The Tabourie Lake area and village have a rich and fascinating history that is set to be officially recorded.
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A group of local residents is in the process of gathering information for a book on the history of Tabourie. Once published the book will be packed full of stories, characters, photos and factual information.
Tabourie's unique and "quirky" nature will feature strongly in the book. The local residents are combining their efforts to collect information [photos and stories] and get it published.
A few different funding opportunities are being explored. The group is negotiating with a local historian who is keen to help with the book.
The proposed book has already gathered much local interest and the Tabourie Lake Residents and Ratepayers Association Group is helping with the book by applying for grants.
Robyn Perry is one resident heavily involved in the project.
Project starts to gain momentum
The likes of long-term resident Mike James is also involved with the project. The James family owned a shop in Tabourie, which was the centre of the village.
"The shop was also the local real estate agent and where everyone went for everything," Robyn said.
Mike and Robyn are doing a lot of researching, with Robyn's research starting two years ago.
One person with a 70-year history with Tabourie has been in contact.
They have acquired lots of photos and information
"We have a lot of information already - very old information," Robyn said.
"I am the person on the ground and getting locals to feed me memories and photos."
Robyn explains her involvement
Robyn [above] has her own reason for getting involved.
She explained how a long time ago the only thing at Tabourie was a camping ground where the caravan park is now.
"Across the lake, on the sandhill side there were eight little fishing cottages," Robyn said.
"People would rent them to come on holidays and they had quite a history in themselves which will be covered in the book."
The cottages were built just before the war and Robyn has a photo that shows the names of the eight cottages. They all had Indigenous names and Illoura is now Robyn's house
"So this is where I became very interested," she said.
"Three or four of them were actually moved from their positions at the beach on logs, pulled by the old tractor that used to be out the front of Millards Cottage years ago."
They were pulled up to particular blocks of land where a subdivision in the late 1960s/70s had just been started.
Robyn's cottage was put in Bridge Street and she has since bought the house - three years ago. She went on a quest to find out which of the names belonged to her house.
In the course of trying to find out more about her house, Robyn started talking to other locals about the village's history.
A story which will be put in the book details a case that went to the High Court when an attempt was made to renew the lease for the popular fishing cottages.
More information is welcome
Robyn is always pushing for more information.
"There are a lot of people in Tabourie that live there now, had holiday houses, started their Tabourie lives off in the camping ground or in the cottages - even back when they were babies with their parents. These people have lots and lots of memories of fun times and photos," she said.
Robyn wants the book to be full of the characters of Tabourie and capture the village's quirkiness.
"It's the stories about the characters and the funny things that happened which will give the book its flavour," she said.
The book will also include "factual history". Robyn is collecting photos from locals and has 100s of great images in her collection.
An 80-year-old made contact with Robyn and told her the story about when they used to shoot wild pigs in Tabourie.
Robyn loves being part of the project because she loves the village so much.
"Because I love Tabourie I want to know more about it and even the snippets I hear from other people make me interested," she said.
"I would love to be able to go back in time to see what it was like then."
She added today the village was full of arty musical and environmentally minded people
"It's just the best place to live," she said
Tabourie always had an appeal
It appears Tabourie was a place people always wanted to visit.
Robyn has been told a story about a "well-off" family coming to Tabourie.
"A very wealthy family from Sydney used to come down every so often and this is going back a very long way," she said.
"They used to come by boat from Sydney to Ulladulla and then a horse and cart or a carriage would take them down to Tabourie.
"The family would bring all their staff with them, their cooks, housekeepers and all that kind of thing.
"They would stay for a period of time and they would ride along the lake with the ladies sitting there in their nice dresses and the men standing up rowing."
Not too late to get involved
They have not got a set timeframe for the book's publication which gives people plenty of time to send in their stories and photos
They are also waiting to get funding for the book, via various grants, secured.
Lake Tabourie Community page or the Tabourie Lake Ratepayers and Residents Facebook pages are the best way to contact the group.