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History

The exploration of this area started with the Aborigines followed by escaped convicts, explorers and surveyors, the land seekers (‘squatters’), the settlers, the prospectors and miners, and the bushrangers.

Biloela actually lies within the traditional lands of the Gundungura people

Gundungura people consisted of 2 main tribes a) The Gandangara who occupied the land West of the Wodi Wodi tribal area and the present day Hume Highway as far as the Western slopes of the Great Dividing Range around Crookwell and North to the Burragorang valley, and South to Goulburn; and, b) The Gurangada - generally South of the Shoalhaven River and South West to Canberra

The earliest known European contact with local Aborigines was made by John Wilson, an escaped convict. In 1788 he was sent to Botany Bay for stealing some cloth and set free in 1792.
The movement of settlers to the area began in 1815. The pioneers of this move were John Oxley and William Moore who first ran stock at Bargo, moving soon after to better pasture at Wingecarribee Shire.

The rich soil, the abundance of large forest, kangaroos and good grazing soon attracted more settlers and the village of Bong Bong, later to be called Bowral, and Sutton Forest came into their own.

Most of the Aboriginal contact with Europeans was around 1820. After this much of their language and culture began to disappear!

The aborigines had an intimate knowledge of the Southern Highlands. Over thousands of years they came to know the land and its resources. Sadly, the Europeans did not learn much about the aborigines and their traditions.

How Biloela began!
OEG has been searching for a property close to Sydney that would provide easy access for schools to quality outdoor education experiences. In the last 3 years, schools committed to Outdoor Education began to suggest to us that the conventional dormitory style program was not meeting their outdoor curriculum requirements.

The only alternative available to them was the bush and tent camping expedition style program (programs that use wilderness adventure based outdoor education generate 2-4 times the outcomes compared to hard-top programs). However, schools were telling us that this was often too far beyond the capabilities and experience levels of some staff, and too far removed from the expectations of staff and students.

From this dilemma grew the Biloela concept; a program and venue designed to bridge the gap and provide the ‘best of both worlds’ between the two current options in Outdoor Education. The Biloela experience provides a combination of isolation, wilderness, small community and simple bush living with adventure activities while having the security of hut accommodation.