Dean Koorey’s alphabetical tour of Kiama

QUICK question: how many things do you think we’ll dig up this week that start with “Q”?

Will we get our quota or be forced to quit this quixotic quest?

There’s actually more things than you might think, and the first one we’ve quite literally dug up.

The first quarry was scooped out in 1855, in Havilah Place – on the site of today’s quadricep-quickening sports fields and (for the past quarter of a century) the Aquatic Centre.

This site also staged an award-winning outdoor production Quarry, performed once only in April 2006. Other quarries around the area included Pikes Hill, Barney, Bombo, Minnamurra, and Terralong.

It wasn’t quartz they were after, rather basalt to place between the tracks on the nation’s then expanding rail network.

These were the days before Qantas or quad bikes, so the rock originally had to make it to Black Beach by horse and barged out to the queueing ships.

By the mid-1870s, (about the time the QWERTY keyboard was invented), Kiama’s new harbour provided a quay and quartermaster to speed up shipments to Sydney.

At the height of production, ships were literally passing in the night to keep up with demand; not in a quirky QE2-Queen Victoria way though – these ships involved a little more quarantine and queasiness, and a lot less quince, quail, quaffing and string quartets!

The hardworking quarrymen (a hundred years before the pre-Beatles musical ones) were the original “rock stars”, living in quaint little houses such as the now-historic Terraces on Collins Street.

They probably had a family of quintuplets and just one quiche and a few quandong fruit between them all. Thanks to questionable quality control, the quarries weren’t the safest of places, but they were certainly the busiest.

Contrasting this rock story was the fact that much of the coastal area was a quagmire –quicksand-like soil quashing many initial settlers’ plans of habitation.

However, these problems were quickly quelled, and Kiama has thrived ever since – relying a lot on positive quotes from visitors and large quantities of tourist quid.

One such drawcard is the Gerringong Quilt Show.

It began back in 1991 and has made quantum leaps in the 17 years since.

The quality of quilts on display, as well as the rule of only having “never-displayed” pieces qualify for exhibition, keeps fans all a quiver for the popular November event.

Finally, if social quarrelling and quenching your thirst is more your thing, try your hand at the many quiz nights that take place throughout the year.

With questions ranging from the Scrabble point-value of “Q”, to Quasimodo, quoits, or the finer points of Quidditch, there’ll be plenty to keep your Intelligence quotient in a quandary!

KIAMA: People from as far away as Qatar, Queensland or Quito Quickly discover the Quantifiable Quid-pro-Quo joys of a Quieter pace of life, where any Qualms, Queries or Quibbles are forgotten in this Quintessential example of Quality over Quantity!