City of Shoalhaven: History
Modern-day groupings of the Illawarra and South Coast Aboriginal peoples are based on information compiled by white anthropologists from the late 1870s. Two divisions were initially presented (refer Ridley, 1878), using geographical location and language, though these criteria are now expanded into five divisions and given Aboriginal names, as follows (after C.Sefton, 1983):
Dharawal – general name for the Aboriginal people of the area on the east coast of New South Wales from Botany Bay to Shoalhaven, and west to Berrima and Camden.
Wodiwodi (or Wadi-Wadi) – a subdivision of Thuruwal, includes the Aboriginal people of the coast from Wollongong to Shoalhaven.
Gurandada and Tharumba (or Dharumba) – those people living around the Shoalhaven River.
The Jerrinja people record their traditional lands as stretching from Crooked River in the north to Clyde River in the south, from the mountains to the sea at Roseby Park.
George Bass explored the area in 1797, following Seven Mile Beach. He crossed the shoals at the entrance to the river, calling it "Shoals Haven" due to the shallowness of the river mouth. This river is now known as the Crookhaven, but the name was adopted for the Shoalhaven area and the Shoalhaven River.
The City was established on 1 July 1948 as the Shoalhaven Shire, following the amalgamation of the Municipalities of Nowra, Berry, Broughton's Vale, Ulladulla, South Shoalhaven, and the shires of Cambewarra and Clyde. On 13 July 1979, Governor Roden Cutler proclaimed Shoalhaven as a city. The Shire was converted and constituted on 1 August 1979 simultaneously as a municipality and city.