Shell middens indicate a long Aboriginal occupation of the National Park area
and meals of shellfish and snapper. Members of Aboriginal communities in
Sydney's La Perouse and in Wollongong and along the south coast retain links to
the Royal National Park area and its fishing spots.
Late nineteenth century
Tracks from the railway stations at Waterfall,
Helensburgh, Lilyvale and Otford leading down to the pastoral holdings on the coast
became popular with bushwalkers and campers. By the late 1880s, timbergetters
working for the railway and the collieries had spread word of the beautiful
beaches at Bulgo, Era, Garie and Burning Palms. These beach areas became
favoured picnic and holiday places for Helensburgh residents, who camped and
fished at Bulgo, the closest beach to Helensburgh and easily accessible by train
to Otford. The track to the beach at Bulgo ran through John Dwyer's land which
had a 100-foot Crown Land reservation.
1930s to 1950s
Most of the Bulgo cabins were built by a cabin community linked to
Helensburgh and local mining activity. In 1932, when all but 10 miners in the
Helensburgh colliery were paid off, some unemployed miners and their families moved to Bulgo,
Burning Palms, Little Garie and Era to live off the land.
Fish, deer and rabbits were sources of free food. By the 1940s, some Bulgo
residents commuted by train to mining jobs in Helensburgh.
The shacks built at
Bulgo between the 1930s and the 1950s were on land then still under freehold
ownership, used for grazing purposes and long popular for camping. Pat Carrick,
manager of the Coalcliff colliery ran cattle on an area which included The Green
at Bulgo from the 1930s. Bulgo residents remember cattle wandering past the
cabins on the beach on their way to The Green until the 1950s. Except for local
timbers, most of the materials for the shacks had to be carried in down long
tracks and steep hills. Siting of the cabins was influenced by the Crown
reserve established in the 1830s.
After Queen Elizabeth II visited to Australia in 1954, the National Park was
renamed the Royal National Park. The Bulgo lands were transferred to Wollongong
Council.
1967
With the passing of the National Parks and Wildlife Act, management of
the Royal National Park and the Garrawara Park passed from the Park Trustees to
the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. The Green at Bulgo was no longer used
for grazing and pastoral activities and the Parks Service removed the herds of
feral cattle, but not the feral deer and rabbits.
1976
The Bulgo lands were incorporated into the Royal National Park.
1989
The Bulgo owners were formally licensed to occupy their cabins. The former
grazing land known as The Green in the Bald Hills area south of Bulgo and its
six cabins were added to the Royal National Park.
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to toilet/change facilities
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