Settled by colonists from 1828, the district’s towns reflect the early expansion of the timber industry and later dairying, followed by silica mining and then tourism.
Understanding the history of the place in which you live creates a greater understanding of why so many things are as they are today – how towns and streets got their names, why the industries in which people work developed, how the natural landscape was shaped by settlement, and why houses and buildings look the way they do. Local history combined with a place’s geography can tell you everything.
But preserving local history is not an easy task, as towns expand, new roads are built and industries wax and wane. Since 1968, Milton-Ulladulla Historical Society Inc has been dedicated to preserving our district’s past, for the future.
The landscapes of Milton-Ulladulla have been shaped by the interaction of natural and human geography.
The Milton-Ulladulla district has many fine homesteads dating from the late 19th century that have been carefully maintained and sympathetically restored.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, with my wife Doreen, we would spend many weekends in the Milton-Ulladulla area, spear fishing and water skiing. When King’s Point was subdivided, we had the first house built there by Millard and Ingold builders, as a weekender.
The Milton Ulladulla Historical Society (MUHS) recently lost one of its highly-valued Life Members with the passing of Joanne Ewin on 24 January 2018, a well-known and respected member of the Milton-Ulladulla community and a past secretary of MUHS.
Have you seen a piece of Ulladulla’s history, existing since 1861, near a busy road, but only noticed by a few pedestrians? It is the weir over Millards Creek, 20 metres off St Vincent Street, looking west.
The heritage fig in Milton is a well-known landmark and much loved by locals and visitors and the historic elm outside the Anglican church is also an important part of Milton’s history.
On 20 January 1883, the popular broadsheet publication ‘Australian Town and Country Journal‘ published a unique insight into the district of Milton-Ulladulla. Called ‘Southern Pencillings‘ and attributed to ‘The Raven’, it included several line drawings featuring Pigeon House mountain, Lake Conjola, Airlie House and Ulladulla Harbour.
In the late 1940s, Milton Shows were still fairly frugal affairs and offered little entertainment for small children. Children quite naturally created their own fun.