Central Tilba

Central Tilba was built in the 1890s as a dairy and gold service village on the slopes of Gulaga, and because the industry moved on and nothing much replaced it, the streetscape survived: a single street of timber cottages and shopfronts with corrugated iron roofs and verandahs, classified in its entirety by the National Trust. The old ABC Cheese Factory still makes cheese and sells it at the door, alongside a sweet shop, a leather worker, a pub and craft studios. Above the village rises Gulaga, a mountain of deep significance to the Yuin people, whose summit walk climbs through rainforest to granite tors. The neighbouring hamlet of Tilba Tilba lies a short way south.

History

The Yuin people are the first inhabitants of the area, whose old name Tilba Tilba is said to mean many waters, and Henry Jefferson Bate, the first resident selector, arrived in 1869. Gold was found on and in Mount Dromedary, worked by tunnels and a stamping battery into the 1890s, until the New Mount Dromedary Company mine closed in February 1911, and dairying grew on the good soil; in 1891, after disagreeing with his brother Henry about how to develop Tilba Tilba, Sam Bate founded Central Tilba three kilometres up the mountain (Wikipedia, Tilba, New South Wales).

What to look for

• The preserved street - 1890s timber shopfronts and cottages under iron roofs.
• The cheese factory - working dairy production and tastings in the village.
• Gulaga - the sacred mountain rising directly above, with a summit walk.
• The craft workshops - leather, sweets and studios in the old buildings.

When to go

Year-round; weekends and holidays fill the narrow street and parking. Autumn and spring are most pleasant. The Gulaga walk takes around five to six hours return and is best started early.

Practical notes

The village is tiny, a couple of hundred metres of street, and a visit takes an hour unless walking the mountain. It is unashamedly geared to visitors. Parking on the single street is difficult when busy, and shops keep short hours midweek in winter.

Nearby

Narooma and Montague Island lie north; Bermagui is south along the coast.

Key facts