Fine-grained grey granite was initially quarried in the 1860s for the Wesleyan Church and local harbourworks.

In 1868, John Young, the contractor for the Sydney GPO, leased land from the Louttit family on the south side of the river and opened a quarry, shipping stone to Sydney.

At this time the population of Moruya was about 1000 (it was 2386 in 1986).

A cheese co-operative was formed the same year in Bergalia and the Union Dairy Factory opened there in 1893.

Emmott later set up his store elsewhere and used the old inn as his home, naming it 'Merlyn', until he could afford to build what was one of the first semi-detached houses in Moruya in 1875.The late 1870s and 1880s were a period of growth for Moruya, which was proclaimed a town in 1885 and a municipality in 1891.The Moruya Co-operative Dairy factory was opened in 1892, supplying the Sydney markets.Initially diggers disembarked at Broulee and walked to the site but, with the establishment of a new and improved road from Araluen to Moruya between 18, Moruya became the preferred service centre to the northern goldfields.In 1859 the court was relocated, building and all, to Moruya, where it remained until the present courthouse was constructed in 1879.