RESORTING TO CONVICT DAYS

The Scottish surgeon-cum-colonial entrepreneur, Alexander Berry and his mate, business partner and brother-in-law, Edward Wollstonecraft knew how to throw a good party.

And just as they had enjoyed the good life as a welcome respite amid their industrious workaday lives, so too can today’s frazzled and jaded escape to Berry and Wollstonecraft’s convict-built village, now classically restored with reminders of its colonial heyday coupled with 21st century indulgences that would be the envy of the entrepreneurial pair.

Berry and Wollstonecraft created their unique village after being granted a huge 10,000 acres (4000ha) in the Shoalhaven area of the NSW south coast, with a hundred convicts thrown-in to work it.

This was after already getting a couple of thousand acres on Sydney Harbour’s north side to develop their trading business, an area that blossomed into the suburb of Wollstonecraft with one of its bays named after Berry.

After deciding that Edward should look after the Sydney end of their business activities and Alexander the south coast property, the tireless Berry used his convicts to quarry local stone to build a homestead, cottages, a Great Hall for entertaining, a grain mill and workshops.

It was the first white settlement on the coast south of Sydney and he named it Coolangatta, from the Aboriginal word Collungatta meaning fine view, shipping off to Sydney precious timbers from its cedar and blue gum forests, as well as tobacco, wheat, barley, potatoes, pigs and cattle that thrived on the rich alluvial soils.

And as an occasional respite Berry, with his partner Wollstonecraft when he visited, would throw lavish dinner parties in the Great Hall for colleagues, civic leaders and Governor Brisbane.

From the kitchens came roasts of estate-raised beef and pork, vegetables grown from seeds Berry brought out from his homeland, warm breads from the wheat they grew, fresh cream from their dairies atop pies filled with fruits from their orchards, and their own cheeses.

Even wines from their own Coolangatta vineyard, and a second vineyard that Berry planted across much of what is now the Sydney suburb of Crows Nest… so-named after a look-out tower that watched for their ships coming into Sydney, so work-gangs could be readied to immediately unload their valued cargoes.

After the deaths of both men, the little township of Broughton Creek that grew up with the development of Coolangatta was renamed Berry, but sadly Coolangatta itself went into slow decline, ultimately being sold-off in small parcels in the 1930s.

In 1947 a farmer, Colin Bishop bought a couple of hundred acres and would often wander through the fascinating old buildings and wonder if these dilapidated pieces of history could ever be restored.

Against the advice of ‘experts,’ he began restoring the convict-era ruins in 1971 and recreating Coolangatta Village much as it had been, but this time offering fine accommodations and classic country-style dining for tourists and history buffs.

And he replanted the vineyards, sending their fruit to the Hunter Valley for making into wine.

Were they alive today Berry and Wollstonecraft would doubtless be overwhelmed with what the Bishop family has achieved at Coolangatta, and doff their hats to its highly creative chefs and their imaginative use of local seafoods, farm-fresh meats and market-garden fruits and vegetables.

And the wine-loving Alexander Berry would particularly enjoy a glass or three of Coolangatta’s Semillon – crafted from the grapes Colin and son Greg Bishop planted on the old vineyard, the initial 1998 alone garnering 21 Trophies and 27 Gold Medals.

Accommodation in the restored convict-era buildings starts from $130 per room per night for two. After you’ve maybe played 9-holes on the golf course, explored the kaleidoscopic gardens and done a wine tasting, browse the menu in Alexanders Restaurant over a few glasses of Coolangatta’s own reds and whites.

Offerings can range from fresh oysters, local prawn and scallop tartlets, Blue Eyed Cod with ginger and shallots, a Moroccan spiced lamb with red peppers and asparagus, and crackly oven-roasted pork, to Tiramisu or Baby Pavlovas, local cheeses and home-made almond bread…

The resort is two hours south of Sydney; for details phone (02) 4448 7131.

FOOTNOTE : Queensland’s Coolangatta was named after Berry’s trading schooner Coolangatta, that was wrecked there in 1846 on her way to Brisbane.