Berrima (/bɛrəmə/[2]) is a historic village in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire.

It is close to the three major towns of the Southern Highlands: Mittagong, Bowral and Moss Vale.

[citation needed] The region and Wingecarribee River was first visited by Europeans during the late 1790s, including a 1798 expedition led by an ex-convict, John Wilson.

[citation needed] Berrima prospered as being at a point on the Old Hume Highway, and there were fourteen hotels in or near the town in the 1840s.

However, because the construction of the railway bypassed the town, the population decreased – no new houses were built for a hundred years.

In 1896, Premier of New South Wales Henry Parkes, planted an oak tree near the post office.

[citation needed] There are many historic buildings in the town and the village as a whole is listed on the Register of the National Estate.

Other notable buildings include the Holy Trinity Anglican Church designed by Edmund Blacket and built in 1849; and the St Francis Xavier Catholic Church built 1849–51 designed by Augustus Pugin, a notable British architect of Gothic-revival buildings.

Conditions at the gaol were harsh, prisoners spent most of their days in cells and the only light was through a small grate set in the door.

In 1877 a royal commission was held to investigate allegations of cruelty by the prison authorities but the complaints were not upheld.