Mollymook
Attractive beach resort holiday destination just north of Ulladulla

Mollymook is located 225 km south of Sydney via the Princes Highway. In recent times Mollymook has become part of Greater Ulladulla in the sense that the coastal development is continuous from Ulladulla through Mollymook to Narrawallee. It is known, particularly amongst the surfing community, to have some of the finest surfing beaches on the New South Wales coast.

Located at the northern end of Ulladulla, Mollymook has two golf courses and patrolled surf beach. The name is thought to derive from an albatross, the 'Mollymawk'. The first settlers to take up residence in that particular area built a house called 'Molly Moke' in 1859 where Garside Road is today.

For the 20,000 years prior to white settlement the coastal area was occupied, depending on what source you read, by the Dhurga, Walbanja and/or Wadandian Aborigines. Middens and caves used for shelter testify to their occupation of the land. When Captain Cook travelled up the coastline in 1770 he noted, at Bawley Point, south of Mollymook, people on the shore who 'appeared to be of a black or very dark colour'. On April 21 he sighted Pigeon House Mountain, to the west of the present settlement. He described it as 'a remarkable peaked hill, which resembled a square dove-house, with a dome at the top, and which for that reason I called the Pigeon House'.

In 1827 Thomas Florance surveyed the coastline from Burrill to Narrawallee, naming much of what he saw. He anchored his boat, the Wasp , in what is now called Ulladulla Harbour and hence it became known, for a time, as Wasp Harbour.

The first land grant in the area was issued in 1827 to Reverend Thomas Kendall (1778-1832). He settled north of the present township of Milton, calling his property 'Kendall Dale'. There he ran cattle and felled timber utilising ticket-of-leave men for labour. Kendall travelled often from Ulladulla to Sydney but was drowned when his small boat, the Brisbane, was wrecked off Jervis Bay.

His grandson, Henry Kendall, was born on the estate in 1839. Although he only lived there for five years the local people helped to launch his literary career when they instigated, by public subscription, the publishing of his first book, Poems and Songs , in 1862. He was to become one of Australia's most distinguished contemporary poets.

An area called 'The Settlement', upon the site of present-day Milton, was occupied by farmers. Creeks, rivers, gorges, mountains, lakes and swamps made access by land problematic so the settlers began to use the harbour, imaginatively known as 'The Boat Harbour', for the shipment of produce. There were no breakwaters nor any jetty, just a chain by which ships were secured.

Other grants were issued in the 1830s and the site for a village was surveyed in 1837. With an abundance of red cedar in the area, much in demand for the construction of furniture, the district prospered in the 1840s.

The first houses consisted of a sapling framework with strips of dried bark for covering. As families developed (until 1850 there was only one white woman living at Ulladulla Harbour) larger slab houses were erected.

Other early industries included dairying, wheat-growing (destroyed when 'rust' hit the south coast in the 1860s), pig-rearing, honey, maize and vegetable-cultivation, a tannery works at Millards Creek and the mining of silica and quartzite which was loaded on a wharf at Bannister Point and shipped out for usage in the furnaces at Newcastle.

Things to see:  

Local Information
The Tallwood Avenue Sub Newsagency can help with local enquiries, tel: (02) 4455 3054. More information can be obtained at the Ulladulla Tourist Information Office which is located on the Princes Highway between Green and Church Sts in the civic centre (02 4455 1269).

The Lookout
If you turn seawards into Mitchell Pde at the northern end of Mollymook Beach it will take you out to Bannisters Point where there is an attractive lookout.

