100 Towns

Lyndhurst (population 400) began as a rural town in the 1860s, boosted along with gold discovery in 1870. However, it really began to prosper with the arrival of the railway in 1888.  Back then there were  more 30 shops and services. Many of these old buildings can still be seen today. There is a hotel, a general store, church, CWA and soldiers memorial hall and quite a few houses. Lyndhurst was one of the possible sites considered for the new Federal capital which eventually went to Canberra. I'm rather happy it didn't get chosen though it is a rather nondescript country town.

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.

I am guessing that Birrawa sprung up because of the big grain silo. It turned out to be a cluster of houses and churches beside the highway but most were in a pretty sorry state.

Oh dear, I noticed that I posted Rylstone twice so have slotted my very last town Darby's Falls into this spot. Darby's Falls is a small village (population 70) on the road between Cowra and the water playground at Wyangala Dam. The school is closed and there are just a few houses.  We noticed there is an astronomical observatory there too. Apparently it has a gold mining history and like a lot of these old gold towns is currently the focus of new exploration for other minerals.

Mandurama started in 1876 as a private village to house the workers from Coombing Park, a large rural property in the area. It is a small town (population 300) where the history lingers.  The highway passes through this town and it is so easy to just rush through (I have done so myself) but do yourself a favour, stop and linger a while.

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.

Woodstock is a beaut little country town (population 200).  A backwater with many of its old buildings intact.  Its brief period of prosperity came with the gold rush and arrival of the railway, today it seems to  snooze in the western sun.

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.

Gulgong is old gold mining town (and a railway town) and has hung onto enough of its history to make it an interesting spot to visit today. It is also known at the $10 town because it was used the backdrop for the image of Henry Lawson on the old $10 notes.  Like some other towns in NSW they lay claim to Henry Lawson because he lived there briefly as a child.  There is a Henry Lawson museum. And there is a fabulous Gulgong Pioneer museum full of just about every element of mining, farming and domestic history. Well worth a visit.

Dunedoo is a pleasant country town -- not too big and not too small (population 800).  We have visited there on a number of occasions in a range of seasons and find it to be warm friendly community.  Worth stopping if you are driving that way.

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.

Tarana is another railway town and the junction of a short 24km branch line to Oberon.  It's a tiny settlement set in beautiful rolling farmland. Today there is a church, another church that is now a residence, an artist's studio in the old schoolhouse, a closed cafe, a few houses and the old pub which appears to be doing a good job of catering for tourists. There are numerous rural retreats in the area where you can spend a weekend away from the city.  I think that would be very pleasant.

Rydal is a small town with of 80 people, about 40 houses and a couple of churches.  One of them is a Union Church which brought together the Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist congregations. Rydal's heyday, long gone, was in the early days of the railway. From 1870 for six years it was the end of the line so was a busy spot where goods were transferred from road transport to the railway.  Today the daily XPT service still passes through Rydal and will stop here if needed for passenger to alight and set down. This little village has a great community spirit. It has been a five times tidy town award winner. The annual daffodil festival in September is a highlight of its social calendar. At that time of year it is not just the daffodils splashing the countryside yellow -- the wattles are also in full bloom.

1. Lue Hotel 2. Old shops 3. Cemetery 4. Railway bridge 5. Railway station Lue is a small town (population 100) on the road to Mudgee.  It once would have served the rural community but today is more noticeable for its past than its present.

1.  Rylstone Post Office 2.  Railway Station 3. Anglican Church, St James 4. Catholic Church, St Malachy's  5. Wesleyan Church  6. Dwelling 7. Dwelling 8. Cafe culture 9. Another historic building Rylstone is a delightful town. It began as a rural centre in the early 1800s. In the 1870s and 1880s substantial stone civic, commercial and religious buildings were built. These give the town its special character. Today the entire business district is classified as a Heritage Conservation Zone. It's the perfect spot for a weekend getaway with good food outlets, all the amenities of a substantial town, and plenty of interesting drives in the surrounding area.

1. Town clock, Kandos 2. Ropeway from quarry to cement works 3. Shopping centre 4. Railway hotel 5. Rotunda Kandos was a town build on cement but sadly the cement works closed last year and the ropeway buckets that carried limestone from the quarry to the factory are now still. Back in 1915 Kandos started as a private town when some entrepreneurial men saw the benefit of limestone, coal and the new railway line as an opportunity to get a cement industry going.  The town's name was created using the initials of these men. It is an eclectic and interesting town with a population of around 1300 people, well worth dropping by when you are travelling this way. It's also a great area to spend a weekend.

1. Home with mountains behind, Charbon 2. Town park 3. Street view Charbon (home to about 150 people) is a mining settlement started in the 1920s.  The neat grid of streets has tidy fibro workers cottages nestled by a backdrop of mountains.  The nearby Charbon colliery operates both underground and open cut mines digging coal mostly for export.  A coal train departs each day destined for Port Kembla. The town has a park but no shops and other facilities because it is just a couple of kilometres from the bigger centre of Kandos.

1. Closed Railway station, Clandulla 2. Closed general store 3. Closed school 4. One of the local houses 5. The rural setting Clandulla is a railway town.  It sprung into being with the arrival of the railway which facilitated the opening of a coal mine nearby.  With 30 or 40 houses in the vicinity of the railway station it's alive but seems to never have been much of a town in the typical sense -- it doesn't seem to have had churches or a hotel.  There is a general store now very closed like the railway station. Many of the houses are rudimentary and most are set well apart from each other. But it's close to bigger centres and is in a peaceful scenic setting, enough to attract city folk like us to buy into its rural tranquility.

1. Entry sign to Capertee Valley 2. The valley from lookout 3. Railway station 4. Royal Hotel, Capertee 5. Catholic church, on the outskirts of the town. The canyon of the Capertee Valley is apparently 1 km longer than the Grand Canyon but not as deep. It's beautiful and impressive but to me nowhere near as impressive as the Grand Canyon. Sheep properties were established in the valley in the 1840s and the village, with a reliable water source, was a good rest stop on the road to Mudgee. With the arrival of the railway in 1882 the valley was opened up for coal, limestone and old shale mining. It's a small town (population around 200) but has lots of facilities - a school, police station (with police who are often out breath testing), community hall, Royal hotel, churches and a combined garage/shop/post office so ticking along nicely. The town itself may not be the perfect destination but the surrounding area is magnificent and there are bed and breakfasts and far...