Boat Harbour Store Gerringong

The 'Boat Harbour Store' is the oldest remaining commercial building in Gerringong. It is now a beautifully restored white weatherboard house on the corner of Fern and Jupiter streets (near the Catholic Church).

In the 1850s, Boat Harbour, Gerringong, was a busy port on the South Coast and an important centre of town life in Gerringong. Whenever a ship arrived, the local farmers and townsfolk were notified by the flagstaff on top of the cemetery hill (at the end of Belinda Street), and people would go down to the harbour to pick up passengers or supplies and equipment, and deliver goods destined for Sydney.

In 1856, Mr W Ritchie of Dapto saw an opportunity to build a wholesale and retail business nearby, on land purchased by Alexander Armstrong the year before. While at first it was known as Ritchie's General Store, in 1857, when Gerringong began receiving mail by horseback, it was renamed the Post Office General Store. Ritchie became the town's first postmaster on an annual salary of ₤12.

The store continued to prosper, and in 1858 Ritchie sold the premises to Thomas McIntire and the Stores Lease and Goodwill to George Lawrence Fuller (of Dunmore House) and his sister Ann Fuller. They changed the name to Gerringong Post Office Stores and Ann became the postmistress.

A few more postmasters/mistresses on, in 1864 William Lang, owner of the Lanterrick Hotel (on the site of present-day Miller's Arcade), while acting as a surety, recommended that his niece be appointed postmistress. The store then had another name change to 'The Boat Harbour Store'. As shipping increased, the store became the hub of the town.

The Boat Harbour Store, now a private residence, continued to be the focal point for the town until the Railway came in 1893 and virtually closed down the shipping industry.

The Boat Harbour Store, c.1915 (far right). Looking north along Fern Street to the intersection of Belinda Street (just above the cows on the road).

Early 1920s, looking south along Fern Street towards the Boat Harbour Store (below the Catholic Church on the hill).

The Boat Harbour Store (bottom right corner), c.1959, looking north along Fern Street from the corner of Jupiter Street, which leads down to Boat Harbour.

The jetty being built at Boat Harbour, 1884. The 'Dairy Maid' was the first ship to use the jetty on 7 August 1884.