Kiama is a township 120 kilometres south of Sydney in the Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia in the Municipality of Kiama. The town's population is about 12,500, and the entire district population is about 20,000. One of the main tourist attractions is the Kiama Blowhole. The seaside town features several popular surfing beaches, caravan parks and numerous alfresco cafes and restaurants. It is the first country town south of Sydney, and attracts a large number of day trippers. History Kiama was the site of two strong volanic flows, called the Gerringong Volcanics, which came out of Saddleback Mountain, now a collapsed volcanic vent. The Kiama Blowhole is part of an erosion process on the more recent rock, formed into columnar basalt, or latite. Before the cedar-getters ( a rowdy mob of ex-convicts, convicts and runaways, some with cedar licences and many without) had even arrived in the area, around 1810 (202 years ago), the local indigenous Australians Wodi Wodi of the language group Dharawal had been using the land for thousands of years, moving every six weeks or so in family groups. This is supported by a midden of shells at nearby Bass Point used for more than 17,000 years. During this time the whole coastal hills was covered in rainforest and cedar brush. There is evidence of a flourishing culture with intricate possum cloaks, a developed song and story cycle and a deep understanding of the many plants of the rainforest. Only a few remnants of rainforest survive along the escarpment in places like the Minnamurra Rainforest Centre. There is strong evidence of recent sea debris showing a mega-tsunami hit this coast around 1487 (525 years ago) A.D according to Dr Ted Bryant of Wollongong University. The first European to explore the area was George Bass who stopped there on his whaleboat voyage to Bass Strait on dec. 6, 1797 (215 years ago). He noted the beauty and complexity of the Kiama area and was astounded when he first discovered the blowhole (see that article). During the colonisation of Australia, the Kiama area was settled by wheat farmers as the soil was volcanic and rain-swept unlike most of Australia. Early Jamberoo was the population centre from about 1830 (182 years ago) to the 1860 (152 years ago) and when the wheat died, the farmers switched to dairying. During this period Kiama became the best example of 'chain migration' in Australia as many assisted migrants came from Northern Ireland on clearing leases and eventually half the marriages in the Kiama Anglican Church in a hundred years had Northern Irish Protestant ancestry. Kiama was one of the birthplaces of the Australian dairy industry with the first Dairy Factory (The Kiama Pioneer Factory) and first Dairy Co-operative in Australia. There were three original major land grants, Thomas Surfleet Kendall (son of lapsed missionary Reverend Thomas Kendall), Michael Hindmarsh and Thomas Chapman, all of which married sisters of the Rutter family. The Kendalls were cousins of Henry Kendall, the famous Australian poet. The Kendall name is remembered today in several places such as the spooky Kendall Cemetery in Kiama Heights and Kendalls Beach. The Hindmarshs are remembered in Kiama's main park, Hindmarsh Park, and after 10 generations still live on their original land. Kiama's next real population boom was powered by its quarries. Many Irish Catholics worked in the Kiama quarries. The basalt formed by two volcanic eruptions 240 million years and 66 million years ago was a valuable commodity for a growing colony, with the blue metal used to pave Sydney's roads and as ballast for its railways. It was very similar to the basalt found in Northern Island, where the Giant's Causeway is a famous example. There are still active quarries in the Kiama area, including the N.S.W. Railway Quarry, and the remnants of earlier quarries are easily visible throughout the town and often have facilities built inside them such as the Kiama Leisure Centre. (including the spectacular Bombo Headland, the site of the discovery of the Kiama Magnetic Reversal discovery in 1923 (89 years ago)). When Kiama Harbour was hollowed out, after 17 years hard work, and flooded in 1876 (136 years ago), larger steamers such as from the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company could enter and a flourishing sea trade followed. The Kiama Pilot's Cottage was finished in 1881 (131 years ago) and the Kiama Lighthouse in 1887 (125 years ago). Kiama really hit its boom time in this period, from 1890 (122 years ago) until the Great Depression in 1927 (85 years ago), when nearly all the quarries closed. It was a prosperous and happy time well recorded in the local newspaper, the Kiama Independent and the photographs of the Cocks Photographic Studio, two valuable resources which tell most of the Kiama story. Over time tourism and housing growth turned Kiama into a dormitory suburb (where people travelled away to work) and summer tourist spot. Kiama in 2009 (3 years ago) is a tourism haven in summer, during which its population triples. The Kiama Pilot's Cottage is now a local history museum. Geography The Kiama area includes many attractions, being situated on the coast south of the Minnamurra River, and to the west lie the foothills of Saddleback Mountain and the smaller less discernible peak of Mount Brandon. Also to the west is the town of Jamberoo with pasture-land in between, which contains many historic buildings and dry stone walls. Also of note is Seven Mile Beach to the south, a protected reserve. Kiama has several well known surfing beaches, including Surf Beach, 'Mystics' and Jones' Beach, as well as other more protected swimming beaches situated in coves between headlands such as Black Beach, Easts Beach and Kendalls Beach. Kiama Harbour forms one of several coves between headlands.

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