Dean’s alphabetical tour around Kiama

Dean Koorey and his family drove around Australia before discovering the beauty of Kiama.

For the next 26 weeks in this "Encyclopaedia Kiamaca" we'll take a tour around the history, people and places that make living in this region so interesting.

It seems fitting to begin our lexical journey with the people who started it all.

Plenty of our local placenames come from the

ABORIGINES, who named this area Kiarama-a, meaning "where the sea makes a noise" (we assume they were referring to the Blowhole, not jet skis).

Street names with Aboriginal links include ATTUNGA in Kiama Heights ("high place"), AKUNA in central Kiama ("to follow") as well as Jamberoo's main drag ALLOWRIE Street ("pleasant/high place near the sea") " this last one being one of the possible origins of the name "Illawarra".

APRIL often means Easter and school holidays, resulting in a massive ARRIVAL of last-gasp summer campers.

It also means ANZAC Day and services are held in all the main towns; Kiama's march ends at the AWKWARDLY ANGLED memorial ARCH. Meanwhile, AUGUST sees us more likely to take a dip at the heated AQUATIC CENTRE (opened 1983, upgraded 2001) than the ARCTIC-like waters at the beach.

Speaking of months, January is a busy time for ACTIVITIES " with the ANNUAL ANTIQUES and Collectibles Fair, closely followed by the Kiama AGRICULTURAL Show and AUSTRALIA Day.

Late October has the Kiama ART Society (founded 1966) hosting its ANNUAL ART exhibition.

And as for ABORIGINAL ART, you could check out the Hindmarsh Park entrance (Shoalhaven end) for some great mosaics, or head to the renowned studio "Boolarng Nangamai" in Gerringong.

Speaking of Gerringong (and Hindmarsh for that matter), down that way is "ALNE BANK", built in 1851 as the original homestead of the Hindmarsh family. It's on the right of the main highway as you drive south.

And when it comes to AUTOMOBILES, ADDISON'S Garage has been around for as long as the Queen's been on the throne; the big "AUSTIN" lettering above it referring to its early days as a Leyland dealer.

There certainly is plenty happening in this AREA, which incidentally covers 256sq km (making it bigger than ARUBA or AMERICAN SAMOA, but slightly smaller than ANDORRA) and it's fairly popular with the AGEING population: 31 per cent of Kiama's residents are over 55.

Finally, there are plenty of fine examples of ARCHITECTURE in the area, which we'll cover later in the ALPHABET, but for now we'll just say that the current trend seems to be AUBERGINE APARTMENTS!

KIAMA: An Awesome Australian Anchorage, Always Attracting an Attentive and Admiring Audience &