Over the past 150 years, the 'Cargo Building' has undergone a series of face lifts and lived many lives - at one point it was the Illawarra Steamship Navigation Company Store, then a museum, a dive and tackle shop, a seafood restaurant and cafe, and now a fish and chip shop. Yet, regardless of form or function, it has always held iconic status in our beautiful harbour landscape.
Originally known as the Ice Factory or Ice Works, the building was constructed in 1868 for use as an ice factory for cold storage of butter awaiting shipment to Sydney and beyond. As the dairy industry developed in the area, butter became one of the main products for local and international export. Butter produced at the Pioneer Butter Factory at Spring Creek was transported overland to the wharf (a journey in its self!) for further transport to Sydney by ship. Shipping schedules and delays caused by poor weather meant that sometimes the butter would be left waiting at the wharf for extended periods of time, necessitating some type of cold storage to maintain freshness, and this is how the Ice Factory came about.
The building has had many extensions and alterations over its long life, but has maintained its heritage significance and is considered 'a well preserved example of an industrial building associated with the dairy industry of the region'. It is also one of the oldest surviving industrial buildings in Kiama.
The building and wharf c.1950s
Kiama Wharf and the Ice Factory building c.1900s
The Dive Shop when it was housed in the building c.1980s
After the building was renovated & extended to become a cafe end c.2000s