Once written off as a lost city in a forgotten corner of Australia, the fishing and timber town of Eden is now a hive of activity.

Key points: The development of Eden, near the NSW-Victorian border, never materialised and came to be called "the lost city" and the region called "the forgotten corner"

The development of Eden, near the NSW-Victorian border, never materialised and came to be called "the lost city" and the region called "the forgotten corner" Eden's Twofold Bay is said to be the third deepest natural harbour in the Southern Hemisphere

Eden's Twofold Bay is said to be the third deepest natural harbour in the Southern Hemisphere It was at one stage considered as a port for the nation's capital, until Canberra was chosen as the seat of government

Thanks to a $44 million wharf development, up to 60 cruise ships a year can now berth, rather than anchor in Twofold Bay and send passengers ashore in small tenders.

It is expected to be a major catalyst in growing tourism in south-east NSW, yet it reflects just a small part of a far grander vision put forward 100 years ago that would have seen Eden evolve into a metropolis.

In 1901, the new nation needed a capital city. Initial proposals were to build a new city at Bombala or Delegate with Twofold Bay becoming the shipping port for the seat of government.

But after much lobbying for other sites, it was decided in 1908 to build the capital at Canberra.

Snowy hydro scheme first proposed for Eden

Undeterred, a group of entrepreneurs from Eden, Wagga Wagga and East Gippsland devised a detailed and costed development plan and began lobbying governments of the day.

The wharf at Twofold Bay, circa 1930. ( Supplied: State Library of NSW )

Comprising a massive breakwater for Twofold Bay, wharves, warehouses, a naval base, rail links and new highways to Sydney and Melbourne, the plan would have seen Eden grow into a thriving city.

A hydro-electric scheme on the Snowy River was also proposed, with a dam at Jindabyne and another downstream each powering turbines that would deliver electricity to the new city — it would be decades before the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme came into being.

But the vision for Eden never materialised, and it came to be called "the lost city" and the region called "the forgotten corner".

The plan, titled The South Eastern Gate, was published in 1926 with the assistance of the Government Printing Office.

"The book was published by the Twofold Bay Development League," said local resident and historian Peter Rutherford.

"John Logan was president of the league and a key driver in trying to get government to pay attention to this much-neglected part of the state."

Looking from the Snug Cove wharves across to the Navy wharf and chip mill. ( ABC South East NSW: Bill Brown )

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 7 minutes 49 seconds 7 m Peter Rutherford telling the story behind The South Eastern Gate ( Bill Brown ) Download 10.8 MB

Underpinning the proposal was Twofold Bay, said to be the third deepest natural harbour in the Southern Hemisphere, with a surface area of 31 square kilometres.

Logan, a local pastoralist, wrote in 1926 that it was not a question of whether Australia could afford to develop Twofold Bay, but if it could afford not to.

"Its development is more than a local question. It is a matter in which the whole of the Commonwealth is interested," he wrote.

Yet little has happened, and the foreshores remain undeveloped with vistas of sandy beaches and coastal forest.

Cruise ships visiting the port are attracted to the magnificent Twofold Bay, national parks, beaches, and whale watching. ( Supplied: Peter Whiter, file photo )

Protected behind its southern headland are a controversial woodchip mill and its wharf, as well as a 200-metre wharf built by the Navy in 2003 to access an ammunition storage depot.

On the northern side of the bay in Snug Cove are wharves for the fishing fleet and the site of the cruise ship development.

A manufacturing centre 'to rival Manchester'

Mr Rutherford said the Twofold Bay Development League envisaged manufacturing industries comparable to Manchester in England.

"Now, there would be lots more housing, factories, wharf infrastructure — it would be more like Port Botany or parts of Sydney Harbour," he said.

The Princes Highway between Eden and Orbost pictured in the 1920s. ( Supplied: Peter Rutherford )

For Logan and his fellow visionaries, the development would have secured Australia's coastal defences with a naval base and air defences.

Logan cited instances during World War I when German raiders were able to easily lay mines along the south-east coast, and warned of the threat to Australia should an undefended Twofold Bay be occupied by an enemy.

Perhaps most poignantly, the proposed hydro-electric scheme to power the new city would require shipping, rail, and road links.

"This would give work not only to the present unemployed in Australia, but [also] for thousands of immigrants," Logan wrote.

Reflecting the xenophobia of the day, the group asserted that bringing in such a workforce would build "a large white population".

"If we don't develop it, someone else will," they wrote.

The Twofold Bay shoreline looking south towards Bilgalera, or Fisheries Beach. ( ABC South East NSW: Bill Brown )

Mr Rutherford said if all had gone ahead, the Port of Eden would have likely grown into a scale of something like Wollongong's Port Kembla.

However, it would have come at a massive cost to the natural environment, he said.

"There certainly wouldn't have been the expanse of beaches and forests that we have now that are largely intact," Mr Rutherford said.

"To have a city like Manchester sitting there, it's just hard to visualise as how that would fit in. It would be very different to what we have now."

The contemporary vision for the region's economic development has a very different objective.

The local shire wants to achieve "a balance between quality of life, enterprising business, sustainable development, and conservation of the environment".