Utopian Ulladulla

 

I set sail to the south coast of New South Wales Australia, to the lovely town of Ulladulla in the Shoalhaven region. Ulladulla is located within Yuin Country. The local Indigenous Australian language spoken within the Region is Dhurga. Yaranbul is the Dhurga word for Platypus. Below is a beautiful children's book by Leanne Brook I purchased check out this link here for more info on the book. (Links within this page are highlighted in black to go to the webpage just click on the highlighted black font).

My reason for travelling to Ulladulla was to see the beautiful new Gateway Sculpture created by Dóra Rögnvaldsdóttir and members of the community to commemorate the loss of wildlife and the coming together of community during the 2019-2020 bush fires. Here more about the artwork here and here . The artwork features 3 steel flame shaped pillars each with twelve panels. These panels feature laser cut line art from photos sent in from communities from the Shoalhaven Region taken during the bush fire event (2019-2020). The panels of the pillars also feature clay sculptures created by members of the community featuring native Australian animals such as platypus, koala, kookaburra, owls, blue tongue lizard, shingle back lizard, black cockatoo, possum, sugar glider, echidna, wombat, turtle, snake, kangaroo, emu, lyre bird, bandicoot, wombat and frogs. 

Dóra Rögnvaldsdóttir in the middle of the Gateway Sculpture and members of the community who helped in the creation of the artwork (29th May 2022 Opening Ceremony of Gateway Sculpture)

Below are the 12 panels with line art taken from photos sent from members of the Shoalhaven region community.

Below are close up details of the ceramic fauna and flora created by members of the community 

More art can be found around Ulladulla with two murals on toilet blocks. One located near the Ulladulla Harbour foreshore and the Ulladulla sea pool, both created by artist Jules Sydenham which feature the ocean and shorebirds (Pied Oyster catcher and hooded plover). Located on Boree street on the wall of the cinemas is a beautiful environmental themed artwork by Man.de (Mandy Schöne-Salter) of a woman swimming with fish and plastic bags.

Ulladulla has a range of walks that allow you to see views of the headland and harbour. The One track for all walk is a fun track around the bush-land of the Northern headland. It features amazing wooden carvings by Indigenous Australian and Budawang Elder artist Noel Butler . 

Another track is the Brodie Park Geological Time Walk which features geological examples (rocks and stones) from the time periods 500 million year old-current era taken from the local surrounding regions.

 

 

 Ulladulla is also situated along what was the Gondwana coast (part of the supercontinent that formed during the late Neoproterozoic era 550 million years ago). The rock shelf located within Ulladulla Harbour is made of wandrawandian siltstone and dates back to between 273Ma-269Ma (mid Permian).  At low tide you can explore the rock shelf to look for fossils. Also a guided fossil tour can be booked here. There is also a fossil museum located on Green street. Below are some examples of fossils I found while exploring the rock shelf.

 

Brachiopod

 Sea fan (Bryozoans)

Brachiopods (lamp shells)

Another stop to visit is the Warden Head lighthouse dating back to 1873 it was originally located on the Ulladulla Breakwater but relocated to Warden Head in 1879.  Currently it is being upgraded so a fence is placed around it until September 2022 however you can still view the lighthouse through the fence.

Lastly Ulladulla is full of tasty local food. Places I would recommend would be The Native located at 2/84 Princes Hwy, Hayden pies a famous pie shop operating since 2003 located Shop 2, 166 Princes Hwy and Eighty Six cafe located at 86 Princes Hwy. All of their food was tasty and had good coffee.

 

Coffee with a view of Ulladulla Harbour (The Native)

Cafe Eighty Six

 
Ulladulla is a great place to relax and explore below are some photos of nature I saw there too.

Sooty Oyster Catcher

Glossy Black cockatoos

Yellow tailed black cockatoo or young glossy black cockatoo

Pelican

Below is a video with more footage of my visit.