What's new at Nelligen?: 2020

Sunday, November 22, 2020

Friday, November 6, 2020

A time to be born and a time to die

On a beautifully sunny day in a wonderful send-off a lovely lady, Nelligen's oldest resident, Rita Butcher, was laid to rest today.

John Butcher's eulogy summed up what has been a life well lived. Indeed, it was so memorable that it ought not to be forgotten, and I am hoping to obtain a copy and permission to publish it here.

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

The postman's horse always neighs twice

And when it does, I know I'm in for a treat: a real letter. Not an email, not a rapid-fire, typed-with-one-thumb-on-a-tiny-keyboard communication, but a real letter, thoughtfully written by someone who had something worthwhile to communicate and took the trouble to shape it into words of more than one syllable.

Our modern-day culture streamlines our interactions with each other into bite-sized encounters. But we trim the beauty when we cut the fat. The case for writing old-fashioned letters is the case for slowing down. For doing a thing deliberately and allowing space for thoughtfulness to bloom. The practice makes us intentional because it requires a little more of us, even if the note we’re writing is only a short one.

A letter always arrives from the past. There is a waiting – a forced patience – built into the art of letter-writing. We wait for a letter to arrive. We wait for a reply. In the time it takes for the letter to reach its destination, anything can happen: births, deaths, and marriages.

There’s nothing nicer than opening the mailbox and seeing something friendly, something that’s not a bill or trying to sell you something. Think about being on the receiving end of a handwritten letter, actually opening the envelope, looking at the stamp, feeling the paper and seeing the written word — it's everything. Doesn’t it make you feel a bit special? Someone took the time to write to you. They value you. You can give that gift to others, too, because here's something I've noticed: people really do like having something to hold. Hold onto that thought!

Thursday, September 24, 2020

From the South Coast History Society

Click on each page to enlarge

I hope I'm not breaking any copyright laws. Just wanting to spread the good work these amazing volunteers of the South Coast History Society are doing. Subscribe or join them!

Friday, September 18, 2020

Some photos from the early 60s before the bridge was built

Waiting for the punt in the 1930s

The old Steampacket Hotel in the 1930s

The Steampacket Hotel today as a private residence

The just completed bridge in 1964

Greetings from Nelligen

Prestige Nelligen
Property for sale

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or click here to view and print the brochure

This occasional blog tells you a little about Nelligen, a tiny town on the banks of the Clyde River just 8 km as the crow flies from Batemans Bay
(in fact, it's so tiny we don't have a town drunk so we all take turns).

Most travellers speed across the modern bridge that spans the Clyde River and fifteen minutes later reach Batemans Bay. Before 1964 they would have joined the long queue of vehicles waiting to be ferried across on the punt. 30,000 vehicles used the punts at Nelligen in 1963, the year before the bridge opened.

But a lot has changed at Nelligen. In its heydays Nelligen was a busy seaport and coastal town. The village was laid out in 1854 when the Illawarra Steam Navigation Co (ISN) began operating here.

Nelligen became a depot for supplies brought down the coast from Sydney and up the Clyde River by the ISN. From here they were transported mostly to Braidwood and the neighbouring goldfields.

By 1860 fine hundred horses and nearly as many bullocks were carrying the trade between Nelligen and Braidwood. By that time the village boasted four public houses, two stores, two blacksmiths, a baker and a watchhouse manned by two policemen.

Today Nelligen is a quiet little backwater, but still fulfilling the role of a rest stop for the traveller as it has done since the "road" via the Clyde Mountain was opened in 1856.

It is a picturesque little town, nestled as it is on the banks of the slow-flowing Clyde River. Nelligen has an air of history and old-time charm about it, remaining untainted by the progressive developments down the road at Batemans Bay.