History of Bunnerong Cottage

Illawambra (the property on which Bunnerong was built) was one of the original farms in Cobargo area being first settled around middle last century by a gentleman named Whitehead.
About 1900 it was acquired by Magnus Jackson Peden, a failed original member of the Sydney Stock Exchange who reinvented himself in Bega and acquired large parcels of land in the area. Peden Street in Bega is named after him.
The main farm house on Illawambra dates to about 1860and is constructed of vertical slabs hand hewn from hardwood grown on the property. The oldest of the farm outbuildings, a two-story feed shed, was constructed in a similar manner and it also has a hewn slab upper floor.
The original Dairy of pole construction with a flagstone floor was demolished in the 1940's and a concrete walk-through dairy was built on the same site. Originally cheese was made and transported to Sydney, but later, when the Cobargo Co-operative was formed, cream was separated and sent by cart to Cobargo where butter was produced for the Sydney Market. Pigs became the main sideline on Illawambra and these were also shipped to Sydney from Bermagui. Concrete silos and feed sheds were built to enhance this sideline.
In the twenties the property passed to Magnus's son, Sir John Peden who was Professor of Law at Sydney University. Sir John was also chairman of the NSW Legislative Assembly; there is a bust of him in Macquarie Street on a wooden plinth taken from Illawambra. The Peden's did not farm themselves but had a series of sharefarmers managing Illawambra.
With the advent of the motor vehicle Sir John added this holiday cottage, which he called Bunnerong. Previously the Pedens had travelled by steamer to Bermagui and thence to Cobargo and Illawambra. A local, Bill Henry was employed to build the cottage.
Bill was already living at Illawambra in some quarters that he had built which went on to become the shearers quarters and now the bunkhouse. His job was to look after the Peden interests and care for the walnut trees and other plantings. More than sixty 80 year old walnut trees are still on the property today. Sir John had a close connection with the Department of Agriculture so apart from quite a range of exotic cypresses, experiments were done on pasture. Illawambra is the first farm on the south coast to plant Kikuyu and it is from here that other farms took their cuttings.
With the death of Sir John Peden the farm passed to his daughters Margaret and Barbara who continued to run it as a share farm (dairy) bringing their children down to Bunnerong Cottage during school holidays. Interestingly, Margaret was captain of the first ladies cricket team to tour overseas (Barbara was also a member). There is a slab of concrete on the farm's old tennis court on which they used to practice.
Both Margaret and Barbara had distinguished sons. Margaret's son John Peden became the youngest Professor of Law in Australian history at the University of NSW, sadly he died suddenly aged 48. Barbara's eldest son Colin Munro is well known to ABC rural radio listeners.
In 1980 the farm was sold to Jim and Ruth Walker, friends of Colin's, who operated a beef cattle enterprise up until 2001. They had printing interests and so a number of Croft Press books for collectors were printed at Illawambra. The Croft Press is represented in the rare book collections of the National and most State Libraries. The Press was one of the few Letterpress printing operations functioning in Australia at the time. In 2002 the property sold to its present owners, Jenny and Paul, who breed palomino Warmblood horses.

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