Despite the labels, Tomakin has an important history and played a major role in the Eurobodalla’s development and growth.

The Tomakin Community Association is working to uncover “long-lost footprints in the sand” by compiling a book on the area’s rich history.

It was spurred by Tomakin’s Mark Young, who began researching the village last year out of personal interest.

Through chatting with his neighbours, the Tomakin Community Association, which had long been interested in documenting the past, took on the project.

Supported by the Moruya and District Historical Society, it began applying for grants and last month received $1100 from a state government cultural program to help pay for publishing.

Prior to his research, Mr Young thought of his beloved village as just “sleepy old Tomakin”.

“I just thought it was a nice little seaside village that just banged up, it’s only when you start looking that the history goes way back and it’s quite incredible,” he said.

“It was quite a powerhouse of the whole area.

“There were thousands, and I mean thousands, of boats coming into the port at the head of the Tomaga River to pick up wood and move it up to Queensland and to Victoria for quite a long period.

“There were five sawmills running and a shipyard.”

Mr Young is compiling the history of Tomakin from pre-settlement, settlement, early development and growth to the present day.

Moruya and District Historical Society vice-president Janene Love is researching genealogies of Tomakin settlers, while Canberra-based Ted Ling is trawling through residents’ military history.

Tomakin Community Association president Debbie Campion said compiling the history of Tomakin had long been discussed at meetings.

“We have a lot of older residents who have got a lot of valuable information (but) the Moruya and District Historical Society doesn’t have any specific documents on Tomakin,” she said.

“We think it’s an opportunity to document that and share the wonderful rich history of this area, which is amazing.

“We’re grateful for the grant and I’m certainly grateful that we’ve got three very keen members of the group that are willing to give up their time to research such an important history for this local area.”

The trio is keen for the wider community to be involved, and is calling for photographs, maps, newspaper articles and any other information about the area. 

The project will include interviews where past and present residents can share their knowledge.

Mr Young said there was a particular gap in information between when the area was used for farming and its transformation into the village it is today.

Anyone with information should email sunpatchmt@bigpond.com or phone 4471 7366.