Coomee Nulunga was a Murramarang woman, born on Yuin country on the South Coast of NSW in the late 1820s. She remembered how her grandmother talked of seeing the ‘great white birds’ arrive decades earlier, a description of what Lieutenant James Cook’s ship would have looked like from the shore as he sailed up the eastern coast in 1770.
Coomee witnessed the arrival of British settlers in the 1830s and 40s
Some 500m distance from the Anglican Church of St Peter and Paul in Milton is its long-forgotten historic cemetery at 10 Croobyar Rd. Although there are no longer any visible headstones, the people buried there are an important record of Milton’s early years.
If you love a good horror story, did you know that Milton-Ulladulla has one its very own? Here are your clues – a man’s heart-stopping dream predicting nearby disaster, widespread floods, desperate cries for help, the killing and eating of a small dog, the grisly discovery of a severed arm, and maybe even a mutinous murder.
By 1870, at 18 years old, the Walter Hood was a bit of an ‘old girl’ but still considered sound and seaworthy. After her 1869 voyage she’d spent some time in London being repaired and having her copper replaced, giving her another 6 year rating from Lloyd’s. Her captain, Andrew Latto had already sailed her three times to Sydney and back without incident. Until that fateful last voyage…