Celebrate Kiama’s amazing heritage
Visit the Pilot’s Cottage Museum, Blowhole Point
Treat yourself to a fascinating trip down memory lane. Learn how Aboriginal people and white settlers have made their mark on the local area. Find out more about the marks left by cedar gatherers, farmers and quarry workers.
Discover Kiama’s leading history society
See how local people are fighting to defend the area’s heritage buildings and places, and celebrating the history of the area. Why not join up and become part of a growing movement that cares about our neighbourhoods?
Find out more about our local history
Find helpful hints on where to look for more information on the history of the area now known as the Kiama local government area. This includes on the Internet, and names of helpful organisations.
Historical Society news
Kiama Historical Society (KHS) celebrated 50 years in 2025 but there’s no sign of us slowing down! We now have a record number of paid and life members, making us one of the largest voluntary organisations in the area. We had great feedback from Suzanne Holohan, Chief Executive of the Royal Australian Historical Society:
“I warmly congratulate your Society on reaching more than 200 members, an achievement that places it among the top 8% by membership size of our 367 affiliated historical societies across NSW. This recent growth is a great sign of KHS’s energy and community support, and we look forward to seeing KHS continue to contribute to our understanding of the people and places of New South Wales”.
Volunteering update
More records have been broken. We now have 30 local heroes who open the Pilot’s Cottage Museum to visitors and share fascinating local knowledge. Please email Tony Gilmour if you’d like to join the team.
A museum protected
On Thursday 2 April we were told Council planned moving the museum from Blowhole Point to a small space underneath Kiama Library. Over five days the Society coordinated a campaign to stop this happening.
Many members, volunteers, local people, historical society leaders and the Royal Historical Society and Museums & Galleries NSW made their views clear. We altered people to what was proposed through social media, radio, community radio and television.
Tony Gilmour presented for 5 minutes to Council - see video. Afterwards the CEO and Councillors agreed that we would not be ‘evicted’ from the Pilot’s Cottage. We were praised both for the number of people who made contact with Council, but also the measured and sensible way they conveyed their feelings.
Many thanks to all who helped save the museum.
Events
We’ve a packed program lined up for Autumn and Winter. Alongside our traditional speaker events, we’ve arranged masterclasses and workshops to further build the skills of our local researchers.
Werri Beach: celebrating 100 years
Geoff Webb. Saturday 16 May, 2 pm, Kiama Library Auditorium
$3 KHS members, $5 guests. Includes afternoon tea. No pre-booking required
President of Gerringong & District Historical Society Geoff Webb will take us on a journey to Werri Beach. This iconic beachside location north of Gerringong was first subdivided for housing a century ago.
On 30 January 1926, 280 blocks in the new Werri Beach Estate were put up for sale. The subdivision was managed by James Muir Miller, grandson of residents Robert and Elizabeth Miller. The area’s name derives from the Dharawal word ‘Ouiree’ or ‘Ooaree’ for the northern creek.
Based on research for the new book, Geoff will showcase the neighbourhood’s stories, people and places. This is the first in-depth study of a suburb in the Kiama Council area.
Copies of the book can be ordered here though they will also be on sale at the event on 16 May.
The Archibald Prize controversy of 1944 and Kiama’s mystery visitor
Peter Edwell. Saturday 13 June, 2 pm, Kiama Library Auditorium
$3 KHS members, $5 guests. Includes afternoon tea. No pre-booking required
Kiama resident Dr Peter Edwell, and Associate Professor of history at Macquarie University will tell the story of the major scandal over William Dobell's winning Archibald Prize portrait. A controversial painting. A roll call of Australia’s best artists. A court case. And social commentary that divided public opinion in war-time Australia.
Adding another layer of intrigue to this rollicking story is that Peter’s great aunt, the artist Mary Edwards, was the main protagonist who brought the legal case arguing that the portrait depicted artist Joshua Smith in a ‘distorted and caricatured form’.
The court case was attended by a who’s who of the art world of the time, and those in the highest offices of power in the first half of 20th century Australia. Among these people was actor Noël Coward who was spotted taking a relaxing break in Kiama.
Talk of the town: crowds flocked to the NSW Art Gallery to view the controversial 1944 winning portrait of artist Joshua Smith.
Kiama oral history workshop
Alison Wishart. Thursday 25 June, 9.30 am to 12.30 am, Pilot’s Cottage Museum
Reservation details to follow shortly
$10. Includes morning tea
Kiama Historical Society and Kiama's University of the Third Age are hosting a practical workshop in the heritage Pilot's Cottage Museum to build skills in recording stories of of our area's amazing past.
