Gilgandra New South Wales | |||||||||
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Coordinates | 31°42′0″S148°40′0″E / 31.70000°S 148.66667°E | ||||||||
Population | 3,126 (2016 census) [1] | ||||||||
Established | 1888 | ||||||||
Postcode(s) | 2827 | ||||||||
Elevation | 282 m (925 ft) [2] | ||||||||
Location | |||||||||
LGA(s) | Gilgandra Shire | ||||||||
State electorate(s) | Barwon | ||||||||
Federal division(s) | Parkes | ||||||||
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Gilgandra is a country town in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia, and services the surrounding agricultural area where wheat is grown extensively together with other cereal crops, and sheep and beef cattle are raised. [3] The town is the administrative seat of the Gilgandra Shire. [4]
Sited at the junction of the Newell, Oxley and Castlereagh highways, Gilgandra is located in a wide bend of the Castlereagh River, downstream from its source near Coonabarabran, directly downstream from Mendooran, and upstream from Gulargambone and Coonamble. [5] It is 432 km north-west of Sydney (about six hours' driving time), and is located approximately half way along the inland route from Melbourne to Brisbane. It is known as the town of windmills and the home of the "Coo-ees", and is a gateway to the Warrumbungles National Park.
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1954 | 2,032 | — |
1961 | 2,245 | +10.5% |
1966 | 2,414 | +7.5% |
1971 | 2,555 | +5.8% |
1976 | 2,494 | −2.4% |
1981 | 2,700 | +8.3% |
1986 | 2,713 | +0.5% |
1991 | 2,890 | +6.5% |
1996 | 2,822 | −2.4% |
2001 | 2,721 | −3.6% |
2006 | 2,679 | −1.5% |
2011 | 2,664 | −0.6% |
2016 | 2,595 | −2.6% |
2021 | 2,417 | −6.9% |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics data. [6] [7] |
At the 2016 census, the population of Gilgandra township was 2,600. In the wider Gilgandra area, the population was 4,300, with 96.4% Australian-born and 13.8% identifying as Aboriginal. The largest category of employment was Agriculture and Forestry, which involved 28.6% of the population. [8]
The name Gilgandra came from Aboriginal word for the area, and means "long waterhole". [9] The water level in the Castlereagh River is variable and the wide, sandy riverbed is frequently dry, or is reduced to a small stream. [10] However, there was a large permanent waterhole in the river, 100 yards (91 m) long and 12 feet (3.7 m) deep, near where the township developed, and for many years subsequently. [11] It was the source of the town's name.
Gilgandra is situated above the subterranean water of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) and, specifically, over the Surat Sub-basin of the GAB. [12] Artesian water occurs where porous rocks below the surface, called aquifers, store and carry water underground. When bores are sunk to reach the aquifers, windmills can draw the water to the surface to be stored in tanks. [13] Well over a hundred years ago, windmills were being used by townspeople to access Gilgandra's fresh, drinkable artesian water for their households, and by farmers to obtain water for their stock. [14] Windmills were being advertised in the first Gilgandra newspapers in 1905, with several local people selling and installing them, including plumber Bill Hitchen, later famous for organising the 1915 Cooee march. [15] From the early 20th century, locals and others referred to Gilgandra as a "town of windmills", and many references to that can be found. [16]
In 1948, it was reported that there were over 300 windmills in Gilgandra. [17] Many can still be seen dotted around the town but few are now in use. The Gilgandra Shire Council built a reticulated water supply in 1966, reducing reliance on private windmills. The council draws on artesian water, operating a network of nine bores to supply water to Gilgandra. [18] In 2016 Gilgandra had the largest single annual licensed entitlement to water from the Great Artesian Basin of any shire council in NSW, at 2,020 megalitres. [19]
Before the European squatters took up pastoral runs in the 1830s, [20] the Gilgandra region was home to three Aboriginal language groups: the Gamilaraay, Wiradjuri and Wayilwan. [21] According to archaeological evidence cited in the Warrumbungle National Park guidebook, indigenous groups are believed to have lived to the east of Gilgandra for at least 25,000 years, and in the Warrumbungle Ranges, 70 kilometres to the north, for about 17,000 years. [22]
Gilgandra was proclaimed as a town in 1888, and the first town blocks were sold in 1889. While that was an impetus to growth, the area had been settled by a Europeans for many years before that. Gilgandra's Post Office was formally established in 1867, a local school had opened in 1881, and the first hearings were held in the Gilgandra court house in 1884. The Gilgandra Shire was constituted in 1906. [23]
On 20 July 1900, an indigenous man, Jimmy Governor, murdered four members of the Mawbey family, and the children's governess, at their farming property just east of Gilgandra, in the area of Breelong. He was working as a fencing contractor for Mr Mawbey. The story of the murders received great publicity at the time. [24] [25] It was revived 1972 as the basis of a fictional work by Thomas Keneally, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith . [26]
During World War I, a recruitment march to Sydney began in Gilgandra, known as the Coo-ee March. The men who enlisted on the way became known locally as "Coo-ees". The march was given its name because the marchers shouted the old bush call of "cooee" at each town along their journey to attract recruits. Twenty-six men left Gilgandra on 10 October 1915. At each town on the route, the marchers were feted and a recruitment meeting was held. By the time they reached Sydney, just over one month later on Friday 12 November 1915, the number of recruits had swelled to 263. [27] [28] They were welcomed on arrival in Sydney with huge crowds lining George Street near the Town Hall to welcome them and an official address given to them by the Minister for Works representing the Premier of New South Wales. [29]
in 1919, as a peace thanksgiving, parishioners of St Ambrose Church in Bournemouth, England, grateful for the assistance England had received from the Dominions in defending the British Empire, decided to gift £1,200 to the town in the Empire with a good church and wartime service record. Gilgandra was chosen and the money funded the construction of St Ambrose Church, Gilgandra, which commenced in 1920. [30]
Gilgandra experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa, Trewartha: Cfak), with hot summers and cool winters.
