Eden a beacon as a cruise stopover

Old Tom is a name I’ll long remember from a visit to the storied coastal hamlet of Eden, south of Sydney.

For Old Tom is a killer whose impact on this district was so profound there is a museum dedicated to his legacy. As odd as it may seem, Tom is a revered character around here, too. I’ll come face-to-face with him later.

I’ve just stepped off Celebrity Edge on a day excursion in Eden, about 220 nautical miles south of Sydney on New South Wales’ Sapphire Coast. It’s the first port of call on a five-night Eden and Tasmania cruise from Sydney.

It’s a milestone moment because it so happens I’m on the 200th cruise ship the town has welcomed in the 20 years since the first one sailed into town, in November 2005.

Celebrity offers several interesting optional extra shore excursions for today’s port visit, but I opt to explore the town solo by foot with the freedom to go at my own pace and allow my curiosity and a little help from residents to guide my day.

From my first interactions with locals, I sense tourists are welcomed and valued. The residents, including the fabulous volunteer guides scattered throughout town decked out in bright red uniforms, go out of their way to help me find my way around.

It’s a point emphasised by Port Authority of NSW chief executive John McKenna, who says since 2005, cruising has been a lifeline for the region in some tough times.

“In that time, visitor numbers have increased tenfold, injecting tens of millions of dollars into the local economy and supporting jobs across the Sapphire Coast,” he says.

“This success is a testament to the drive and determination of the local community to embrace and grow cruise tourism.”

Eden is a small coastal town of about 3350 residents, on the south-eastern end of the much broader Bega Valley shire. It’s a rural district with agriculture and fishing, and manufacturing, among its main industries including Aussie-owned and operated Bega Cheese, which employs more than 500 staff locally. The shire is surrounded by national parks and State forest, which include Kosciuszko — home of Australia’s highest mountain peak.

I’m ready to explore …

Attractions

As visitors peruse the market stalls and gift shop, I arm myself with a bit of local knowledge from a very helpful lady at the impressive welcome centre a short walk from the wharf.

With map in hand, my curiosity is rewarded within a few minutes as I’m drawn to an intriguing set of sculptures on my way to the town centre.

The mostly metal artworks are part of the installation Sculpture Eden, and include a Ned Kelly-themed piece called Kelly’s Wardrobe. Another is the eye-catching R.I.P. tombstone enclosed in a white picket fence by Anthony Millard, which is said to relate to situations and events of 2018, but equally as poignant in 2025. Marked on it are the words “Tolerance; Respect; Fair Play; Common Sense”.

Making my way into town I’m zigzagging through a leg-crunching climb up Warren’s Walk. At the summit are many spots to take in magnificent panoramas of sweeping Twofold Bay, its name referencing the confluence of two surrounding bays — Calle Calle and Nullica — its two “folds” separated by Middle Head.

I stop at the first of many historic sites along the main strip, Imlay Street, marked with small yellow signs bolted on to green posts. First is the old Eden Courthouse in which the town’s first court of petty sessions was established in April 1847.

Around the corner on residential Cocora Street a bloke is cutting a cottage lawn on a ride-on mower as I take in the scenery high over the harbour and bay, out to the green hills on the horizon.

Strolling the CBD takes me to other historic sites of interest — like the building which was once the second branch of the Bank of NSW that opened in 1903. Australia’s first bank was the forerunner of what became Westpac in 1982, and the building is now a physiotherapy business with residence attached.

On a resident’s recommendation I pop in to see the restored heritage establishment Hotel Australasia, built in 1904. Once known as the “grand old lady” of Eden, it is in the heart of town. It was a popular pub for fishermen in the 1980s, and the shire council bought it in 2016 amid concerns it would be demolished, such was its decrepit state.

It was later sold to a private builder who has refurbished it into a luxury dining and boutique hotel, replete with heritage-coloured walls, arched walkways and dramatic crystal chandeliers.

I’m loving the carefree nature of this town and how smoothly the cogs of its tourist economy turn. This is despite its population suddenly doubling in size with the arrival of big ships like Celebrity Edge.

