100 Towns

Cowra (population 9,500) is a typical substantial western NSW country town.   Its history is as so many of the others, some gold, arrival of the railway in the 1880s eventually settling down to being a rural service town. It does however have some unique aspects to its history.  It was the site of prisoner of war camp during World War II where Japanese prisoners attempted a mass breakout in which over 200 Japanese died.  Their graves are beautifully maintained at Cowra cemetery. Today Cowra remembers this part of its history with a magnificent Japanese garden, seeks to promote international peace and hosts an annual celebration of International Understanding.

1. Mudgee main street 2. Town clock and art deco picture theatre 3. Anglican Church 4. Catholic Church 5. Railway station 6. Vineyards Mudgee (population 8000) was settled as early as the 1820s. It started small with growth exploding during the gold rush period.  Following that the wool growing sustained the town and the wine industry began.  Wine growing is now a major industry of the region with more than 40 wineries in the district. With its high quality big-town facilities, wineries and rich farmland it is a very popular tourist destination and the kind of town attractive to tree changers. It's well worth spending a weekend (or two) here.

1. Art deco hall now a craft shop 2. Ramsgate, Victorian private residence in the main street 3. Royal Hotel 4. Rural scenery 5. Lake Oberon 6. Pine forests 7. Mayfield garden, a magnificent grand scale private garden 8. Frosty morning Oberon is a town that is surviving well due to diversification. In addition to serving as centre for the rural sheep and cattle industry it is a major timber centre with a large amount of the district being cloaked in pine forests. It is also a favoured tourist destination especially if you have a car to explore the nearby villages, take in the splendid rural scenery or perhaps go to the Jenolan Caves and the Blue Mountains wilderness. You could also try trout fishing, gem fossiking or mushrooming in the pine forests.  Its freezing cold winters are also an attraction with occasional snow and frosty mornings almost guaranteed. The lush countryside is what attracted the early settlers and there was mining in the area.  But unlike oth...

1. Blayney environs 2. Fly-in-fly-out miners 3. Busy main street, even though it's Sunday 4. Royal Hotel 5. Railway container terminal Blayney is a prosperous town with a population of around 3000 people. In 1837 the area where the town came to be had a mill, an inn and several houses. It got a nudge along when gold was found in the region, resulting in the many history villages found in the area today. With the arrival of the railway in the 1870s the town flourished further. The railway is now the location for a container terminal and is also visited daily by the Sydney to Dubbo XPT passenger service. Today the town benefits from nearby gold mining operations and other industries which have been attracted to establish in the area as well as from the rural economy.  There is also a wind farm outside the town. See the location of Blayney on the map.

1. Sculpture at the gateway to the town 2. Post Office 3. War Memorial 4. Lion of Waterloo Hotel 5. Grain silos 6. Macquarie River 7. Streetscape The modern sculpture at the entrance of Wellington , near the famous Wellington Caves, is not exactly characteristic of the town. This is a classic larger Western NSW town with a population of around 4,600. Attractive well kept two story municipal buildings, palm lined streets and an elegant town park with a more ornate then most the war memorial are testament to days of wealth and prosperity fed by gold, and the produce of rich farmland.  The Lion of Wellington hotel established in the 1840s boasts to be the oldest operating hotel west of the Blue Mountains. Like so many of these inland towns grain silos stand by the railway line which reached Wellington in 1880 and is still visited daily by the Sydney-Dubbo XPT service. After a brief stop the XPT rumbles across the railway bridge over the beautiful Macquarie River Wh...