Heritage studies and resources
Heritage includes the places, objects, and stories that connect us to our past. Our heritage helps us to understand how earlier generations lived and who we are today. Preserving our heritage ensures that future generations can learn from these historical resources. Eurobodalla’s diverse heritage includes buildings, shipwrecks, conservation areas, cemeteries, stories, and monuments.
How we manage Eurobodalla's heritage items and places
- The Eurobodalla Local Environmental Plan 2012 lists heritage items and places identified in Eurobodalla that we need to preserve and manage.
- The Eurobodalla Heritage Strategy 2024-2028 guides Council's approach to managing Eurobodalla's heritage items and places to preserve our cultural heritage. Our community's vision is to value and celebrate its heritage, and the strategy outlines how we can do this:
Heritage databases
Heritage databases help us to identify, manage, and conserve heritage listed items and significant sites:
- The State Heritage Inventory holds information about Eurobodalla's statutory-protected heritage items.
- The Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System (AHIMS) records information about Aboriginal sites, objects, and declared Aboriginal places in Eurobodalla.
Heritage studies and plans
A heritage study:
- investigates items and places of heritage significance that illustrate an area's history
- explores and explains why the items are significant
- outlines ways to manage and conserve this significance.
Some of Eurobodalla's heritage items and places listed on the State Heritage Inventory have State heritage significance. These include:
- Abernathy & Co Stonemason’s Lathe, housed in Moruya
- All Saints Church
- Bodalla Former Mechanics Institute Hall, Moruya
- Lake View Homestead
- Bergalia Montague Island Light Station
- Baranguba Montague Island Nature Reserve
Most of these items are listed because of our community-based heritage studies.
Shire-wide heritage studies+
Community-based Heritage Study 2009-2011
A working group of community volunteers, including Heritage Advisory Committee members and Council's Heritage Advisor, carried out this study. The working group researched, nominated items, and made recommendations for the future management of local heritage items.
Shire-wide Heritage Study 1995-1997
Experienced heritage consultants carried out this study. The aim of the study was to investigate, identify, and assess items and places of heritage significance that show our community's history.
Aboriginal heritage studies+
Aboriginal heritage studies aim to:
- collect and organise the oral history of Aboriginal people in Eurobodalla
- map sites of significance to Aboriginal people, and consider ways to conserve and restore the sites
- develop and implement on-ground projects on Aboriginal land.
Our study areas include all of Eurobodalla, serviced by the Batemans Bay, Mogo, Cobowra, Bodalla, Wagonga, and Merriman's Local Aboriginal Land Councils.
Studies
Follow-up projects
In 2012, Council completed four Aboriginal culture and heritage projects in partnership with the community. These projects followed up on recommendations from the Aboriginal Heritage Study:
- Invisible places: A history of Aboriginal reserves in Eurobodalla
- Exploring the significance of totems in Aboriginal culture
- Gravesites within the Wallaga Lake cemetery
- Dhurga timeline project.
Draft Bodalla Cultural Landscape Study 2012+
The significance of Bodalla's cultural landscape is recognised in the community-based Heritage Study 2009-2011, which aims to:
- clarify the heritage values of Bodalla's cultural landscape
- make recommendations, eg, adjustment to the boundary or further study.
Council followed up this study with a heritage assessment:
We'll continue to speak with property owners in the study area about our proposal to list the area as a heritage conservation area in the Eurobodalla Local Environmental Plan 2012.
Nelligen and Bodalla Main Street Studies 2010-2011+
Nelligen and Bodalla Main Street Studies:
- aim to guide the development of works in the main streets of these historic villages
- ensure that future works reflect the local community's needs
- provide advice on heritage and urban design issues for Bodalla and Nelligen's main streets, allowing property owners and Council to carry out improvement and conservation works.
Study timeline
- 2010: Council started the Nelligen and Bodalla Main Street Studies with a grant from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment's Office of Environment and Heritage.
- 23 August 2011: Council adopted the Nelligen and Bodalla Main Street Studies:
Eurobodalla Dairy Industry Heritage Scoping Study 2006+
The dairy industry has changed significantly over the past 70 years. This pace of change impacted Eurobodalla's produce, employment, and landscape, as our region was dependent on the dairy industry.
Economic changes (ie, deregulation of the dairy industry in 2000) led to the destruction of many significant dairy industry sites within Eurobodalla.
Council's Heritage Advisory Committee carried out the Eurobodalla Dairy Industry Heritage Scoping Study 2006 (stage one):
- because Eurobodalla's dairy industry has historical importance
- due to the threats that closing dairies would have on the industry's structures and heritage
- to document and conserve significant dairy industry heritage within Eurobodalla.
Read the study
Conservation management plans+
Eurobodalla's conservation management plans outline a place's significance, and its future management. For most of these local places, the plans address how this change is managed.
Moruya Showground
Former Mechanic's Institute and School of Arts
Moruya Heads Pilot Station
- This plan was prepared in response to a brief by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
- You can view the plan at our Customer Service Centre in Moruya.
Moruya Quarry and Wharf
- This plan was prepared in response to a brief by the NSW Department of Lands.
- You can view the plan at our Customer Service Centre in Moruya.
Nerrigundah (Pollock's) General Store (destroyed by bushfire in January 2020)
- This Conservation Management Plan outlines the owner's request to seek consent to establish a new use for the commercial area of the property. The use was prohibited at the time.
Heritage tourism map+
Council's heritage tourism map highlights some of the main areas of heritage interest in Eurobodalla.
Our rich heritage enhances the local tourism industry, and our interactive map encourages and educates visitors interested in heritage.
Advisory committees
Council's Heritage Advisory Committee and Aboriginal Advisory Committee work with us to ensure our heritage work aligns with the community's needs.
Heritage Advisory Committee+
The Heritage Advisory Committee helps Council to develop policies and strategies that support our Heritage Strategy, so we can manage Eurobodalla's natural and cultural heritage.
Eurobodalla Aboriginal Advisory Committee+
The Eurobodalla Aboriginal Advisory Committee aims to promote the importance of Aboriginal culture within Eurobodalla.
Grants and other resources
Grant programs+
If you have property that is heritage listed or in a heritage conservation area, there are grant programs that help preserve and celebrate Eurobodalla's cultural heritage:
Heritage and conservation resources+
These resources explore different aspects of heritage and conservation:
Historical societies+
Batemans Bay Heritage Museum
- 3 Museum Place, Batemans Bay
- PO Box 448, Batemans Bay NSW 2536
- T: 02 4472 1635
- W: Batemans Bay Heritage Museum
Moruya and District Historical Society and Museum
- 85 Campbell Street, Moruya
- PO Box 259, Moruya NSW 2537
- T: 02 4474 3224
- W: Moruya and District Historical Society and Museum
Narooma Historical Society
- PO Box 439, Narooma NSW 2546
- E: Narooma Historical Society
Narooma museum items display
- Lighthouse Museum, 45 Princes Highway, Narooma NSW 2546
Heritage advisory service+
If your property is heritage listed or is in a heritage conservation area, our heritage advisor can provide you with advice on:
- colour schemes
- extensions
- awnings
- fences
- heritage issues related to development applications
- the integration of new development in older areas
- local heritage grants.
More information
Reach out to Council's Strategic Planning Officer (support), Nardi Arnold, for more information:
- T: 02 4474 1226
- E: Nardi Arnold
Contact us
For more information, contact Council's Strategy Planner:
- T: 02 4474 1324
- E: [email protected]