Culburra Beach, New South Wales

Culburra Beach, commonly referred to as Culburra, is a town located in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Located within the Shoalhaven local government area, the town is east-southeast of Nowra on Jerrinja Wandi Wandian Aboriginal Country. At the , the town had a population of and is the regional centre for the coastal villages of Currarong, Callala Beach, Callala Bay and Orient Point.

Description

Culburra Beach is a small seaside town and a popular holiday, fishing and surfing location. Local industries include oysters, fishing, and prawning. It has two surf beaches, Culburra Beach and Warrain Beach. The town is flanked by the Crookhaven River to the north, Curleys Bay to the west, and Lake Wollumboola to the south. It is home to the Culburra Beach Boardriders, Culburra Dolphins Rugby League team and the Culburra Cougars soccer team and the Culburra Beach Festival know to many as the Burradise Festival which happens annually in September celebrating local creative arts, Jerrinja Aboriginal culture, original live music, the annual Surf Bash tournament, skateboarding, regional foods, markets, crafts and makers.

The town also boasts the two closest surf beaches to Nowra and is home to the Culburra Beach and Nowra Surf Lifesaving Club whose clubhouse is located at the northern end of Warrain Beach. The beaches are patrolled during the summer holiday period, and being located on either side of Penguin Head face in different directions, providing a variety of surf conditions for board riders, swimmers, body surfers and families with young children. A wide variety of fish species are caught on these beaches and from the rocky headlands adjacent to them.

Notable people

* Owen Wright – Surfer.
* Mikey Wright - Surfer.
* Tyler Wright – Surfer.
* Ty Watson - Surfer

History

Originally called Wheelers Point after the first landholder George Wheeler; the name was changed to Culburra in 1916 after an Aboriginal word meaning "sand"; and later to Culburra Beach. Postal services were first provided from Warrain Beach Post Office, which was renamed Culburra Beach in 1970.

The area's first school was the Roseby Park Aboriginal School, which opened in 1903. It became a public school in 1906 and remained that way until it closed in 1964. Culburra children had to attend Pyree Public School until its closure in August 1976, and the following month saw the opening of Culburra Public School.

The modern street plan of Culburra Beach has been popularly attributed to Walter Burley Griffin,https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/blogs/day-24th-november-1876-walter-burley-griffin who also designed the street plan for Canberra, but was in fact the work of developer Henry Halloran, as landowner, designer, and surveyor.

Culburra Beach is the location of the famous Max Dupain photo '' Sunbaker''. Dupain took the photograph in 1937. The man in the photograph was Harold Salvage (1905-1991), a British builder, who was part of a group of friends on a surfing trip. The most familiar version of the photograph was not printed until a retrospective of Dupain's work in 1975.

Population

According to the 2016 census of Population, there were 2,874 people in Culburra Beach.
* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 5.5% of the population.
* 78.8% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 3.8%.
* 88.8% of people spoke only English at home.
* The most common responses for religion were No Religion 28.0%, Anglican 24.2% and Catholic 21.2%.

References

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Towns in New South Wales
Towns in the South Coast (New South Wales)
City of Shoalhaven
Coastal towns in New South Wales