Up in the Hills: Farming Days in Upper Brogers Creek has been written by Heather Foster was three years in the making.

It tells the stories of the early settlers to the area.

"I was at the Berry Museum and there was this group of audio tapes on a shelf gathering dust," Heather said.

"They were recordings done with relatives, many of them grandchildren, of those original settlers.

"It was like finding gold. They were wonderful.

"There were some wonderful and incredible stories. It was exciting and I set about transcribing them.

"That was no mean feat in its own right."

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Heather herself had moved to the Brogers Creek area in 1972, and said she knew she had to write up this important part of local history.

"I loved listening to the relatives' recounts of what it was like for those early settlers," she said.

"The tapes, recorded in 1978 and 1994 by Berry and District Historical Society were priceless."

She said the second "piece of gold" she struck was the wonderful records by the Department of Education.

"The department invested in little schools in the bush and incredibly I came across little handwritten cards the department had kept from those early days," she said.

"They recorded the teachers, when they came, when they left, if they'd been dismissed.

"They [the cards] went up to '76 - not 1976, but 1876.

"It was a treasure."

Up in the Hills: Farming Days in Upper Brogers Creek is a unique record of farming life in an isolated valley in the 19th and early 20th century, the many hardships those first settlers encountered along with some of the hairraising, anecdotes from those sometimes wilder times.

The book covers the early settlement, including the first settler John Cook Snr, as well as families such as Hanlons, Clarkes, Strongs, Boyds, Walkers, Jarmans and Crumps to name a few.

But she also acknowledges the traditional owners of the land, the Dharawal speaking people.

Life in those hard, early times has been brought to life including chapters on life on the land, the vital roles women played, schooling and education, the children's life, war times, gaining access to the valley and things like entertainment and necessities like the post office.

Ms Foster and some of the descendants of the early settlers recounted some of the exploits of their relatives and their reminiscences of the area.

Published with the support of a grant from Create NSW, administered by the Royal Australian Historical Society, Up in the Hills: Farming Days in Upper Brogers Creek was officially launched by Shoalhaven Mayor Amanda Findley on Saturday at St Luke's Church Hall, Berry.

It is the fourth book the Berry Historical Society has launched this year and complements Gillian Shadwick's work, Family, Farms and Faith, about the Strong Families and their Kin, Grave Misconceptions by June Robson, the history of Berry Cemetery and A Munificent Bequest - David Berry Hospital - The First Fifty Years 1909 to 1959 written by widely published local historical author Robyn Florance.

Up in the Hills: Farming Days in Upper Brogers Creek is available for sale from the Berry and District Historical Society at the Berry Museum for $25.