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Prior to 1800's, Bulahdelah was in the hands of the Worimi
tribe . The area must have been ideal for those indigenous individuals who would
have enjoyed a fish diet. The Myall Lakes is a series of lakes opening to the
ocean via the Myall River into Port Stephens. The lakes are a breeding
ground for bream, flathead, mullet and many others species of salt water fish,
even though the waters are brackish and virtually non-tidal.
Mining
The mountain was first recorded by John Oxley a Crown Surveyor in 1818. It was known in those early times as Bulladella Mountain, the outcrop of rock can be seen from the Pacific Ocean and was the northern boundary for convicts and bonded persons.
From 1897 Bulladella Mountain was recognized a a potential mine site and came
under the administration of Department of Mines. Originally a geologist had
noted that a burnt out log had changed the rock to a white powder. Samples were
found to contain high grade Alum. After five different lessee's on the mountain
for quarrying, extraction and processing, mining of the mountain ceased in 1952.
Alum is used for the clarification of water. It is also found as a minor
ingredient in Grandma's Ginger-nut recipe.
Timber
Around 1850 the township of Bulahdelah was settled by timber-getters firstly and afterwards as the land was cleared, by farmers. 'The letters of Rachael Henning' a published record of the young lady's impressions of life from the time she left England to her residency during 1866 in Bulahdelah. Rachael's husband (referred to her in her letters as as Mr.Taylor) was a timber-getter.
From about 1840 many timber grants
were offered to any who applied. From 1913, one of the larger operators in the
area was Allen Taylor and Company Limited. The company had a licence from the
Forestry Department to cut timber from the Coolongoolook Brush which was
regarded as among the best stands of timber in NSW. Operations in that region
commenced from a small depot at Mayers Point on Myall Lake.
In order to
operate on this licence the Taylor firm acquired a short length of tramway built
by the then defunct Australian Timber Company. The original line appears to have
been built about 1904, for using horse traction. The line travelled inland from Mayers Point. In 1914 Allen Taylor and Company ordered a light type steam
locomotive and purchased some 2nd hand rails. The relaying of the line
extended into 1915. It would appear the official opening of the line after
conversion from horse traction to steam locomotive took place on 29th June 1915.
The first locomotive was christened "Aleda" by the wife of Sir Allen Taylor.
Sometime after 1915 a saw mill was established on the waters edge at Mayers
Point.
Apart from Allen Taylor and Company, there were many other timber operators
In the Bulahdelah area. Infrastructure included droghers and barges for water
transport; and tramways for transporting timber to the mills, traction engines
to haul loads onto the barges for transport down the lakes for trans-shipment to the
ocean going craft
at Winda Whoppa or Salt Ash on Port Stephens.
In the early 1800's, a tiny settlement was founded around the point formed by the Myall Lake and Boolambayte Creek, and became known as Boolambayte.
The reason
for the founding of this settlement was those types of timber suitable for boat
building, ie. schooners, ketches, barges, droghers and paddle-wheelers, had been
found there.
Tallow wood was used for below the water line and Flooded Gum for
above the water line. To supply suitable logs, timber-getters were hired and
bullock-drivers with teams were hired to do the hauling.
The settlement progressed rapidly, with small dwellings springing up along the Lake and Creek shores, and back into the bush north and west of the lake at Boolambayte.
During all this local enterprise of timber-getting, boatbuilding and Alunite mining, the townies and the settlers needed supplies of sugar and flour which was a staple part of the diet, everything else was grown or traded with the neighbours. The 'Storeboat' operated by G A Engel & Sons, would depart several days a week from Engel's Store at Tea Gardens and serve the lakeside residents with boots, shoes clothing and all other manner of goods including tea, sugar and flour. The residents made there own bread and the house cow provided the milk
Dairying
From the early days most settlers had access to milk supplies from nearby farms. Almost every small farm had a house cow. As the population of the town increased it became an obvious business opportunity.
So the advent of the dairy farm. Every small community had access to fresh supplies of milk on a daily basis, sometimes delivered around the town by horse and cart other times collected from the dairy in a 'billy can'.
In the early days, the local dairy farmers would separate cream from the milk into 46-litre cans and deliver the cream, by horse drawn cart, to the Butter Factory behind the hotel in Bulahdelah (then to Jackson St. after a fire burnt the building behind the hotel) owned and operated by the Pile family. There the cream would be processed into butter. back at the farm the residue would be fed to the pigs or calves. Most dairy farms had a piggery for this very purpose.
Hazel Towers remembers when she was about 12 in 1929, and when transport was no longer a big issue, the cream in 46-litre cans was delivered from the the dairies along Bombah Pt Rd (incl. Geo Squires, Sam Richards, John Dee) to Gooch's ramp south of the bridge for transport to the Hunter Valley Co-op in Hexham. Other areas such as the Crawford, Markwell, Boolambayte and Mayers Flat would have different collection points at convenient places.
From the early 1970's with the institution of a quota system, dairy farms were invited to send their quota of fresh milk to the Hunter Valley Co-op in Hexham. The previously used 46 litre cream cans on table top trucks were replaced by enormous 3640-litre tankers.
In 1976 the NSW Milk Board was replaced by the Dairy industry Authority which was the beginning of deregulation.
In 1989 Dairy Farmers joined with the large Hunter Valley and the Shoalhaven Co-ops to form the country's leading dairy business, Australian Co-operative Foods.
Tourism
With downsizing and changed policies in the mining, timber, dairying industries, Bulahdelah is more dependant than ever on tourism to provide jobs for the next generation of young people. With the highway by-pass due for completion by 2008 there are many opportunities for the township to be preserved as it was in the good old days.
Bulahdelah on the banks of the tranquil Myall River is the centre for the murmuring Myalls lake system. Alum Mountain provides a superb view of Port Stephens on a clear day.
Source of material: Bulahdelah Historical Society; Dairy Farmers Co-op; and long time residents
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