Narrawallee Creek and Pattimores Lagoon
Just north of Mollymook are the calm, shallow waters, mangroves and mudflats of the inlet to Narrawallee Creek which is an ideal spot for children. The inlet lies at the southern end of Narrawallee Creek Nature Reserve which stretches north for 5 km along Buckleys and Conjola Beaches. Largely undisturbed these beaches are good spots for fishing and surfing and are backed by a dune system adjoined by woodland through which there is a circular walking track. Pattimores Lagoon is in the northern part of the reserve and is a breeding ground for waterbirds. To get to the reserve turn east off the highway at Yatteyattah into Lake Conjola Entrance Rd which takes you the 6 km to the car park and the start of the 2.5-hour walk. There is one picnic area a kilometre past the car park and others at Conjola Beach and Narrawallee Inlet.

	Motels
	Bannister Lodge Motel 191 Mitchell Pde Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 3044 Facsimile: (02) 4455 3451 Rating: ***1/2
	Beach House Motel 3 Golf Ave Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 1966 Facsimile: (02) 4455 3841
	Mollymook Motel Cnr Princes Hwy & Golf Ave Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 1877 Facsimile: (02) 4455 2132 Rating: ***1/2
	Mollymook Paradise Haven 39 Ocean St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 5514 Facsimile: (02) 4455 5091 Rating: ***1/2
	Mollymook Seaspray Motel 70 Ocean St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 5311 Facsimile: (02) 4455 1995 Rating: ***1/2
	Mollymook Shores Resort Motel Cnr Golf Rd & Shepherd St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 5888 Facsimile: (02) 4455 5636 Rating: ****
	Mollymook Surfbeach Motel & Apartments 2 Shepherd St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 3222 Facsimile: (02) 4455 3342 Rating: ***
	Ocean View Motel Princes Hwy Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 1283 Facsimile: (02) 4455 5377 Rating: ***
	Ocean View Motel Princes Hwy Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 1283 Rating: **
	Seascape Motel 22 Princes Hwy Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 5777 Facsimile: (02) 4455 3604 Rating: ***1/2
	Hotels
	Marlin Hotel Princes Hwy Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 1999
	Bed & Breakfast/Guesthouses
	Bannisters Point Lodge 191 Mitchell Parade Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 3044 Facsimile: (02) 4455 3451
	Breakers 62 Ocean St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4454 2154 Facsimile: (02) 4454 3351
	Apartments
	Aldon Holiday Apartments 14 Wallace St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 2975 Rating: **
	Biltaange Holiday Apartments 79 Clyde St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 2749 Facsimile: (02) 4455 2749 Rating: ***
	Breakers Apartments 60-62 Ocean St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4454 2154 Facsimile: (02) 4455 2177 Rating: *****
	Forty Seven Holiday Apartments 47 Boag St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 2814 Rating: ***1/2
	Mariners on Mollymook Holiday Apartments 1 Golf Ave Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4454 2011 Facsimile: (02) 4454 5690 Rating: ****1/2
	Mollymook Aquarius Motel Apartments 9 Shepherd St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4454 1400 Facsimile: (02) 4454 2145 Rating: ****
	Mollymook Beach Luxury Apartments 46 Ocean St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4454 2224 Facsimile: (02) 4455 2221 Rating: ****
	Mollymook Beach Units Unit 1 Ingold Ave Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 3925 Rating: ***
	Mollymook Cove Holiday Apartments 17 Golf Ave Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4454 1892 Facsimile: (02) 4455 4807 Rating: ****
	Seaview 4 Clissold St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4454 4620 Facsimile: (02) 4454 0569 Rating: ****1/2
	Holiday Homes & Units
	Palm Court Town Houses 14 Davis St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 3922 Facsimile: (02) 4455 4611 Rating: ***
	Caravan Parks
	Mollymook Caravan Park Princes Hwy Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 1939 Facsimile: (02) 4455 1939 Rating: ***
	Restaurants
	Bannisters Restaurant 191 Mitchell Pde Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4454 1933
	Dolin Room Golf Ave Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 1476
	Mollymook Asian Restaurant Mollymook Bowling club Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 6578
	Out of the Blue Restaurant Cnr Golf Ave & Shephard St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 5888
	Cafés
	Mollymook Beach Hut Cafe Ocean St Mollymook NSW 2539 Telephone: (02) 4455 1758