A book about Batemans Bay and the town called St Vincent that was planned there before Batemans Bay was established has been shortlisted for a NSW Premier’s History Award.
The Road to Batemans Bay: Speculating on the South Coast During the 1840s Depression is a finalist in the NSW Community and Regional History Prize.
Author, Alastair Greig, is a Fellow of Sociology from ANU who spends a lot of his time in the Eurobodalla. He is one of just three writers from across NSW/ACT who’s up for the Community and Regional Prize.
Mr Greig told ARN Bega Bay he was honoured that his book, has been recognised.
“I spent most of the COVID days locked down researching for this book, and when I first started, I only thought I was writing for the Long Beach Community Association but the more I got into the book and started to realise that I was writing about the Great Depression of the 1840’s and the wider South Coast Community, I began to realise that it had a larger audience there,”
“I’m absolutely privileged and honoured to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award.”
Mr Greig said the book emerged from the research he was doing for the Long Beach Community Association and it went from there.
“I found a map of Batemans Bay from around 1841 which showed a township on the northern shores of Batemans Bay called St Vincent, and this was about 20 years before the township of Batemans Bay actually emerged, so that provoked a number of questions that I wanted to explore.
“Who was behind this scheme to develop the township of St Vincent? What was the rationale behind establishing a town there? Did the campaign generate any interest? Because there certainly wasn’t a town developed there. Why was the scheme abandoned? And what happened to the land in the aftermath of this?”
“And What I discovered was that this proposal for the town of St Vincent was associated with the great land boom of the late 1830’s before the Great Depression of the 1840’s and so the idea of establishing the township of St Vincent in 1841 was all about trying to transport wool from beyond Clyde Mountain, up to Sydney.
“So the idea was, if you could only find a road up or down the Clyde to where Batemans Bay is now or Broulee, you could cut your costs and the time of transporting goods quite considerably.
“So these were the first attempts to create a township on the South Coast back in the early to mid 1800’s.”
As for the name St Vincent and if it has any association with Vincentia, a NSW town a little further up the coast, there is a link.
Vincentia was originally known as “South Huskisson” and later as “The Old Township”. It was founded as a seaport in 1841, and was the terminus of The Wool Road from Nerriga.
In 1952, developer Henry Halloran renamed the township Vincentia, after St Vincent County, which was named after John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent. John Jervis was created Earl of St Vincent as a result of his victory at the battle of Cape St Vincent. Jervis Bay was also named after him. Mr Greig explains.
“St Vincent derives from John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent and a battle he was involved in during the Napoleonic wars,” Greig said.
“The southern-most county in NSW was called St Vincent and that stretched from the Shoalhaven River right down to the Moruya River,” Greig explained.
“So St Vincent was a name that was picked up by the then owners of the land of Batemans Bay to make the town sound as if it was going to be the capital of the county of St Vincent, the southern-most central town in NSW.”
Mr Greig said anyone interested can spend $50 to order the paperback or just download the book online for free.
“It’s produced by ANU Press, so if you go online and search ANU Press, and then ‘The Road to Batemans Bay’ people can actually download the entire manuscript for free.
“You can buy the book online if you want to but the best thing for most people will be to go online and download the book for free.”
Premier of NSW, Chris Minns who announced the finalists on Wednesday (August 7) said the Awards honour excellence in historical research and storytelling.
“These Awards inspires the next generation to appreciate the richness of our history and its impact on our present and future.”
“Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and those highly commended.”
The winner in the NSW Community and Regional History Prize will receive $15,000.
Winners will be announced at an Awards ceremony at the State Library of NSW on Friday 6 September 2024. Visit the State Library of NSW website for details and to book tickets HERE.
Images: 1841, R. Clint, Lith.’, NLA, digitised item, MAP F 87 copy, catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1105999, Geoff Payne, Alastair Greig, Neil G Photography
