There's something enticingly exotic about islands, isn't there?
The islands of our beloved south coast may not be as tropical as those in Queensland, but they still evoke that summer holiday vibe.
We've all waded to Broulee Island (you have, haven't you?), and we've all gazed across to Montague Island and its landmark light station off Narooma. If you're adventurous, you may have even paddled out to Snapper Island off Batehaven to search for lost treasure.
But just how many islands do you think there are along our south coast?
Five? Ten?
Try 61.
Yes, there are 61 islands between the Shoalhaven and the Victorian border. Sure, nearly all the islands are small and uninhabited, and some are mere specks on a map but as someone who prides themselves on exploring our region, I'm a bit embarrassed to reveal that I've haven't even landed on ten. I bet you haven't made double figures either.
However, one person who has visited just about all 61 is Helen Moody. Over the past three years the energetic nature lover and amateur historian has waded to, landed on, or circumnavigated almost all. The only ones she hasn't snooped around are the eight nature reserves where only birds are allowed to land.
It's the sort of island-hopping feat that would make a great book. And, well, that's exactly what Helen is about to self-publish.
She has just dotted the final i's and crossed the final t's on the text for South Coast Islands New South Wales, a 192-page expose on a stretch of coastline known to so many Canberrans. All lavishly photographed and complete with informative maps. Her partner in crime Mike Jefferis, has significantly contributed with special sections on geology and bird life.
So, what prompts someone to compile such a comprehensive chronicle of our islands? Perhaps it's a life-long dream? Not quite.
"Back in 2018 our group of walkers from the National Parks Association Milton Branch stopped at the Wasp Head Lookout [near South Durras]. Questions were asked about the two islands we could see - what they were called, who named them, why they were nature reserves", she explains.
Helen soon discovered "other than scientific studies of the birds and vegetation on some islands", there wasn't much publicly available information and definitely "nothing gathered collectively", so she set about preparing fact sheets for each island.
"Only towards the end of nearly three years of visiting the islands did I come up with the idea of a book", she reveals, adding "I thought it was a shame to waste all that research effort."
Helen and Mike would have visited them all quicker than three years, but were "hampered by numerous interruptions from bushfires, Covid lockdowns, torrential rain and track closures."
These unplanned events also interfered with Helen's plans to orderly visit the islands north to south as they are presented in the book.
"We started off as purists, exploring strictly north-south. But these interruptions proved insurmountable, and at some stage we reluctantly had to do some visits out of sequence."
If you were one of those who thought there were a handful of islands, there's no need to be ashamed, Helen never realised there were so many islands along our coast either.
"When we first started identifying the islands, we had no idea how many there were" she recalls, adding "I would have guessed perhaps 30 in total."
But the list kept growing and growing. "We kept discovering new ones for a long time. I think the first time I wrote about the project I reported there were about 50 islands, but the number kept creeping up" reveals Helen, adding "two or three came to light at a very late stage."
And the 61 could have been even more.
"I've only allowed named islands - it would have taken another 12 months if I included the many unnamed estuarine islands," explains Helen, adding another of her self-imposed requirements was that "the islands had to be recognised on either official maps or the Geographical Names Board of NSW. Preferably both."
"At one stage, the count got to 62 until I realised that Mike, the geology buff, had snuck in Granite Rock [just south of Dawsons Islands, just off Clear Point]" laughs Helen, adding "I also deemed it had to be officially called an island, not a rock. Besides it was submerged both times we looked for it - another reason for banishing it from our list", she laughs.
While Helen didn't discover any evidence of modern-day smuggling activity on Snapper Island, she reveals she "may have startled a group of abalone poachers on Lennards Island, in Beowa National Park, just north of Eden."
But perhaps the oddest thing on her island odyssey occurred on Montague Island when Helen was snuggly bunked down in the beautifully restored lighthouse keepers' cottage when suddenly "the antique Bakelite phone that hangs in the hallway rang loudly".
"Startled, I pick it up. 'Hello. Hello'. Total silence. Next morning, we asked the volunteer guide on the island if he had phoned us. He didn't have a clue what we were talking about. He said there is no wiring to the phone, it is purely decorative. Mysterious".
Heck, you can say that again.
