Library Fig Tree
Before the cedar-getters came to Kiama around 1810, the Jamberoo, Kiama and Gerringong areas were described as being covered in forest right to the cliff edges, and every hilltop was crowned with giant fig trees.
According to the Kiama Independent, it is thought the Library fig tree originated at Ourie Creek (which flows from near Saddleback Mountain down to Werri Lagoon), near Gerringong. It is believed that Sarah Miller (1860-1914) formed a friendship with Mrs Catherine Major (nee McDevitt) (1849-1931) and probably gave her the sapling pot plant as a house-warming gift when Catherine first moved to Gerringong. Catherine later moved to Kiama with her husband and they opened many businesses, including The Major Store (which later became the E.S.& A. Bank on Manning St). Their home was behind the shop and Catherine planted the sapling in her garden around 1880 (which would make the tree now more than 140 years old).The Major's house, 'Rhylsworth', and gardens (located near the northern end of the station) were demolished when the railway was built, but the fig tree survived.
Before Kiama Library was established in its present location, several generations of the Tidmarsh family lived in a house beneath the tree. The family recalls a childhood spent playing, swinging and climbing in the tree, and using it as a cubby house, each section of the tree a different 'room'.
Today, the magnificent Moreton Bay Fig resides in a garden named Tidmarsh Place, surrounded by a micro subtropical rainforest, including palms and an Illawarra Flame Tree, and is the centrepiece around which Kiama Library stands.
The fig tree can be glimpsed in its early years of life just behind the Post Office c.1880s
First train coming into the new Kiama Railway Station c.1893. The fig tree is about 13 years old.
Looking down Railway Parade c.1950s
Library fig tree roots 2018
