Is it a bimbo, is it a bumbo, no it’s Bombo
The Bombo Headland Quarry is located north of Blowhole Point at Kiama.
It is an annoying place to get to by car if you are at the blowhole as there is no coastal road to it. A short trip on and off the Princes Highway is required.
The quarry can be accessed by a short walk from either Boneyards Beach or the car park at the north end of Bombo Beach.
Hopefully the wind direction is favourable as you may encounter an experience you wish to avoid - sweet odours emanating from the very nearby Bombo Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Anyway lets move on!
As you walk through Bombo quarry clumps of rock are scattered in a number of areas with the larger clumps closer to the ocean.
The rocks are hexagonal basalt columns created approximately 270 million years ago when lava cooled, contracted and fractured. It is thought that the hexagon shape is formed in response to stress as the solidified lava cracks.
The unusual name of ‘Bombo’ originated from an aboriginal word of the Wodi Wodi people for thunder. However it was not adopted completely as the indigenous word for thunder was in fact ‘Bumbo’.
A local religious minister was of the opinion that the name was too risque and it was subsequently modified to Bombo.
The Bombo Quarry was mined for its blue metal from 1880 to mid 1920s, and then off and on again (stopped during the depression) until 1944.
It is difficult to ascertain how much quarrying went on at Bombo but the answer is likely to be ‘a lot’. It was the major source of blue metal for the colony and subsequent state of New South Wales.
A significant number of hexagonal basalt columns do however remain.
Walking around the former quarry, which is now a heritage listed, provides access to the tall columns of basalt.
The basalt columns are of varying heights, some as high as five or six metres.
There are a few places where incisions in the rock platform create wonderful opportunities for the waves to form and break with great force.
If the swell is up, the bay in front of the quarry is a cauldron of moving sea water. In large swell conditions it is a sight to be seen.
The basalt columns of the quarry and nearby surging ocean make for an interesting visit, and form part of Sydney Nimble’s South Coast tour.
Who knows you might even spot a bird of prey whilst there.
Eastern Osprey surveying the scene
finely balanced
look behind you!
surging seas
never know what will turn up at Bombo
basalt column holding its ground