SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS SHINING

The Southern Highlands, with its quaint towns of Berrima, Bowral, Mittagong, Moss Vale and Picton and Robertson, are an excellent resource for planners looking for a venue such as an hotel, lodge or guesthouse.

Aiming mostly at the smaller meeting market up to around 75 participants, the Southern Highlands is an easily accessible area, especially since Sydney’s orbital road system has been completed.

The wealthy Sydney elite discovered the Southern Highlands as a pleasant escape from sweltering Sydney summers in the late 19th century after the railway line was extended to Bowral. The area has retained a genteel ambience ever since.

>> Conference & meeting venues Southern Highlands, NSW

The leisure pursuits reflect the interests of the area’s more affluent residents, with fly-fishing, horse riding and browsing art galleries and antique stores among the activities on offer. Bowral was the home of cricket great, Sir Donald Bradman, and devotees of cricket cannot miss visiting the Bradman Museum of Cricket at the Bradman Oval where the Don played his way into public notice as a boy.

In recent times a number of vineyards have been planted in the Southern Highlands to take advantage of the changing public taste to cool climate wines. A number of these now offer wine tastings at their cellar doors.

A new addition to the attractions in the area is The Milk Factory Art Gallery in the heart of Bowral, which opened in July 2005 with the aim of providing art lovers with a venue in which to view contemporary artwork. The gallery was adapted from a milk depot dating from 1921. It is perfect for its current purpose, with 90 square metres of space and seven metre high walls.

The Southern Highlands has a busy events calendar, with agricultural shows, produce markets, open gardens, flower festivals, Highland dances, recitals and dog racing.