Bermagui Travel Guide

Located 378 km south of Sydney via the Princes Highway Bermagui is an attractive fishing port with a population of 1166 located on the estuary of the Bermagui River. It is thought that 'Bermagui' is derived from 'permageua', a word with an unknown meaning, from the vocabulary of the Dyirringany Aborigines who inhabited the area before white settlement. The port at Bermagui was established in the 1830s for the local dairy farmers and the town, planned in 1867, quickly developed into a fishing harbour. Gold was found on the Bermagui River late in the nineteenth century but the rush was short-lived as finds were disappointing. Today Bermagui is a fishing, dairying and timber town. In spring the warm currents bring marlin and yellowfin tuna close to the coast and charter boats take divers, deep-sea and big-game fishers out to sea. The 2001 film, The Man Who Sued God, starring Billy Connolly as a lawyer who becomes a fisherman, was mostly filmed in Bermagui.