The aim is to build skills in conducting oral history interviews including the need for a clear strategy for identifying participants, informed consent, appropriate interview techniques and use of our newly purchased Zoom H5 recording equipment. Participants will engage in role play to hone skills, with written information to take home.
The event will be led by accomplished historian Alison Wishart. She has worked as a senior curator or collection manager at large and small museums and libraries across eastern Australia. Alison is a board member of the Royal Australian Historical Society and works freelance as an oral historian.
Kiama Municipal Council has kindly supported this event.
Masterclass in local and family history research
Carol Liston and Christine Yeats. Saturday 18 July, 10 am to 1.30 pm, Kiama Library Auditorium
Reservation details to follow shortly
$25 historical society members, $30 others (masterclass only)
$26 historical society members, $32 others (masterclass plus speaker event at 2 pm)
Includes morning tea and a light lunch
We’re delighted to welcome the President and Senior Vice President of the Royal Australian Historical Society to share life-long insights on how best to explore our past. This event hosted by Kiama Historical Society will appeal to local historians, researchers, family historians and writers across the Illawarra and Shoalhaven.
Key topics include:
Beyond the search box: mastering Trove and evaluating newspaper evidence. Moving from the essentials of using Trove, Christine will show advanced search techniques for more precise and reliable results. Newspaper reports need careful interpretation as historical fact, and researchers will appreciate hints on research ‘post-Trove’, after 1954.
Treasures from the State Archives: digital access to early Colonial land transactions, contracts and people’s stories. Learn from Carol how to use Museums of History NSW’s Old Register 1-9 land records from 1794 until 1822 to reveal colonial life and society under Governors King, Bligh and Macquarie.
Searching smarter with Ancestry: techniques, traps, and historical insights. Christine shows how to use Ancestry more effectively, beyond basic searches to receive more accurate and targeted results. Ancestry can be used as a powerful tool for broader local and community history research, not just genealogy.
Carol Liston AO is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Western Sydney University whose research explores early colonial history in NSW with a special focus on the development of the County of Cumberland and the role of convict women transported from Britain.
Christine Yeats is Convenor of the Assessment Sub-Committee of the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Committee. She is an archivist and historical researcher with a former long career with State Records NSW - now part of Museums of History NSW.
The Female Orphan School, Parramatta, and the Rutter sisters
Carol Liston. Saturday 18 July, 2 pm, Kiama Library Auditorium
$3 KHS members, $5 guests. Includes afternoon tea. No pre-booking required
From a tragic start when sent to the Female Orphan School on the death of their mother Charlotte Rutter in 1821, three young girls went on to become pioneer European settlers in Kiama and Gerringong.
Celia Rutter married Michael Hindmarsh, settling in Alnebank west of Gerringong. Second sister Caroline moved to Alnebank, marrying Thomas Surfleet Kendall and living in Barroul House. Third sister Catherine’s second husband was Thomas Chapman, and their newly built home was Hartwell House.
Carol Liston AO is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Western Sydney University and President of the Royal Australian Historical Society. Her research explores early colonial history in NSW with a special focus on the development of the County of Cumberland and the role of convict women transported from Britain.
Our publications
Dr Tony Gilmour, our vice president was busy writing during 2025!
Celebrating history tells how for over five decades Kiama Historical Society has brought to life fascinating stories from the area’s past. It has battled to preserve valuable local heritage against demolition and insensitive development.
Read all about Kiama’s legendary figures the Society has helped rediscover. From progressive writer and colourful character Charmian Clift to legendary Hollywood multi Oscar winner Orry-Kelly.
Click on the book image or button to buy the book for $25 + 50c fee (local delivery is free). All profits go to Kiama Historical Society
Published March 2025 Tony’s 286 page Rascals and respectables book tells the thrilling tale of hotels in Kiama, Jamberoo and Gerringong. From the first hotels in 1837 to the present day, drinking venues have shaped social life and character. This is LIMITED EDITION, most copies have already been sold.
Kiama was once a place of ‘besotted and shameless drunkards’, Bombo hosted an illegal ‘sly grog’ shop and Kiama’s 1899 great fire led to mass bingeing on stolen alcohol.
Click on the book image or below to buy the book for $29.90 + 50c fee (local delivery is free). All profits go to Kiama Historical Society
Previous events - time to Podcast!
Our friends at Kiama Community Radio (KCR) have many of our recent events recorded as podcasts. Click on the images below to go to the Podcast.
