Narooma () is a town in the Australian state 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 ...

on the far south coast. The town is on the

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

, which crosses the Wagonga Inlet to North Narooma. The heritage town of Central Tilba is nearby to the south. The name Narooma is said to be derived from a word in the local Aboriginal language (one of the Yuin dialects) meaning "clear blue waters". At the , Narooma had an urban population of over 3,000 people.

History

Before European settlement of the area, the

Yuin The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...

people inhabited the lands along the stretch of coast, with the Walbunga/Walbunja clan being the

traditional owner Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title right ...

s of the Narooma area. The name Narooma is said to be derived from a word in the local Aboriginal language meaning "clear blue waters". The language of the Walbunja was probably a dialect of Dhurga. There had been an earlier settlement nearby at Punkalla, which was a port for Bodalla and Nerrigundah; a ruined jetty and timber mill can still be seen there. Gold was discovered nearby at Central Tilba in 1880 and a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was opened at present-day Corunna (to the south, in

Eurobodalla Shire Eurobodalla Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area located in the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located in a largely mountainous coastal region and situated ...

), named "Noorooma". A township was surveyed at the present location of Narooma in 1883 and given the name Noorooma, which it held until 1972. It was declared a port in 1884. Its school opened in 1886 and its post office in 1889. Transport to Narooma was first from the sea. From 1894 a hand-worked punt crossed Wagonga Inlet, linking Narooma to North Narooma and on to

Moruya Moruya ( ) is a town located on the South Coast (New South Wales), far south coast of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Moruya River. The Princes Highway runs through the town that is about south of Sydney and from Canberra. At the , ...

. A daily mail coach ran through the town between Bega and Moruya. Narooma was regarded as a tourist destination from the early twentieth century. The local

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

industry was established around 1900. The Uniting (formerly

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

) Church on the Princes Highway dates from 1914. Together with the associated parsonage, it is regarded as an excellent example of the Australian Federation Carpenter Gothic architectural style. In 1929 a petrol-driven punt, that had previously operated at

Batemans Bay Batemans Bay is a town in the South Coast region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Batemans Bay is administered by the Eurobodalla Shire council. The town is situated on the shores of an estuary formed where the Clyde River meets the ...

was installed. The Narooma bridge was the first major bridge constructed on the Princes Highway by the

Main Roads Board The Main Roads Board was an agency of the Government of New South Wales, responsible for planning, constructing and maintaining road infrastructure in New South Wales, Australia. History The Main Roads Board (MRB) was founded on 1 January 1925 ...

as part of its efforts to develop the highway. The bridge was built between 1929 and 1931 and crosses the Wagonga Inlet. The bridge has three spans and is made of steel and concrete. It is one of two bascule span bridges of its type remaining in New South Wales in 2002; the other was being threatened with demolition in 2002. A footpath was added to the eastern (seaward) side of the bridge in 1960. A fish cannery opened in 1937 or 1940 to process tuna and salmon. In 1972 the name was officially changed from Noorooma to Narooma.

Geology

Narooma is located on the Narooma terrane, which used to be separated by thousands of kilometres from the Australian coast. It travelled to the west and attached itself to the side of the

Lachlan Fold Belt The Lachlan Fold Belt (LFB) or Lachlan Orogen is a geological subdivision of the east part of Australia. It is a zone of folded and faulted rocks of similar age. It dominates New South Wales and Victoria, also extending into Tasmania, the Austr ...

, which became part of Australia. The rock found near Narooma includes the Narooma

Chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

dating from

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

times, and

turbidite A turbidite is the geologic Deposition (geology), deposit of a turbidity current, which is a type of amalgamation of fluidal and sediment gravity flow responsible for distributing vast amounts of clastic sediment into the deep ocean. Sequencing ...

s. There are also the remains of a

submarine volcano Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges ...

with

pillow lava Pillow lavas are lavas that contain characteristic pillow-shaped structures that are attributed to the extrusion of the lava underwater, or ''subaqueous extrusion''. Pillow lavas in volcanic rock are characterized by thick sequences of discontinu ...

Demography

At the , Narooma had an urban population of over 3,000 people.

Sport

The town is represented by a rugby league team Narooma Devils, who play in the local Group 16 Rugby League competition. The club was founded in 1929, and plays at Bill Smyth Memorial Oval in the centre of town, an Australian Rules team called the Lions, who play from Bill Smith oval, and Association Football (soccer team)
Narooma FC
as well as Netball, al
sponsored by the local RSL
Mountain biking, is the most popular sport, wit
Narooma mountain bike
trails and local trails heavily used.

Attractions and landmarks

Montague Island, a National Parks and Wildlife Reserve, is eight kilometres offshore from Narooma. Charter operators tour from Narooma onto and around the island. Gulaga, also known as Mt. Dromedary, the name given by

Captain Cook Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...

for its resemblance to the

dromedary camel The dromedary (''Camelus dromedarius''), also known as the dromedary camel, Arabian camel and one-humped camel, is a large camel of the genus ''Camelus'' with one hump on its back. It is the tallest of the three camel species; adult males stan ...

, can be reached from the village of Tilba Tilba. There are eight rainforest types on the mountain, and rock sites of significance to the local indigenous population. Views from the top of the mountain are limited by the vegetation. Beaches in the area include Dalmeny Beach, Narooma Beach, Bar Beach (flat water) and Yabarra Beach. Australia Rock is found at the bar crossing (where the inlet empties into the sea). There are various explanations for how the rock formed into this continental likeness, early photos show that it is simply a natural result of thousands of years of erosion of the ancient chert and shale headland. One of the more interesting tales of how it formed, is that the hole was created inadvertently when a ship was moored to the heads with large chains. The Narooma Golf Course was established in 1930 and has been rated amongst Australia's top 50 public access courses and Australia's top 25 resort golf courses. It is considered to be a spectacular and challenging course, with views of Montague Island to the east and Glass House Rocks to the south. The Great Southern Blues Festival was held here annually on the October Long Weekend until it moved to

in 2010. The festival returned to Narooma in 2013, and continued to be held each year on the October Long Weekend until it ceased in 2015.

Climate

Narooma has an

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 temperatures throughout the year. It is fairly sunny, getting 104.3 clear days annually. The town's drier, sunnier winters are owed to its position on the

leeward In geography and seamanship, windward () and leeward () are directions relative to the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e., towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point o ...

side of the dividing range. Going by vegetation, Narooma is the southernmost

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

climate in Australia, as the nearby Mount Dromedary and

Gulaga National Park Gulaga National Park is a national park on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, about south of Narooma. The park is dominated by Gulaga, also known as Mount Gulaga (formerly Mount Dromedary). The former Wallaga Lake National Park, Go ...

feature native subtropical vegetation.Narooma Paradise
by VisitNSW.com, Destination NSW. Retrieved August 11, 2023. Compared to other cities on the immediate coast of New South Wales, like

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and

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 city features a relatively low annual rainfall of – this is primarily owed to the progressively westward-bent landmass as one moves south on the coastline, and Narooma's position on this landmass occasionally shelters the city from intense Tasman lows and other rain-bearing systems from the east.

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Towns in the South Coast (New South Wales) 1881 establishments in Australia Populated places established in 1881 Eurobodalla Shire Coastal towns in New South Wales