My mother, Beverley Runcie was close to completing her book about place names of the Bouddi Peninsula – Indigenous and European when she unexpectedly fell ill last October. She passed on after fighting hard to survive. I am now finalising her book for her and I thought I’d share with you some preview excerpts from it. Mum loved words and writing and gained a Master’s degree in Literature. Her book blends her passions of history, words and the bush into a fascinating read about a special part of the earth. Brief excerpts are below.

The Bouddi Peninsula lies on the north side of the entrance to Broken Bay in New South Wales. It is approximately 100 kilometres by road and only 40 kilometres ‘as the crow flies’ from Sydney. The Peninsula is largely a plateau rising to the highest point of 160 metres at Mt Bouddi within the Bouddi National Park. It has spectacular views over the Pacific Ocean to Manly, Palm Beach, Broken Bay, and Pittwater to the south and Brisbane Water to the north and west.

BOMBORA

Beginnings

A bombora is an isolated shallow area in the sea some distance offshore where waves break over a submerged rock, shelf or reef. It can be a shipping hazard as when the sea is calm or at high tide the bombora is not easily seen.

The word is believed to come from a Dharuk Aboriginal word ‘bumbora’ and first used for the bombora in Sydney Harbour at Dobroyd Point. That bombora is now officially named Gowlland Bombora after Commander John Gowlland who drowned there when his boat capsized in 1874.  The Dharawal people from the south coast used the word ‘bumbura’. Bombora is one of the few Aboriginal words which have passed into Australian English. It is commonly abbreviated to ‘bommie’ or ‘bommy’.

The word bombora has been listed by F.C. Bennett in 1968 as an Aboriginal word meaning ’water swirling around sunken rocks’ which is as good a description as any.

History

There are two bomboras off the Bouddi Peninsula. The larger is off the east end of Maitland Bay and is called the Maitland Bombora. This is registered with the Geographical Names Board of NSW.  The smaller bombora is off the east end of Putty Beach and is named on some maps as East Bombora. Note however, the Royal Australian Navy’s hydrographic survey map of Broken Bay names the Maitland Bombora as East Reef and the Putty Beach bombora as West Reef.”

BOUDDI FARM, Killcare Heights

History

Situated at 251 The Scenic Road, Bouddi Farm was the home of Australian artist Russell Drysdale (1912-1981) and his wife Maisie. The property adjoining the Bouddi National Park was bought by the Drysdales in 1964. Drysdale commissioned architect Guilford Bell to design the house, which was in three pavilions, one each for sleeping, living and working although a separate studio was built a little later. The house, finished in 1966 faced north with extensive views over bushland and Brisbane Water and it was here that Drysdale and his wife entertained family and friends, many of them local.

Drysdale was knighted in 1969. He lived and painted at Bouddi Farm until his death in 1981. Maisie Drysdale remained at Bouddi Farm until she died in 2001 and the property was sold the following year.

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