100 Towns

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.

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.

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.

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. Portland Cement works 2. Heritage industrial building  3. Heritage industrial building 4. Worker's cottage 5. Main street There is a sadness at Portland.  All down one side of the long main street is closed off - industrial buildings, workers cottages, parklands.  The closed off area is the site of the Portland Cement Works which sustained the town for 100 years and shut down in the 1990s.  Portland was a company town. It is hard to imagine the impact of that closure. Today Portland (population 2000) is a bit of a struggle town but kept ticking by the nearby Mount Piper Power Station (which opened about the time the cement works closed), mining and rural activities. I think it is a rather nice town with a pleasant historic feel to it.  I do hope that one day the heritage industrial buildings are put to good use. There are 'signs of yesteryear' murals on many of the shops.  I am annoyed at not having taken a photograph but I think I realised t...

1. Wallerawang Power Station 2. Wallerawang Royal Hotel 3. Old railway station 4. Storage sheds by the railway line 5. Lake Wallace Wallerawang began as a staging point on the road to the west. The railway which reached Lithgow in the 1869 and Wallerawang in 1870 helped develop the town.  Until the line extended to Bathurst, some six years later, passengers alighted at Wallerawang to join Cobb & Co coaches for their onward journey. Oil shale, coal mining and power generation have sustained the town since then.  The power station which began operation in 1957 has been instrumental in developing the western coal fields. A little further up the road is the newer Mount Piper Power Station, built in 1990. Power generation requires water and Lake Wallace provides this, as well as being a lovely local amenity.

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. Old shop opposite the railway  2. Railway hotel Spring Hill was essentially a village servicing the farming community.  The railway line pushed through from Blayney to Orange went through Spring Hill.  Old buildings still face the railway line but the Railway station was removed in 1988. Spring Hill continues as neat and tidy community close to the city of Orange. View the location of Spring Hill on the map.

1.  Millthorpe streetscape 2. Antique shop 3. One of several great eating places Millthorpe is a great little town so I was disappointed to find that my archive photos have gone missing so I must go back one day and add to these images. Millthorpe was essentially a rural town that benefited from the large number of people who moved into the area during the gold rush.  In the 1880s a flour mill was established in the area, eventually leading to the town being named Millthorpe.  Another important development was them winning the battle to have a railway station built in that same period. Using the railway they were able to transport flour, chaff and potatoes to the market in Sydney. It was during this prosperous time the town's main buildings formed. But as the 20th century arrived things changed. Chaff was no longer needed and the grain industry and potato market moved elsewhere. The town almost died and its buildings empty. But the lovely untouched historic b...