Tathra () is a seaside town on the
Sapphire Coast found on the
South Coast,
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
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. As of the , Tathra had a population of 1,675.
Nearby points of interest are the Old Tathra Wharf,
Mimosa Rocks National Park and
Bournda National Park. Mimosa Rocks National Park starts at the northern end of Tathra Beach and runs north for about 16 km. It has five access roads from the Tathra-Bermagui main road. Bournda National Park starts at Kianinny Bay, at the southern end of Tathra, and runs south for about . There is a walking track near the coast, along most of its length.
The
Bega River flows into the sea at the northern end of Tathra Beach, which is about long.
Tathra is said to mean "beautiful country" or "place of wild cats" in a local
Aboriginal dialect.
History

The Tathra area lies within the traditional lands of the
Djiringanj people, a group of 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, ...
. The headland at Tathra is the site of a
shell midden
A midden is an old landfill, dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bone, bones, feces, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, Lithic flake, lithics (especially debitage), and other Artifact (archaeology), ...
, which indicates it was a place favoured by the original inhabitants and a source of food.
[Julie Dibden Bega Valley Shire Council Various Works – Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report, 2017]
Tathra was first settled by Europeans in the 1820s and 1830s, although it was outside the limits of a legal settlement, the
Nineteen Counties. After a period of dispossession from much of their lands and coexistence with the settlers in the Bega Valley, the Aboriginal population was removed to the
Wallaga Lake Aboriginal Reserve, under the control of the
Aborigines Protection Board of New South Wales.
A small jetty was built at Tathra in the early 19th century. In 1861–62, a larger wharf was built from funds donated by farmers and the
Illawarra Steam Navigation Company. Regular shipping commenced in
1862
Events
January
* January 1 – The United Kingdom annexes Lagos Island, in modern-day Nigeria.
* January 6 – Second French intervention in Mexico, French intervention in Mexico: Second French Empire, French, Spanish and British ...
. The wharf, built on
turpentine
Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...
supports set into solid rock, was restored by the
National Trust
The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
,
Department of Planning, and local residents. It is the only remaining coastal steamer wharf in NSW.
In 1945, a local Volunteer Fire Brigade was established. In 2011 the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service opened a new station next to the older Station which had been in place since the early 1970s. In December 2020 the town's Fire Station received a major upgrade including the addition of a dedicated training and meeting room which featured the latest in modern technology including video conferencing. Tathra Fire Brigade is now one of the most well-equipped brigades on the Far South Coast and with weekly training, it has also come to be one of the most active brigades.
As with the Fire Brigade, the town also has a Surf Life Saving Club.
In 2008 two children fell from the wharf. Their father jumped in to attempt their rescue, but all three drowned.
On the morning of 3 April 2014, Christine Armstrong, a member of the Tathra Surf Life Saving Club was taken by a shark believed to be approximately long. Armstrong was swimming between Tathra Wharf and the Tathra Beach with a group of friends and her husband Rob. The shark was never located. This attack is believed to be the first attack in around 100 years and is extremely odd as Tathra rarely sees Sharks close to the Bay.
In September 2019, significant repairs were undertaken on the Tathra Wharf in following extensive damage caused by rough ocean conditions
2018 bushfires
On 18 March 2018, a
bushfire
A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...
began in the locality of Reedy Swamp, near
Tarraganda, which spread east towards Tathra. By the evening the fire had reached the town, destroying homes and blocking one of only two roads out of the town. Around 130 homes were either destroyed or damaged. An emergency evacuation centre for people affected by the fire was set up at the Bega Showgrounds. On 19 March (Monday), multiple schools in the area were closed due to students and staff being affected by the fire, namely Bega High School, Tathra Public School, Tanja Public School and the Bournda Environmental Education Centre. As of 10:40pm on the 18th 1,000 hectares had been burnt. By the morning of 19 March up to 70 buildings were believed to have been lost, and more than 200 people sought shelter at the Bega evacuation centre. On the afternoon of the 19th, the
New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) confirmed that 69 homes were destroyed and 39 were damaged, and 398 houses were saved or untouched. The RFS has stated that the total number of buildings destroyed is most likely 'seventy-plus'. NSW Premier
Gladys Berejiklian
Gladys Berejiklian (; born 22 September 1970) is an Australian businesswoman and former politician who served as the 45th premier of New South Wales and the leader of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party from 2017 to 2021. Berejikl ...
, Bega state MP
Andrew Constance
Andrew James Constance (born 31 October 1973) is an Australian politician who represented Electoral district of Bega, Bega for the Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales Division), Liberal Party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly ...
, federal MP
Mike Kelly and Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...
visited Tathra soon after the fire and met with evacuated people at the Bega Showgrounds.
Heritage listings
Tathra has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
* Wharf Road:
Tathra Wharf
Transport
Tathra Road connects the regional centre of
Bega 18 km to the west. Until the early 21st century, Tathra Road was known as the
Snowy Mountains Highway, which now runs between Bega and the
Hume Highway
The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of t ...
via
Cooma
Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega, New South Wales, Bega with the Riverina.
...
and
Tumut.
The Sapphire Coast Drive connects Tathra with
Merimbula 25 km to the south and Tathra-Bermagui Road connects to the fishing port of
Bermagui 44 km to the north.
Tathra is served by the local Bus Company Sapphire Coast Bus Lines. Sapphire Coast Bus Lines purchased the runs from the Daly family early 2013. The Daly Family operated the Bus Services from 1982 under the name of Tathra Bus Service.
References
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Towns in New South Wales
Towns in the South Coast (New South Wales)
Coastal towns in New South Wales
Bega Valley Shire