New South Wales

Shoalhaven River,Yalwal Valley and Wandean Gap Part 1

LINKS to other pages in the New South Wales website and the Colin Day Travelling Days series:

Views over the Shoalhaven River near Burrier (left and below)

An ascent over the mountainous area via a rugged fire trail road that eventually descends into the Yalwal Valley and the Danjera Creek dam (below)

YALWAL lies 28 km west of Nowra. It was at one time a substantial town until the last of the goldmines closed in the 1920s. Some of the homes had been dismantled in World War I as building materials were in short supply. The 1939 bushfires destroyed most of what remained and the former township was entirely covered by water in 1972 when Danjera Creek Dam opened.

Yalwal Cemetery is all that remains of the original settlement. The graveyard was restored as a bicentennial project in 1988. The oldest grave dates back to 1854. Today we stop at a picnic spot near the dam for lunch

Nearby is an abandoned gold mine. The entrance beside a narrow creek is accessed via a short bush track