Celebrating Kioloa: a place for nurturing education, land and community
Some places are simply special. The Australian National University Kioloa Coastal Campus – a 348-hectare field station situated between the Murramarang Ranges and the Tasman Sea on the New South Wales South Coast – is one of those places.
Situated on the Country of the Murramarang people, with more than a kilometre of beach stretching along it’s boundary, amongst saltwater marshes and forest habitats flourishing with biodiversity, the land has so many stories to tell.
This piece of land was so special to farmer and post-officer Joy London, that she gifted it to the Australian National University in 1975, to be used for teaching and research. Joy’s wish was for it to remain a site accessible to the wider community in perpetuity.
“In accepting the gift, we were accepting a responsibility forever,” said former ANU Secretary Ross Hohnen AM in a 1992 documentary.
That’s not a small promise for a university to make, but fifty years after the deed of the gift was signed, the University holds true to its promise.
Reflecting on the fifty year relationship, Professor Kiaran Kirk, Dean of the College of Science and Medicine says “the Kioloa Coastal Campus is a jewel in the crown of the ANU, a unique and beautiful place to where members of the University community, as well as people from outside the University, can come to teach, to learn, to think, to discuss and to write.”
A rich history
Kioloa is situated on Country for which the Murramarang people have been custodians for thousands of generations, and on which they have performed age-old ceremonies of celebration, initiation and renewal. Their living culture continues to inform the management and uses of Kioloa Coastal Campus to this day.
After European colonisation, the property now known as the Kioloa Coastal Campus, was used mostly for saw-milling and farmland. A homestead and a collection of small cottages were built to accommodate the workers.
Joy London’s widowed mother, Edith (nee Moore) London bought the property in 1928. The London family moved from their Sydney home and settled at Kioloa, supplying locals with milk and vegetables which they’d produced on their land. Joy ran the post office and telephone exchange for many decades.
In 1975, Joy made the momentous decision to gift the property to the ANU in honour of her her mum, who had died seventeen years earlier. Joy continued to live there into her retirement while the university took the reins.
The Kioloa Coastal Campus was renovated and developed over the following years to include a teaching laboratory, a dining hall, and improvements to the accommodation facilities.
Steve Berkhout lived and worked at the Kioloa Coastal Campus for 26 years from 1994 onwards, caring for the property.
He remembers his own first impressions: “A highlight was coming down to that property and suddenly realising what a magnificent gift it was, and what an asset it is to the university in terms of research for a wide range of disciplines using the facilities.”
Beyond the four walls of the classroom
A field trip to Kioloa is almost a rite of passage for undergraduate students in science and many humanities courses at ANU.
Each year, undergraduate students participate in field trips which include such things as small mammal trapping, studies of parasites, soil science, natural resource management and Cultural studies, among many other topics.
For many students Kioloa provides their first experience of field work.
As one ANU student, Jessie Howatt said after her environment and sustainability field trip to Kioloa: “It changes your mindset in a really interesting way and helps you to better understand the environments that we live in, and overall appreciate them so much more.”
Kioloa is also a place for connection with other people. The cottages are used by groups for team retreats, art residencies and conferences and workshops. Many a PhD thesis has been drafted from the campus cottages, a short walk from the seashore.
Into the future
In early 2025, ANU Vice Chancellor Professor Geneveive Bell signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Traditional Owners of the ANU Kioloa Coastal Campus, the Walbunja Elders of the NSW South Coast. This signifies a commitment to the ongoing relationship between the university and the Elders, and to the land.
Fifty years after Joy London’s gift, the University recognises and celebrates the many people who have taken care care of the site: from Joy London herself to all the university staff, academics, students, Murramarang people, Elders, Kioloa locals, and philanthropists who have contributed to the Kioloa Coastal Campus and who have ensured that it continues to flourish.
Find out more about Kioloa Coastal Campus.
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Welcome to Kioloa Coastal Campus - the Australian National University's coastal field station since 1975. Visit the ANU's outdoor classroom at the New South Wales south coast to engage, teach and study surrounded by national parks and pristine beaches.
The 348-hectare ANU Kioloa Coastal Campus is one of Australia’s premier field stations, offering a diverse ecology which encourages research across all scientific disciplines.