Bega Information Page - About Bega - Accommodtaion

This town still retains a feeling of a farming community but has established itself as the business centre for the region with the Bega Valley Shire Council offices here. Bega is famous for its Bega Cheese industry which employs a large number of locals in Bega and the surrounding towns, this helps Bega to retain the dairy industry it has delevoped over the years, which growth is expected to continue.

The town is located 32kms north of Merimbula and is set between rolling hills with green pastures. In the centre of town you will find the main street alive with activity with a large selection of retail shops, a must for any shopper.

The main tourist attraction is the Bega Cheese factory where you can enjoy samples of the famous Bega Cheese and take a look at the local art, souvenirs and craft inside the Hertiage Centre. The centre is a copy of the original dairy factory from the 1900s and if you like you can make your way down to the Bega River where you will find a scenic area for picnics and BBQ's complete with a children's playground.

Bega Golf Course, Bega RSL Club and the Bega Bowling Club are all open to visitors. If it is country hospitality you are after, these clubs have it.

For a scenic drive out of town, head north about 3kms to the Bega Valley Lookout, a little further on (10kms) is the Mumbulla Creek Falls with rock pools and natural waterslides for the adventurous, there are also toilets available there. For fishing there is the Bega River or drive on to Brogo Dam where you can launch a boat or take your canoe to paddle into the wilderness which is alive with Australian wildlife.

The Bega Pioneers’ Museum is situated on the corner of Auckland and Bega Streets in Bega. The Museum is housed in the old Family Hotel, which was built in 1859. Owned by Crown Lands Commissioner Spencer L Bransby, this building replaced the original sawn timber slab building of the same name on the site, which was erected in 1857 but burned down either shortly before or after occupation.

In 1952 The Bega Valley Historical Society was formed. The Societies founder, Sister Bernice Smith, M.B.E., had a lifetime dedication to Bega and its history. She collected an enormous amount of historical articles and material, and it is from this base that the magnificent collection of artefacts and family histories housed at the old Family Hotel now, began. The Society purchased the Family Hotel from the Estate of the late Harry Scanes in 1976. Volunteers put in many hours of work to restore the old building and on April 16 1977 the restored Family Museum opened – a day memorable in Bega’s history, for practically every organisation and resident co-operated to make the street procession, sports afternoon and colonial ball at the Bega Showground outstandingly successful.

Outside Bega Museum Gallery At Bega Museum Military Section Bega Museum

From these beginnings, the Bega Pioneers’ Museum has grown to be one of the very best of its kind in Australia. This is a Museum that Bega can be justly proud of, the Museum houses the largest Pioneer portrait gallery of its kind in New South Wales, it also houses historical machinery, memorabilia from all the wars that Bega people have been involved in, aboriginal artefacts and items of historic significance to the Bega Valley and its people. The great majority of the items housed in the Museum were donated by the people of the Bega Valley and their far flung families, so that future generations would be able to learn the stories of our wonderful pioneers. Every item in our collection tells a story, some are tragic, some are heart warming and some are funny, but every story is part of the rich fabric of the Bega Valley.

You can visit the Bega Pioneers’ Museum on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10.00am to 4.00pm or on Saturdays from 10.00am to 2.00pm. Entry Fees are $7.50 for adults, $3.00 for Seniors and Pensioners and $2.00 for Children. Our initial Research fee is $25.00; please call our researcher to discuss your needs.

If you can’t visit us in person, you can Email us at museumb@bigpond.com or phone us on 02 649 21453.

You can also visit our Website at http://thebegavalley.org.au/begapioneersmuseum.html

European settlement of the Bega Valley started in 1829 when some Braidwood squatters came down Eurambene Mt into Wandella near Cobargo to explore the kangaroo grasslands and open forests. They returned with cattle in 1832 and William Duggan Tarlinton chose Cobargo for his run. Other squatters included John Campbell, Henry Badgery, Captain Raine, Thomas Cowper, Curlewis, Major Elrington, the Pollack brothers, Alsops and Dr Braidwood, who incidentally, did not settle in the Valley. In 1834 Governor Burke came to visit Biggah, followed shortly after by the three Imlay brothers, who acquired over 65,000 acres of the squatter’s land and began the permanent settlement of the region.

By 1844 drought and depression saw the foreclosure of the Imlay properties by the Walker brothers and their bankers. The Walkers took “Kameruka”, leaving George and Alexander Imlay with “Tarraganda”, which Peter Imlay purchased in 1847 after his brothers’ deaths in 1846-7. Sometime later Peter Imlay moved to New Zealand.