Climate data for Gilgandra (Chelmsford Ave), New South Wales, Australia (rainfall: 1889–present; temperature, 1915–1975 (incomplete)); 282 metres (925 ft) AMSL | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 45.8 (114.4) | 43.9 (111.0) | 39.4 (102.9) | 36.7 (98.1) | 31.7 (89.1) | 27.2 (81.0) | 23.9 (75.0) | 28.9 (84.0) | 35.0 (95.0) | 37.5 (99.5) | 43.3 (109.9) | 42.8 (109.0) | 45.8 (114.4) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 33.1 (91.6) | 32.2 (90.0) | 29.8 (85.6) | 24.8 (76.6) | 20.0 (68.0) | 16.4 (61.5) | 15.6 (60.1) | 17.2 (63.0) | 21.0 (69.8) | 25.2 (77.4) | 29.0 (84.2) | 31.9 (89.4) | 24.7 (76.4) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 25.2 (77.4) | 24.8 (76.6) | 22.2 (72.0) | 17.6 (63.7) | 13.1 (55.6) | 10.2 (50.4) | 9.1 (48.4) | 10.3 (50.5) | 13.5 (56.3) | 17.3 (63.1) | 20.8 (69.4) | 23.9 (75.0) | 17.3 (63.2) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 17.3 (63.1) | 17.4 (63.3) | 14.6 (58.3) | 10.3 (50.5) | 6.1 (43.0) | 3.9 (39.0) | 2.5 (36.5) | 3.4 (38.1) | 5.9 (42.6) | 9.4 (48.9) | 12.6 (54.7) | 15.9 (60.6) | 9.9 (49.9) |
Record low °C (°F) | 4.4 (39.9) | 4.4 (39.9) | 2.2 (36.0) | −2.8 (27.0) | −5.6 (21.9) | −6.1 (21.0) | −6.7 (19.9) | −6.1 (21.0) | −4.4 (24.1) | −1.7 (28.9) | 0.6 (33.1) | 3.9 (39.0) | −6.7 (19.9) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 63.8 (2.51) | 52.9 (2.08) | 49.4 (1.94) | 40.1 (1.58) | 42.0 (1.65) | 45.9 (1.81) | 42.6 (1.68) | 39.3 (1.55) | 40.1 (1.58) | 47.3 (1.86) | 49.1 (1.93) | 54.0 (2.13) | 566.5 (22.3) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 4.4 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 51.1 |
Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology [2] [a] |
Gilgandra has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
Gilgandra has many sporting facilities. Local clubs support participation and arrange training and competitions.
The most popular sport in Gilgandra is rugby league. The Gilgandra Panthers rugby league team play in the Castlereagh Cup and have won the competition on six occasions, with the most recent being in 2018. They also won five premierships in the Group 14 competition which ran from 1949 until 2000, and won a Group 11 title in 1989 during their short stint in that competition.
Gilgandra's public swimming pool is located next to the town's main park and is open across the warmer months from October to end March. Learn-to-swim and exercise classes are held here. Set in lovely grassed grounds, the tiled pool was opened in October 1939 and is 33m long. There is also a children's play pool with good sun protection over. [32] Grassed tennis courts are located on a corner opposite the swimming pool (corner Castlereagh and Willie Sts).
