Granite 'n' Grub Moruya

by Graham Scobie
(Moruya)

As part of the South East Harvest on the weekend of 16, 17, 18 March there will be a ‘Granite and grub’ night on Friday (16 March) starting at 6pm. Families are invited to bring along a picnic tea and sit by the banks of the river at Riverside Park. St Peters Anglican College Jazz Band will be playing led by teachers Eddie Bray and John Fraser.
In the marquee, there will be a display of historic photos of Moruya Granite Quarry to mark the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Christine Adams will give a talk and present a digital display of photographs of the quarry and of life in Moruya in the 1920s and 30s including a “food history’.

It was a time when fish, dairy products and farm produce was a regular trade to Sydney by ship. There were numerous dairy farms and cheese factories in the area. Moruya also had many market gardens. Retailers would drive around the township selling their produce - even up until the 1980s.

During those times, Moruya had, and will have again, a thriving food production industry. But before Moruya’s agriculture economy blossomed, the town’s prosperity came from the superior quality granite found nearby.

Work began to clear the quarry in early November 1924. The site was chosen because of its location on the banks of the Moruya River.

250 employees of 13 different nationalities worked at the quarry in a variety of vocations, mostly stonemasons, quarrymen and labourers. There was a shortage of skilled stonemasons in Australia so they were imported from Scotland and Italy.

They came to Australia with their families, so a small village was built. It became known as Granite Town and consisted of simple houses, bachelor’s quarters, a post office, a store, a hall and a school. At the peak of the work the population at Granite Town reached 300 and there were 64 pupils at the school.

Many workers constructed small gardens and grew food that was familiar to them in their homelands. After the work dried up, many workers returned home, but their gardens and the food they grew in them left a lasting impact.

173,000 blocks of granite were used in the bridge to face the piers and pylons and 200,000 yards of crushed stone. Not one stone was rejected.

The Cenotaph in Martin Place, Sydney was also entirely dressed and lettered in Moruya. Its base block is 7 tons and it consists of 23 blocks in the pedestal.

The granite has been used for breakwalls in local rivers as well as the Batemans Bay promenade. Moruya Granite was also used to make the pillars of Sydney GPO, the base of the Captain Cook statue in Hyde Park and St Mary’s Cathedral as well as many local buildings.

Australia was in the depths of the Great Depression when the work finished, but Moruya had largely avoided its effects, as the workers of the quarry would shop in town.

The granite quarry had a major impact on the growth of Moruya and played a major role in a part of Australia’s architectural history.

The locally produced film ‘The Farm’ will also be shown on the night. It's the story of an
Aboriginal girl working as a bean picker.

Entry is a gold coin donation. If you have any photographs or memorabilia you would like to share, please contact Christine (Greig) Adams on 4474 3103.