When I recently joined Helen and Mike on a trek to O'Hara Island near Bawley Point I asked Helen to name her top 10 islands.
"I've chosen my favourites for a variety of reasons - some for aesthetic reasons, and some because they had special and unique features or historical interest", she explains.
I bet there are at least a couple in her list that you haven't heard of. Why not join me in making it a New Year's resolution to visit at least a couple this year. Go on.
Happy New Year.
- South Coast Islands New South Wales ($50 plus postage) will be printed in early 2023. Express your interest by emailing your name and address to southcoastislandsbook@gmail.com Donations and grants from individuals and organisations will cover most of the production costs, and all profits will go to environmental projects.
Helen Moody's Top 10 South Coast Islands
Merriman Island, Wallaga Lake near Bermagui. The island and the surrounding area have deep significance for Aboriginal people. The serene lake is watched over by Gulaga (Mt Dromedary) and is surrounded by a spectacular coastal landscape that includes rolling hills, forests, coastal cliffs, and pristine beaches.
Leggs Island - upstream in the Shoalhaven River, north-west of Nowra. This very obscure island doesn't even get named on some maps and was the last island we "discovered". I'm on a one-woman mission to restore the legacy of Surveyor Legg after whom the island was named.
Montague Island (Barunguba). The only one of the 61 islands that is well documented and highly visited, with an established tourist industry. We spent two nights on the islands immersed in nature, isolation, history, and the feeling of antiquity. Everyone should experience this.
Oaky Island, St George's Basin. Hardly acknowledged, rarely visited, not even by the many fishing boats that infest the Basin. The silence, punctuated only by bird sounds and lapping water, transports me to another world.
Lennards Island, Beowa National Park, north of Eden. Our 61st and final island. You'd think we might have been "over it" by the time we reached our last island. But the tracks less travelled on the far south Sapphire Coast, combined with a sense of isolation, the sparkling blue sea and sky and the red rocks captivated us.
Green Island, near Lake Conjola. It's local to where I live, easily accessed (at low tide), and represents the handful of offshore islands that you can walk to at low tide.
Broulee Island. It's currently permanently connected to the mainland and makes for a wonderful day excursion. Circumnavigate the island, swim, snorkel, gaze into rock pools, clamber up the cliff in search of the historical but neglected grave.
Horse Island, Tuross Lake. It represents the handful of privately owned islands on our list, and indeed in NSW (others are Pig Island/Shoalhaven River, Goodnight, Island/Crookhaven River, Cooper Island/Tuross Lake, Ryans Island/Buckebowra River). It also has one of the finest native gardens in NSW. Occasional garden clubs and Australian Plant Society groups get to visit - but we were the first ever group to arrive by kayak.
Comerong Island, near Nowra. It represents the numerous islands in the Shoalhaven and Crookhaven River delta, and is integral to the narrative of the arrival of Alexander Berry and the earliest European settlers on the South Coast. It is also representative of the phenomenal bird life of the Shoalhaven delta.
Tollgate Islands, Batemans Bay. Speaking of bird life, this amazing duo is representative of the eight islands classified as nature reserves where only birds are permitted to land. These wild places are home to Little Penguins and many other bird species.
Did You Know?
On the northern side of Snapper Island just off Batehaven is a cave which was used to smuggle contraband for the hundreds timber workers who worked the 13 timber mills which were dotted along the Clyde in the late 1800s. Steamships threw their contraband overboard at Snapper Island to be picked up by local boys and stored in the cave. When the coast was clear, (usually in the dead of the night) the illegal goods, mainly alcohol, would be rowed ashore to nearby Corrigans Beach.
An early lighthouse keeper at Montague Island claims he witnessed a giant octopus grab a billy goat off the rocks.
Beer casks salvaged from the wreck of the Northern Firth on Brush Island (off Bawley Point) in 1932 were hidden in nearby sand and scrub for later parties by locals. The same wreck resulted in the name, still in use today, of a nearby beach - Cat and Kittens Beach. The cat and four kittens along with the captain's two canaries were also rescued from the ship.
Forty-one estuarine and 20 coastal islands feature in Helen's book. You can walk to six of the coastal islands at low tide, namely: Green, Crampton, O'Hara, Barlings, Bournda and Lennards.
