100 Towns

Cargo is a small town (population 250) in the central west aboutn 37kms from Orange. It started as a gold mining town and back then in the late 1860s boasted a population of 7000, shops a d flour mill and other enterprises.  Today it is a blink and you will miss it sized town.

The site of the Royal Hotel at Canowindra was an inn taken over by Ben Hall's bushranger gang in the 1860s. Today the town has a nice historic feeling along its crooked main street which was once a bullock team track. It has two other claims to fame being known as the Balloon Capital of Australia, with lots of ballooning during the delightful autumn days of April. The other thing is that it is the site of one of the world's great fossil discoveries where there are huge number of fish from 360 millions years ago preserved in stone.  It is well worth a visit to the Age of Fish museum to see these fossils and the story behind them. This town is a personal favourite with me.  Not too big, not too small and out the big wide country of western NSW.

Borenore (15kms outside Orange) proudly announces on the entrance into town that it is home of the Borenore shop (note singular) and Australian National Field Days which according to their website is "Australia's oldest annual agricultural exhibition where visitors will see a vast range of agricultural machinery, implements, services and ideas. Each year over 600 exhibitors from throughout Australia and overseas display their products and services at our event." So for a few days each year the place becomes alive.

1. Poplar trees by the roadside  2. Plough I have not done justice to this small town.  We were at the end of a long day's driving.  It is a small active community but I have not at this point been able to find anything about its history. It is clearly part of the agricultural fabric of the area today.

1. Manildra flour mill 2. Old and modern grain silos 3. Royal Hotel, Manildra 4. War Memorial Hall Manildra is a small town (population 500) with one big industry, the Manildra Flour Mill the largest in the southern hemisphere. It also has an old picture theatre, said to be the longest running in Australia. It's a neat and tidy town with hotels, schools and other community facilities.

1. Royal Hotel, Yeoval 2.  Banjo Paterson memorial 3. Sculpture Abstract Head of Henry Moore, by Drago Cherina 4. Bikes in trees Yeoval is a small town (population 400) with a mining history and a railway line now closed.  Its main claim to historic fame is that the bush poet Banjo Paterson lived the first 7 years of his life in the town.  This is celebrated with the annual Mulga Bill Bicycle Festival and bikes in trees mark this event. A recent addition has been the huge sculpture at Banjo Paterson park, a pleasant picnic spot down by the river.

1. Royal Hotel, Cumnock 2. Old bank 3. Old shop 4.  Animals on bikes promotion 5. One of the animals on bikes 6. Another animal on bike Cumnock (population 288) is a small town with a big sense of fun and enterprise.  They were the first to start the $1 farmhouse rental scheme made famous by the recent ABC documentary of a similar scheme at Trundle. The community also inspired the Animals on Bikes trail of paddock art which runs from Molong to Dubbo and now has over 100 whimsical creations to surprise and delight, The grain silo stands sentinel beside a railway line that is closed, the historic buildings have seen better days but this is community of today.

1. All Saints Anglican Church, Baldry 2. Eden Hall Baldry is a community rather than a town.  The church built in 1889 and the hall in 1906.  Both are still in use by the local rural community which farms sheep, cattle and grain.

1. Former church, Garra 2. Another former church 3. Home that look like it might have been a school 4. Abandoned dwelling Today Garra it is a small community with evidence of a bigger past with substantial church buildings.  It was not on the railway route and doesn't appear to have had gold mining so probably existed to serve the farming community or as a staging post. The one claim to fame I found was that Charles Henry Packham the breeder of the Packham pear had his orchard in the area and that he is buried at the Garra cemetery. Garra is off the beaten track, a sleepy hollow that is likely to remain that way.

1. Bank Street, the main street of Molong 2. Heritage railway station now the local library 3. Grain silo by railway line 4. Gelato factory 5, Poplars in Autumn Heritage buildings line the main street of Molong, a town actively serving the local community within this rich farming district for wheat, sheep, wool, cattle, orchards and wineries. Like most of the region the railway arrived in the 1890s but the station is today closed and used for the local library. And also typical of the region a grain silo stands beside the railway line. The many poplars make Molong picture perfect in Autumn but it is a great spot to visit at any time of year.  On a hot day visit the local gelato factory where local fruit is turned into tasty sauces.

1. Farmland shed near Ophir 2. Ophir cemetery 3. Headstone at Ophir cemetery 4. View from Ophir cemetery 5. Map of the diggings 6. Camping area Ophir was the first payable gold field found in Australia. The town started with a gold rush in the 1850s but by the 1860s the field was largely abandoned. In the 1870s it had another lease of life when reef mining began. The last of the burials in the cemetery occurred in the 1920s and the church nearby was a ruin by the 1930s. Today there is nothing left of Ophir other than relics such as this old cemetery and the land disturbed by gold mining. In a gorge where the Summer Hill and Lewis Ponds Creeks converge there is a lovely picnic and camping ground where you can follow various walks around the old diggings. Ophir is interesting place for history buffs to take a walk or drive. See the location of Ophir on the map.

1. Map of Obley as it was 2. Old building still standing  3. Newer building 4. War Memorial Obley is what I call a "relic town". It had all the town things - a school, churches, butchers, bakers, general store, post office, police station, community hall, two hotels (including a Royal Hotel) and like all towns sent their young men to war. 13 went and 5 didn't come home. They say the police station and community hall remain as private residences but all the rest of the buildings are gone. It was a camping ground for teamsters and there was a nearby gold and copper mine. The railway passed Obley by, going instead through Yeoval where the gradients were not as steep. So the town dwindled to nothing but its young men are remembered. See Obley's location on the map.

1. Cudal cultural centre 2. Old garage 3. Old shop 4. Royal Hotel Cudal 5. War Memorial 6. Canola fields Cudal, population 380, serves the local farming community. Wool, fat lambs, cattle, wheat and canola are the main produce in the area. While there are shops that have seen better days it has full small town infrastructure and is a pleasant spot to visit when touring this rather attractive rural area. And if you are looking for accommodation I believe the Royal Hotel can put you up. See Cudal's location on the map