The area now known as Merricumbene lies on the traditional lands of Yuin people.[5] The National Museum of Australia has a breastplate made by settlers, around 1845, for "Timothy, Chief of Merricumbene".[6]
The locality was site of gold mining and there was a mining village of the same name.[7] Alluvial gold mining appears to have begun around March 1859.[8] The Moruya or Deua River Goldfield was proclaimed on 31 August 1865. A number of small portions of land exist on both sides of the river, indicating that the mining settlement occupied both banks of the river, over a significant length, below the confluence of the river with Araluen Creek.[9]Gold reefs were mined briefly, in the area, during 1911.[10][11][12] A gold dredge was working at Merricumbene in 1901.[13] A later dredge commenced operation in the river, in December 1912,[14] but it was overturned by floodwater in June 1913.[15]
It had a "half-time" school from 1893 to 1904.[16] In its early days, Merricumbene's only road connection—such as it was—was via Araluen; from 1858, there was a pack-horse route to the coastal plain at Moruya.[17] Araluen and Merricumbene were later connected to Moruya, by the Araluen Road, constructed in 1867-1868.[18]
^Studies, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (10 January 2021). "Map of Indigenous Australia". aiatsis.gov.au. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
