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Showing posts from April, 2012

Burraga #31

1. Burraga general store and petrol station 2. Copper smelting relics 3. Old truck in back yard 4. War Memorial Burraga had one of the oldest copper mines in the state, the relics of which can be seen outside the town.  As recently as the 1990s there was gold mining in the region and at the end of the operations the pit from the mine was flooded to form Burraga Dam which is now picnic, camping and fishing spot.  Forestry and farming are the main activities today though I notice that copper and gold mining is being explored again. The town is small with a population of around 100 people.

Black Springs #30

1. Anglican Church, Black Springs 2. Community hall 2. General store 3. Rural countryside 4. Fibro cottage The little 100 year old Anglican Church at Black Springs has recently reopened its doors for worship. There is also a stone Catholic Church as the district was first settled by Irish immigrants.  Today it is a small town in an area known for fossicking and forests. It has a general store, camping area, tennis courts, school, community hall and a cluster of unassuming houses. I have always liked this little town isolated as it is among tall pine trees. See where Black Springs is on the map.

Oberon #29

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...

Rockley #28

1. Entrance to Rockley 2. School of Arts 3. Millstone at the Rockley Flour Mill Museum 4. Summer garden 5. Wier on Peppers Creek beside Stephen's Park, used as a swimming hole 6. Old Bank cafe and guest accommodation Rockley was first sighted in 1813 by Lawson (of Blaxand, Lawson and Wentworth  fame) and the first land in the area was granted to him.  Though the land that the town took its name from was granted in 1829. It was one of the earliest inland towns with town status being gazetted in 1851. Copper was found in the district in 1840s and followed by gold causing the town to grow to a population of 3,000.  It's prosperity being reflected in the substantial buildings that still stand today. In the early 1900s the mines closed and the town began to dwindle, leaving the lovely buildings untouched. The entire town today is listed by the national trust and is well equipped for visitors with hotel, cafe, active churches, school, police station and museum Vi...

Forest Reefs #27

1. Forest Reefs Tavern 2. Church at Forest Reefs 3. Old Shop Back in its heyday as a gold town there were about 500 people at Forest Reefs but little remains today.  The Sisters of St Joseph form Perthville formed a school here which operated until the 1960s. The Church of St Patrick and the convent next door are now privately owned.  A little way along the road from the convent is another building that looks like it was an old shop, perhaps the post office which closed in 1974.  There was a school that closed as recently as 1990.  A hotel is still operating. View the location of Forest Reefs on the map.

Spring Hill #26

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.

Millthorpe #25

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...

Carcoar #24

1. Carcoar village streetscape 2. Carcoar Post Office 3. Museum in the convict built stables of the Stoke Hotel 4. Cellar door of the Stoke Hotel 5. Grounds of the Stoke House Cafe with railway in the background. 6. Outside the Bridge Tea Rooms 7. Royal Hotel 8. Car in garage 9. Home 10. Old shop 11. War memorial Carcoar, which officially became a town in 1839, is the third oldest town west of the Blue Mountains.  It started as an administrative centre with a court house to provide law and order to the fertile farming district.  Later minerals added wealth to the town. The train arrived in the late 1880s and the town continued as a major centre until its slow decline when the railway closed, the highway bypassed it and the court house closed.  It could have become a forgotten town but for its beautifully preserved history. It is a delightful town to visit, an attractive tourist town. If you are driving to Cowra you can see it from the highway.  Do y...

Trunkey Creek #23

1. Town welcome sign 2. Former hotel 3. One of the churches in the town 4. Black stump Hotel - said to serve a good Sunday lunch 5. Tumble down cottage 6. Workshop 7. Another old Cottage 8. General store Interestingly Trunkey Creek only got its current name in 2003, though it has been known by this name by locals for many many years.  Before that it was just Trunkey and before that, as recently as 1988 it was called Arthur, the name it had for over 100 years. Trunkey is said to have come from a nickname for an old prospector or shepherd who had a very long nose. The town existed as a rural town before becoming a mining town with the discovery of reef gold in the late 1860s. Today is it in the heart of sheep country producing some of Australia's finest merino wool. It is a living but somewhat crumbling town with some modern facilities.  It is fascinating in that its history is on show, untouched.  Visit soon, before it falls down. View the location of Trun...

Barry and Hobbys Yards #22

1. Old shed at Barry 2. Uniting Church Cemetery, Hobbys Yards Barry and Hobbys Yards are old towns that today are a cluster of houses, not dead but not fully serviced towns either. I thought Hobbys Yards was an interesting name so investigated.  It's named after Lieutenant Thomas Hobby of the NSW Corps (1797  - 1808) who was second in charge to Cox for building the road over the Blue Mountains to Bathurst, then he took up farming. View the location of these communities on the map.

Neville #21

1. General store Neville 2. Old home 3. Presbyterian Church 4. Neville Public School 5. The siding tourist accomodation 6. War Memorial 7. Neville Hotel Neville is a neat unassuming place with a pub but the general store which was operating last time I visited is up for sale and looks like it is closed.  It has tourist accommodation called the Neville Siding with railway carriages and railway memorabilia.  The funny thing is that unlike nearly every town we have visited this one was never on a railway line! See the location of Neville on the map.

Blayney #20

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.

Newbridge #19

1. Gladstone Hotel Newbridge 2. Old shop opposite railway line 3. Another old shop around the corner 4. Newbridge post office and war memorial 5, Building beside post office 6. Street entering the town. Newbridge is a railway town.  While there were already significant properties in the area before the train arrived its real growth began from when the railway line destined for Blayney went through the area in 1876. See the location of Newbridge on the map.

Georges Plains #18

1. Georges Plains railway station 2. Home Georges Plains 3. Rural Fire Service 4. The plains At this point I have not been able to find out anything about the history of Georges Plains which is just 3.5 kms along the road from Perthville.  It had its own railway station which still stands today, though disused.  It's a small settlement in nice farming country.