There’s buzz and a great vibe, and it doesn’t feel overrun. The key attractions are all within walking distance and there are plenty of public amenities including a regular shuttle bus, shops and fashion boutiques, and venues to eat and drink. My plain meat pie from Martins Pie Place, on the main street, was worth queuing all the way to the front door for.

Eden is a place where the more you look, the more you discover.

Australia’s first saint, Mary MacKillop, had close ties to the town, albeit in tragic circumstances. Mary’s legacy lives on here through the school and parish church she established after the drowning of her mother Flora MacKillop in the wreck of the SS Ly-ee-Moon, off the coast at nearby Green Cape, on May 30, 1886. Flora was on her way from Melbourne to deliver fundraising goods for Mary’s charity.

As gratitude to the people of the town for their support and for taking care of her mother’s body, Mary established the school in 1891. The school was in what is now a beautifully restored timber hall that houses the St Mary McKillop Museum, where I’m browsing.

Mary visited the school to teach and test students in March 1899, and again in August 1901, a plaque at the front says.

It’s a pretty, solemn area to peruse. To the side of the museum there is a discreet garden sculpture of St Mary MacKillop with a picture of Flora, mounted on stone blocks. The pretty garden grounds of the adjacent Our Lady Star of the Sea Church overlook the bay, and inside a distinctive timber boat bow protrudes from the altar. Eden was proclaimed a Catholic diocesan place of special pilgrimage in 2000.

I head off from here on a scenic walk trail that hugs the coastline towards Aslings Beach, where I pause at one of several lookout decks on the town’s clifftop perch. Signs say it is a prime spot from which to watch the annual humpback whale migration to Antarctica, but at this time of year the parade is pretty much over.

I instead spy a huge lizard in the long grass below that stutters its way up the embankment. Through the shrubs to my left is a beige sandy crescent of beach that melts into the peninsula on the horizon, and around to the right water caresses rockpools and the weathered shoreline of sedimentary rock.

Even under a cloudy sky, the Sapphire Coast is living up to its name. Its natural features are as rugged as they are stunning.

Eden would have claims on the title of Australia’s most interesting town, given what I’m learning today. It was once considered a candidate to be the nation’s capital for its location and deepwater port. But perhaps I’ve left the most fascinating story till last. Back to Old Tom . . .

Tom was a killer whale, and the inspiration behind the 1939-launched Eden Killer Whale Museum. I’m here perusing the many artefacts and displays that recount the story of Australia’s first mainland whaling station, dating as far back as 1828.

Measuring 6.7m and distinguished by his tall, slender dorsal fin, Tom was considered the leader of a fearsome group of orcas that were categorised into separate pods and each named.

They formed an extraordinary alliance with the local whalemen, harassing and herding the blubber-rich mammals close to shore. Old Tom and co were renowned for “announcing” to the station’s whale hunters their prey had arrived by thrashing the water with their tails, or “flop-tailing”, at the shore. And on that signal, the whale hunt was on.

Men in their wooden boats, armed with harpoons and lances, were gifted their prized catches.

The orcas were roundly rewarded for their work, being allowed to feast on whale lips and tongues — referred to locally as the “law of the tongue” — before the carcases were towed to the nearby station for processing into lucrative whale oil, which had many domestic and industrial uses at the time.

Tom was revered for his work season after season, often alone. He was known to be a bit of a larrikin, too, for tugging on harpoon ropes, evidenced in his worn-away bottom teeth.

He is said to have come “home” to die in Twofold Bay, aged at least 35. The discovery of his body on September 17, 1930 was mourned by the Eden community. Schools were closed, flags lowered, and whalers paid tribute to their “long-time ally”, a museum sign says.

The idea of a perpetual memorial for Old Tom came from John Logan, a neighbour of the long-time operators of the whaling operation, the Davidsons. His skeleton was prepared and given a temporary home until enough money had been raised over a decade, and the killer whale museum was born.

It was a vision to tell one of many compelling stories about this charming town . . . inspired by the legend of Old Tom.

+ Michael Ferrante was a guest of Celebrity Cruises. They have not influenced this story, or read it before publication.