BODALLA Bodalla is the next town encounted when travelling highway one north after Narooma. Bodalla is a very small town, but boy does this place have a big story to tell. Several meanings have been put forward including "Boat Alley", "tossing a child up in the arms", "haven for boats" and "several waters". From 1856, Thomas Sutcliffe Mort had been acquiring land in the Moruya district, and eventually owned some 38,000 acres (150 km²), a very substantial holding. In 1860 he purchased Bodalla Station, where he planned to establish a country estate on which to retire, and demonstrate model land usage and rural settlement. He replaced the beef cattle station with an integrated and tenanted dairy estate. He also provided two bluestone churches, one Anglican and the other Catholic, for his tenants. All Saints Church, comemorating Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and his wife Theresa Shepherd Mort, was designed by Edmund Blacket. The foundation stone was laid by Marianne Mort, Thomas' second wife, on 18 March 1880. It was completed in 1901. The church has one of seven small Henry Willis & Sons organs, built in 1881 and installed the following year. The church cost 13,000 Pounds Stirling to construct.Now contrast this with the smallest United Church you will ever see. The Catholic Church has been rebuilt. The area is a rich dairy producing region and Bodalla Cheese is once again produced. The Bodalla War Memorial is a very simple affair. The Bodalla Hotel is a tavern type pub that continues to service quite a wide region. For Bustout the All Saints Church was open and the organist playing. Lucky perhaps. If All Saints is open prepare to stay in Bodalla for quite awhile.