Can You Solve the Mystery?
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 | Author: admin |  Email This Article to a friend Email This Article to a friend

jerrybailey

I’ve always been intrigued as to the origins of the name ‘Jerry Bailey’, which was of course, the original name of our village. It was officially changed to Shoalhaven Heads in 1955 and so far, I’ve come across a couple of possible sources for the name.

The first one is that it is rumoured to be the name of a sailor who lost his life when his ship ran aground whilst navigating the shallow river mouth.

The second is that legend has it that Alexander Berry imported a champion racehorse called The Jerry Bailey from England. It is said that he agisted it alongside the banks of the Shoalhaven River and at this location grew the village that was named in honour of the powerful thoroughbred.

So far I haven’t had much luck verifying which, if either, version of the origin of the name is correct.

Does anyone living here currently know more about this fascinating mystery? Leave a comment below if you know more!


Category: History, Local Articles
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2 Responses
  1. admin says:
    June 17, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    Thanks for the comment Jim. Do you remember where you might have read it? I’ll have to go into the Nowra library and pester them for some info!

  2. James Harold Webster says:
    June 17, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    I read somewhere that an Aboriginal by the name of Jerry Bailey drowned while swimming in the entrance….Jim

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