kiama expanded beyond a compact central area with the development from the 1960s of suburban housing at Kiama Heights, Kiama Downs and Gainsborough. Much of this growth was prompted by the expansion of steel and other industries in Wollongong.

Tourism has long been important for Kiama, and the local coast became a favourite destination for campers and caravanners from the 1950s. By the 1970s motels and upscale hotels opened, and more recently short stay accommodation has expanded through AirBnB and Stayz. Better rail and road links have encouraged increasing numbers of day trip visitors.

By the twenty first century demand for residential accommodation in KIama far exceeded housing supply, largely due to lack of developable land. As a result house prices have risen., and the social mix of the area is changing. However, Kiama still retains a distinct identity and has managed to preserve much of its character.