Small bands of aborigines wandered this unspoilt country; an 1845 census recorded 158 living in the Biggah area. Many of them were employed as stockman, sheep-washers and farm labourers. Large mobs of kangaroo and emus roamed the Bega area, which was then covered in tall grass, and the waterholes had long rushes around them, all sorts of wild fowl were plentiful, and as late as 1865 W.H. Braine caught a Koala wandering in the street.

In December 1848 the ship “Bermondsey” disembarked immigrants at Twofold Bay, Eden to work on the Kameruka Estate or at Tarraganda. In March 1855 the ship “Caesar” brought German immigrants from Hamburg to work at Kameruka. The vast majority of these migrants settled and thrived in the Bega Valley, their stories are part of the rich tapestry of the Bega Valley and many of their descendants are still here today, a testament to these wonderful people.

May 1851 saw a disastrous flood sweep many families down the Bega River – 17 people died and were buried at “Corridgeree” at Tarraganda. Government Surveyor Parkinson had just laid out a new town at North Bega (on the site of the present Bega Cheese Factory) but the flood forced a move to higher ground on the southern side of the river and a new town was founded.

In 1852 the Walker brothers sold out to the Twofold Bay Pastoral Association. The first town allotments in Bega were surveyed in February 1854 and sold in Eden in August of that year. (Eden was the only port for communication and transport until Kameruka opened Merimbula in 1855). From then on, building proceeded at a frenetic pace. In 1858 the Victoria Inn was opened in Auckland Street, the first Bega Post Office was opened in Tarraganda Lane and the first Bega Anglican Church was built of weatherboards. The Post Office moved to Carp Street in 1859. The present brick Anglican Church was built in 1877. The weatherboard Roman Catholic Church was erected in 1862, and the present brick church was opened in 1882. The Wesleyan Chapel was the first brick church in town when it opened in Gipps Street in 1869, and the Presbyterian Church was built of stone in 1870.

A wooden Courthouse was built in 1860, and updated to a brick building on the present site in 1865, extensions being added in 1881. Robert W Sharpe started the first Bega newspaper, the “Bega Gazette”, in 1865. The “Southern Standard” was begun in 1868. Up until this time, the people of Bega received their news courtesy of the “Illawarra Mercury”. The name of the “Southern Standard” was changed to “Bega Standard” in 1874. The Bega Gazette and the Bega Standard were consolidated into one paper and became the “Bega District News” in 1923.

The first Tathra Wharf was completed in 1862, which assisted in exportation, easier travel and the development of the Bega Valley. The population of Bega in 1861 was 625 with 100 householders listed. The old Bega Cemetery was dedicated in 1862; it was on the site now occupied by the Bega High School. The present cemetery was opened in 1909.

Sheep were originally the mainstay of the Bega Valley but they gave way to dairying and pig farming. Butter and cheese was produced and shipped to Sydney, Melbourne and England, winning many prizes for their quality. Thus began the industry that has made Bega a name synonymous world wide with products of the highest quality. The NSW Creamery Butter Company opened at North Bega (“Yarranung”) in 1894 but closed in 1899.The Bega Co-operative Creamery Company, opened in 1900. Today, Bega Cheese carries on this great tradition. The Co-op employs over 600 people who produce products of the highest standards, products that carry the name of Bega to all corners of the world.

All through the years since 1859 the Family Hotel has been an integral part of Bega and its history. Many events and occasions were held in this grand old building, many stories have been told at the Bar, many of Bega’s long standing families have been associated with the Family Hotel. If only the walls could talk, and in a way, they do.

Today the old building houses the Bega Pioneers’ Museum, and it houses the stories of the people who settled in this wonderful valley of ours. On the walls you can see the many portraits of the vast majority of the Bega Valley’s pioneers, in the many and varied rooms you can see items used by them in their day-to-day lives and the clothes that they wore. Out the back, where once stood stables, you can see old engines, tractors, buggies and even Bega’s first horse drawn ambulance, which incidentally, has quite a story of its own to tell. The Museum holds a vast quantity of Family files and records, and a massive photographic collection recording the history of the Bega Valley, so if your family has its roots in the valley, or even just visited for a while, come and see us and we will be only too happy to help you put a face to the name on your Family Tree, and much, much more. We may even have a photo of the house your ancestor lived in.