[3] Aboriginal people of the Dharawal language group are the original inhabitants and traditional custodians of the area now known as Gerringong and its surroundings.

[4] The first Europeans to pass through the district on land were probably survivors of the wreck of the Sydney Cove who trekked more than 700 km along the coast, during 1797.

George Bass explored the nearby coast, later in 1797, during his voyage that revealed the existence of the Shoalhaven River to the colonial settlers.

[6] By then, the settlers' clearing of the sub-tropical rainforest was transforming the landscape completely—to lush pastures suited to dairy cattle—and depriving the original inhabitants of the land, environment and land-based food sources upon which they had depended for thousands of years.

Alne Bank homestead was built in 1851 for the Hindmarsh family, who still live there today and occasionally open it for inspection.

[12] One ship that did call there was Dairy Maid,[14] a small wooden-hulled steamer built in the Rock Davis shipyard.

[20] In 1893, the South Coast railway line was extended to Gerringong,[21] leading to the end of shipping from the town.

Land along the coastal fringe tends to receive higher rainfall than the interior water catchment areas, which are often in rainshadow.

[35] The main local industries are agriculture (including dairying and vineyards), tourism and retail trade.

Especially in the summer months, when visitors (mostly from Sydney and Canberra) attend the beaches for swimming, surfing, fishing and the restaurants and cafés.

The Gerringong and District Historical Society runs the Heritage Museum, containing scale models of buildings, a photographic record of motor racing on Seven Mile Beach in the 1920s, and a display on the local dairying industry.

[36][37] The boundaries of the Gerringong District range from Mount Pleasant and Omega in the north, to Rose Valley, Willow Vale and Foxground in the west, and to Broughton Village, Toolijooa, Harley Hill, Gerroa and Seven Mile Beach in the south.

The area is famous for its coastline, which includes sea cliffs, beaches surrounded by rolling hills and countryside that stays green year-round.

Gerringong would need its own small port, until the railway from Kiama opened in 1893 after tunnels were cut through the basalt rock of the spur.

The Princes Highway bypasses Gerringong township on its western edge, with two exits, one at Fern St and an underpass at Belinda Street, 2 km further south.

[3] The Boatharbour provides little shelter from a black nor'easter and relatively little from the heavy seas associated with an east coast low.