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Bega () is a town in the south-east of
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, Australia, in the Bega Valley Shire. It is the economic centre for the Bega Valley.


Place name

One claim is that place name ''Bega'' is derived from the local Aboriginal ( Thawa language) word meaning "big camping ground". Another claim is that it is a corruption of the word "" in the local Aboriginal language (one of the Yuin languages) meaning "beautiful". The local Aboriginal name for Bega before colonisation was '.


History and description

The Bega region was used by the Yuin-Monaro Aboriginal people for thousands of years before Europeans arrived in the area. The clan whose country occupied the Bega vicinity were called the ''Worerkerbrim mitte''. Bega lies at the foot of Mumbulla Mountain, named after a Yuin elder King Jack Mumbulla, whose traditional Aboriginal name is Biamanga. The surrounding National Park is named after him as Biamanga National Park. The first European to come near the area was
George Bass George Bass (; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. Early life Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George B ...
, who explored the region's coastline in December 1797 as part of his broader explorations of the Australian coast. William Tarlinton was the first European to explore the area on foot, arriving in 1829. He returned in the early 1830s and settled there, starting a cattle farm. Others who arrived in the area around the same time were the Imlay brothers, who also began farming there. Their name has since been preserved in the form of Mount Imlay National Park. Live cattle were transported to Sydney for a time, to be supplemented by tallow and hides in the early 1840s. Beef and dairy farming were carried on in the area through the 1840s, and many towns were surveyed in the 1850s. The town of Bega itself was laid out and gazetted in December 1851. Located to the north of its present location, repeated flooding later resulted in its relocation to the higher ground south of the river. Dairy farming expanded in the region quickly throughout the 1860s, overtaking cattle farming as the predominant industry. In 1858, Tathra was used as a port for the transport of products to Sydney, and the Illawarra Steam Company was established. In 1861–62, Tathra Wharf was constructed, which allowed for the further growth and expansion of the dairy industry. The region received a further boost in the late 1870s when gold was discovered in the Bermagui area. The Bermagui gold rush followed quickly in 1880. Two years later, in 1882, the Municipality of Bega was created. The Bega Dairy Cooperative Limited was set up in the late 1890s. Bega is now well known for its cheese. Bega Cheese is manufactured by The Bega Co-operative Society Limited which is one of the larger Australian cheese companies. Their products are exported around the world and distributed across Australia and are available in most supermarkets and general stores. Notable local landmarks are Bega Court House and Rosevear Jeweller's shopfront, which are both listed on the
Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...
. The
courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...
was built in 1881 and consists of rendered brick and iron roofs. The Rosevear shop is in Carp Street and was established circa 1899. It is listed as a notable example of Victorian commercial designers. After years of planning, the
shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...
in Bega was built. The Sapphire Marketplace was opened on 2 December 2011. In 2022 the Sapphire Marketplace was sold by its developer, Woolworths Group, for $54.05 million to a private investor. After the sale, Sapphire Marketplace was rebranded as Bega Village in October 2022.


Heritage listings

Bega has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 21 Auckland Street: CBC Bank Building


Population

According to the 2021 census, there were 5,013 people in Bega. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 6.7% of the population. * 82.3% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 2.2%. * 87.3% of people only spoke English at home. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 43.8% Anglican 17% and Catholic 16.8%


Climate

Bega has a temperate
oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...
(''Cfb'') with mild to warm summers and cool winters with frequent foehn winds. Nights are relatively cool all year round due to its valley location at a southern latitude, and
frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...
is a regular occurrence in the winter months. The town gets 85.3 clear days annually, largely in the winter and spring months. Diurnal range is particularly high from mid winter to early spring, especially for a near-coastal location. The lowest temperature on record was an impressive on 16 July 1970 at the Newtown Road site.


Sister cities

* Littleton, Colorado, United States of America


Gallery

Image:(1)Bega_Court_House.jpg, Bega Court House Image:CountryTown0010.jpg, Uniting Church Image:CountryTown0011.jpg, Old Bega Information Centre Image:(1)Bega_Anglican_Church.jpg, Anglican Church


Media

;Radio stations * Edge FM (FM 93.7 - community) * East Coast Radio (FM 105.9 – commercial) * Power FM NSW South Coast (FM 104.3 – commercial) * Hot Country Radio (87.6FM – commercial – country music format) * Sky Sports Radio (FM 96.3) * ABC South East NSW (FM 103.5) – part of the
ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...
network. The station is located on Carp Street in the town. *
Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...
(FM 105.1) *
ABC NewsRadio ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...
(FM 100.5) *
ABC Classic FM ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. I ...
(FM 101.9) – also on 95.7 from the adjacent Illawarra region. *
Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...
(FM 98.9 – from the adjacent Illawarra region). A local service from Mount Wandera is planned, subject to the clearance of local television stations. ;Television The Bega Valley Shire receive five free-to-air television stations (television in Australia) including two government funded networks: The ABC, the SBS and three commercial networks: * Seven *
Nine 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...
and * Southern Cross 10 ABC, SBS, Seven, Nine (WIN) and Southern Cross 10 all offer digital high-definition simulcasts of their main channels. All five networks broadcast additional channels including: 7two,
7mate 7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a c ...
,
7flix 7flix is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 28 February 2016. 7flix targets a variety of viewers and offers drama, comedy, reality, docusoap, and movies. History On 18 Decembe ...
,
7bravo 7Bravo is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network under license from NBCUniversal International Networks on 15 January 2023. The channel contains programming from NBCUniversal's Americ ...
,
9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anima ...
,
9Gem 9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network in September 2010. The channel provides general entertainment and movie programming, from which the original name "GEM" is derived. History The la ...
,
9Life 9Life is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Nine Entertainment. The channel airs mostly foreign lifestyle and reality programs, with the channel having a licensing agreement with Discovery Inc. (previously Scr ...
,
ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...
,
ABC Entertains ABC Entertains is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched on 4 December 2009 as a children's channel called ABC3. It was rebranded on 19 September 2016 to ABC ME. It rebra ...
,
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
,
SBS Viceland SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS V ...
,
SBS World Movies SBS World Movies is an Australian free-to-air television channel showing international movies. The channel features foreign language films, documentaries, independent, annual films, art films and mainstream cinema and interviews with intern ...
,
SBS Food SBS Food (formerly Food Network) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel airs programs about food and cooking, from cultures around the world. History SBS first ...
, 10 Bold Drama, 10 Peach Comedy and
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...
. ;Newspapers The local newspaper for Bega is the ''District News'' (formerly known as The Southern Star). Daily newspapers such as ''
The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...
'', the '' Illawarra Mercury'' from
Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...
, the ''
Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...
'', the ''
Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...
'', ''
The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...
'', ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'', ''
Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...
'' and the ''
Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...
'' are available in Bega.


Notable people

* Kezie Apps – Female Rugby League Player * Chris AtkinsonWRC driver * David Boyle – Rugby League Player * Morgan Boyle – Rugby League Player * Adam Elliott – Rugby League Player * Dale Finucane – Rugby League Player * Deborah Glass OBE – Victorian Ombudsman * Thomas Jack – DJ * Lenka – singer and songwriter * Ky Rodwell – Rugby League Player


See also

* Bega schoolgirl murders


References


External links


Bega Valley Shire Council web site
{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Towns in the South Coast (New South Wales) 1851 establishments in Australia Bega Valley Shire