100 Towns

Ballimore (population 200) is quite a small town with a grain silo, pub,  church, community hall and town park all running in a row beside the highway. For me there was nothing of particular note, just a typical little town by the road.

Wongarbon stretches lazily beside the railway line. There are old shops with the general store still open, a community hall, pub and decent sized school (3 teachers apparently). A couple of old shops facing the railway have been converted to a rather attractive art gallery. With a population of around 500 there are also streets of houses and streets typically lined with old Pepperina trees. It is only 19 kms from the big regional centre of Dubbo but maintains its own character so was a surprisingly interesting diversion from the main road.

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, 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. 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. 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...