Helensburgh NSW 2508
Lilyvale – The Almost Forgotten. Part 2
Last updated 7 July 2026
Part 2 of 2
Life and times at Lilyvale from 1889 to 1911 — drawn from newspaper reports and local memory. Start with Part 1 (settlement and the railway campaign). See also Lilyvale Railway Station and Lilyvale Tunnels.
Some great captures of life at Lilyvale during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Times were tough for the hardy folk who lived in these areas.
Timeline: 1889–1911
28 May 1889 — Floods and a landslip
Seven months after the grand opening of the Illawarra Railway (3 October 1888), heavy weather descended on Sydney. Widespread flooding affected telegraph and mail services and caused several landslips. The line between Helensburgh and Otford was hampered by a slip that inconvenienced rail traffic.
25 April 1900 — Timber mill at Lilyvale
Lilyvale held some of the best timber in the area — cedar and turpentine — feeding a booming trade. The Bulgo Valley hosted several sawmills in the late 1800s; felled timber was mainly used in the mines. James Forster built a mill at the southern end of Otford in 1899; it may have been the mill sold to the merchants below.
From the Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday 25 April 1900:
CLIFTON, Tuesday
Messrs. Gartham and Angus, timber merchants, of Hurstville, have purchased the steam saw mill at Lilyvale, and intend to make extensive improvements to the plant. A railway line two miles in length will also be constructed for the purpose of conveying timber to the mill.
Railway lines laid exclusively for timber were common in those years. I hope one day to locate the mill site and trace where that two-mile line ran — I assume somewhere in what is now the Royal National Park.
5 August 1907 — Fruit-growing boom
Fruit growing at Lilyvale had become popular by 1907. A detailed report appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 5 August:
Until latter years Illawarra has only been famous for its dairying and coal-mining industries, but the time is fast approaching when this district will take its place among the first fruit-producing centres of the Commonwealth. During the past 12 months many acres of land have been secured between Port Hacking River and Bulli for fruit-growing and market gardening. In the vicinity of Lilyvale large areas have been taken up both by purchase and lease. These blocks extend on either side of the Port Hacking River at National Park to Otford. Mr. Marshall, who has purchased about 80 acres near Lilyvale, last year planted portion of it with fruit trees, and is now preparing to put at least 20 acres of his property under orchard…
A number of leaseholders have also obtained small areas in this vicinity, ranging from 3 to 40 acres… Messrs. W. G. Green, E. Johnson, C. Hargraves, J. Parker, John Emmett, T. Biffen, J. Williams, and C. Pederson. Mr. Pederson… planted a small portion of his holding with strawberries, and did remarkably well.
12 October 1907 — Engine derailed near Lilyvale
AN ENGINE DERAILED.
The five minutes to 6 o’clock passenger train, Sydney to Nowra, last night arrived at Clifton nearly 2 hours late, the delay being caused through the engine of the train being derailed near Lilyvale. The carriages were in couples from the engine, and an engine from Waterfall pulled them back from the derailed engine. By the aid of sprags and other timber the engine was got on the rails, and coupled on to the carriages and taken to Otford, where the engine was detached. Another engine brought the train through. So far there is nothing to show what caused the derailment.
Around this time surveyors were working between Waterfall and Clifton on a route for the railway deviation — easing the grade to 1 in 80 and duplicating the line for growing traffic. In 1909 Chief Commissioner T. E. Johnson reported to the Parliamentary Committee on Public Works. The deviation would not reach Lilyvale until 30 May 1915 — see Lilyvale Railway Station and Railway Tunnels near Helensburgh.
25 October 1907 — Water shortage
A late-spring dry spell parched Port Hacking Creek below the Otford pumping station. Residents took water from pools in the creek bed. Lilyvale residents asked the Railway Commissioners to stop pumping, fearing their supply would vanish entirely.
21 September 1908 — Blackberries
Blackberry vines stretched from Lilyvale to Bulli. The harvest gave mining families extra income — 3 to 4 shillings a day. Last season 120 tons left Bulli for Sydney. Farmers saw the blackberry as a pest; in mining country it was often welcomed as cash on the side.
Even when I was a child I would pick blackberries near my family home on Otford Road, Helensburgh. The thorny barbs would catch me out while I reached for that one big juicy berry just out of reach.
Source — Trove (clearing blackberries)
3 January 1909 — Bushfire devastation
BUSHFIRE. HEAT. SCENES OF DEVASTATION. WOMEN AND CHILDREN RESCUED. FOWLS AND DUCKS BURNT.
Massive bushfires ravaged the country between Heathcote and Bateman’s Bay from around Boxing Day, spreading rapidly across Sydney and beyond. On Monday 4 January 1909, Clifton recorded temperatures of 43–45°C, intensified by fires all around.
Lilyvale took the full force. At midday a dwelling caught alight and was a smouldering ruin within moments. Several men tried to save belongings but needed rescuing themselves. Lilyvale Railway Station had a narrow escape — the platform caught fire several times and was quickly extinguished by the same men who saved several homes. Residents could hardly believe the transformation: thick undergrowth incinerated clean across the whole area. Gardens and fruit trees were destroyed; fowls and ducks lay dead.
On the evening of Tuesday 5 January, a southerly change brought relief. Flames blew away from the area and rain followed.
13 January 1909 — Blackberries after the fires
Not long after the fires, blackberry picking season began at Clifton. Vines spanned the Illawarra Range from Bulli to Clifton — “jam-packed” with fruit. Lilyvale’s vines were destroyed, but slopes on the eastern escarpment could still be picked. Mines were busy and fewer families needed the extra income than in earlier years.
6 February 1909 — Gardens recover
A month after the fires, Lilyvale gardens were alive with fruit and vegetables. The crop was disease-free and excellent — strawberries “the size of hens’ eggs”, pumpkin, cabbage, and potatoes flourishing. Before Federation in 1901 the Illawarra was known as the “Garden of the Colony”, with farms along the escarpment and beyond.
8 February 1911 — Record blackberry season
BLACKBERRIES.
As a result of last month’s phenomenal rainfall the blackberry season this year in the Illawarra district will be a record one. Picking is just now in full swing at Otford, Lilyvale, Austinmer, and Bulli, and it is expected that the total yield will be about 300 tons, valued at over £4,000. A little difficulty has been experienced by the jam companies’ agents in acquiring a sufficient number of pickers, otherwise the yield would be heavier. The rate offered — £10 per ton is a slight increase on last year’s. Still it is insufficient for a single hand to depend upon for a living, and for this reason the bulk of the picking is confined to families…
In the northern section of the district between Wollongong and Otford and Lilyvale the mountain slopes present the appearance of a wild sea of dark green. The work of eradicating in the locality would be an almost superhuman task… At present there are hundreds of acres of fertile land in northern Illawarra overrun with the vines, and if the matter is not taken in hand by the local government bodies ere long the blackberry in Illawarra promises to give as much trouble as the prickly pear in the north-west.
End of Part 2
This timeline ends in 1911. The railway deviation arrived in 1915, closing the original Lilyvale tunnels and the first station. Ian originally noted a Part 3 was planned but never published.
Back to Part 1.
Location
Related pages
Originally published on Helensburgh.com.au, 30 August 2010. Sources: Trove / National Library of Australia.