Editing Moruya, New South Wales (section)

==History==
[[File:MoruyaAirRaidTavern.JPG|thumb|left|Air Raid Tavern, Moruya]]
The South Coast region of New South Wales is the traditional home of the [[Yuin]] people, with the area in and around Moruya home to the Bugelli-Manji clan.

The name "Moruya" is derived from an [[Australian Aboriginal languages|Aboriginal]] [[Tharawal languages|Tharawal]]<ref>{{cite book|first=R. M. W. |last=Dixon | author-link=R. M. W. Dixon |title=Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-47378-1 |url=http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521473780 |pages=xxxiv–xxxv }}</ref> word (''{{IPA|aus|mherroyah|label=[[Tharawal languages|Tharawal]] pronunciation}}'') believed to mean "home of the [[black swan]]", although this is not probable and not verifiable.<ref name="GNR"/> Black swans can be seen in the lakes and rivers around Moruya, and the black swan is used locally as an emblem.

European settlement commenced in the 1820s following the extension of the [[Nineteen Counties|limits of location]] in 1829, although the coast from [[Batemans Bay]] to Moruya was surveyed the previous year by surveyor Thomas Florance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stgeorgesbasin.info/level2/florance.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208062559/http://stgeorgesbasin.info/level2/florance.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=8 December 2013|title=Thomas Florance - NSW South Coast Surveyor|website=stgeorgesbasin.info|access-date=18 April 2018}}</ref> The first European settler was Francis Flanagan, a tailor from Ireland, who was granted title to {{cvt|4|sqmi|ha|abbr=on}} on the north bank of the river at Shannon View in 1829. In 1830, the next settler, [[John Hawdon (colonial settler)|John Hawdon]], set up a squat at Bergalia, but being beyond the limits, could not gain title to the land. In 1831, though, he was granted land on the north bank of the river, upstream from Flanagan. He called the property Kiora, and it also occupied {{cvt|4|sqmi|ha|abbr=on}}. A village named after the property soon grew.

In 1835, across the [[Moruya River|river]] from Flanagan, William Morris squatted a block he called Gundary. William Campbell took up as a manager there and eventually bought the place himself in 1845. The town centre was surveyed in 1850 by surveyor Parkinson and the town was gazetted in 1851. It centred about the track opposite where the road from [[Broulee]] terminated at the river bank, the two being linked by a punt. As a blacksmith was on that track, it was named Vulcan Street. Campbell Street owed its name to the squatter, Queen Street to patriotism, and Church Street to the Catholic Church's presence there; a Catholic church was later completed in 1887.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchhistories.net.au/church-catalog/moruya-nsw-sacred-heart-catholic|title=Moruya, NSW - Sacred Heart Catholic|website=churchhistories.net.au|access-date=23 March 2024}}</ref> Land sales commenced in 1852.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mdhs.org.au/history.html#south|title=Moruya Historical Society Emmott House|website=mdhs.org.au|access-date=18 April 2018}}</ref>
 
Moruya was proclaimed a municipality in 1891. Local industries were timber logging, gold mining, dairying, and quarrying for granite. The first bridge across the Moruya River was erected in 1876, though frequent flooding caused new bridges to be erected in 1900, 1945, and most recently in 1966.

During [[World War II]], Moruya aerodrome was used as an advanced operational base by the [[Royal Australian Air Force|RAAF]]. The fishing trawler ''Dureenbee'' was [[Attack on the Dureenbee|attacked offshore]] between Moruya and Batemans Bay by a Japanese submarine on 3 August 1942, leading to the deaths of three merchant seamen who are buried in Moruya cemetery. A "bush memorial" has been dedicated to these sailors and 8 other airmen who were killed whilst operating out of Moruya Aerodrome during the war. The memorial is located at the site of the wartime airstrip.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Moruya Bush War Memorial |url=https://www.warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au/memorials/moruya-bush-war-memorial |access-date=20 December 2024 |website=NSW War Memorial Register}}</ref>

On 25 December 1944, the US [[liberty ship]] USS ''Robert J. Walker'' [[Axis naval activity in Australian waters#The German submarine offensive (September 1944 – January 1945)|was torpedoed off Moruya]] by the German submarine [[German submarine U-862|''U-862'']], sinking the next day between Moruya and Bega. Casualties were two dead, with 67 survivors.

Rural areas around Moruya were affected by the [[2019–20 Australian bushfire season]].