A 9-hole public golf course, with grass greens and a licensed club-house, is located on Racecourse Rd over the bridge from the main part of the town. Golf competitions are held regularly. The golf course is situated entirely within the town's horse racing track. [33]
The town has a race course for horse racing, situated on Racecourse Road, where the Gilgandra Jockey Club arranges race meetings during the year, including the Gilgandra Cup held each January. The race course is picturesque with the town's golf fairways and greens inside the boundary of the track. [34]
There is a youth club, which has squash courts, basketball courts, and an indoor area. A fitness centre operates out of the facility. [35]
There are two main grassed recreation grounds where many different team and club sports are played (cricket, rugby league, football, Little Athletics). The town's original oval is located in Eiraben St and the Ernie Knight Oval is on Warren Rd. [36]
Gilgandra Speedway is a popular track in the district where regular motor (car) racing events are held in many divisions. It is run by Gilgandra District Speedway Club which has hosted both state and national titles here at different times. The track is well fenced and is lit for night racing. It is located on the Newell Highway 4 km south of the township (direction of Dubbo). [37]
The tourist information centre is located in the Cooee Heritage and Visitor Information Centre, at the south end of the town, on the Newell Highway. Coming from the direction of Dubbo, it is on the right-hand-side just after the grain silos and railway track crossing. Coming from Coonabarabran, Coonamble or Mendooran directions, it is along the river bank on the left-hand-side. [38]
The Cooee Heritage and Visitor Information Centre houses several museums and galleries. [39] The Gilgandra Art Gallery exhibits local and visiting artists in a range of mediums, and exhibitions are regularly changed. Aboriginal artefacts and ancient fossils and shells are displayed in the Joy Trudgett Gallery. Family history, including details of Gilgandra locals who enlisted in WW2, is on display in the Allan Wise Gallery where exhibitions are also regularly changed.
The Gilgandra Rural Museum displays and preserves an extensive collection of local farming equipment, and agricultural plant and machinery. It was established, and is run, by the volunteers of the Gilgandra Historical Society. The Museum is situated just along from the Cooee Heritage and Visitor Information Centre on the Newell Highway at the edge of Gilgandra and can be identified by a large display windmill outside. Particularly interesting large items include the Howard Rotary Hoe (a version of a cultivator) which was invented at Gilgandra, a Ridley Stripper, and a Ruston & Proctor Steam Traction Engine. [40]
Windmill Walk commences at the Rural Museum and meanders along the Castlereagh River to the town centre. Picnic spots and BBQ facilities are located along the way. [41]
The Gilgandra Native Flora Reserve is 8.5 ha of remnant bushland which features many plant species. The local wildflowers in the reserve are best seen from September to November. There are picnic and barbecue facilities. [42]
Gilgandra has a privately owned observatory open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday.
Hitchen House Museum is set up in the house once owned and lived in by Bill Hitchen, who was the driving force for the Cooee March. Displays in the museum tell the story of the Cooee March. There is a good array of WWI memorabilia in the museum. [43]
The Cooee March memorial is a stone cairn marking the spot in Bridge Street where local men commenced the Cooee March on 10 October 1915. A nearby wall mural contributes to the memorial. Recruitment marches like this were called Snowball marches, and sprang up elsewhere in NSW following the example of the Cooee March. The men assembled here in October 1915 to begin their recruitment drive by themselves marching to Sydney. [44]
There is a community radio station WARFM, which is on 98.9FM, broadcasting a wide range of programs. [45]
Miller Street is the main street with a full offering of retail stores. The Central Stores offer a range of merchandise from fashion to homewares, books and jewellery. Interest is added with an antiques, two beauty and cosmetic retailers and two hairdressers, a well-stocked pharmacy, newsagent and electrical retailer. [52]
Target Country closed its Gilgandra branch on 6 July 2019. [53] However, the main street has a range of grocery providers with a bakery and a butcher and a grocery / liquor store. Farmers, and the community's hardware needs, are met by timber retailers, farm suppliers and farm machinery suppliers, and grain and timber stores as well as hardware store in the main street. [52]
Several different financial/legal professional services firms operate in the town, from two private legal firms, to an insurance broker, three accountants and business services firms. [54] There is a combined real estate/stock & station agency.
Gilgandra Veterinary Clinic serves the needs of farm animal production and large animals, right through to domestic pets. [55]
There are two primary schools and a public high school, all co-educational:
A Technical College (TAFE) campus offers vocational training in a range of trade and industry specific areas, such as business administration, and digital photography. [64]
For the Under-5's, there is a professionally run community pre-school, and a private early childcare business also offers a pre-school program in addition to long day care.
Like many towns in western NSW, Gilgandra has an array of churches offering services supporting their congregations. Many of these have their own web page with details of the times of their church services. The various churches are:
Dubbo is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021.
Dunedoo is a village of 1,021 inhabitants situated within the Warrumbungle Shire of central western New South Wales, Australia. Dunedoo is well known to Australian travellers due to its distinctive name. The name is actually derived from a local Aboriginal word meaning "swan", which are commonly found in the area's lagoons.
Newell Highway is a national highway in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It provides the major road link between southeastern Queensland and Victoria via central NSW and as such carries large amounts of freight. At 1,058 kilometres (657 mi) in length, the Newell is the longest highway in NSW, and passes through fifteen local government areas.
Castlereagh Highway is a 790-kilometre (490 mi) state highway located in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. From north to south the highway traverses South West Queensland and the North West Slopes, Orana, and Central West regions of New South Wales.
Coonamble is a town on the central-western plains of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the Castlereagh Highway north-west of Gilgandra. At the 2016 census, Coonamble had a population of 2,750. It is the regional hub for wheat growing and sheep and wool. The name for the town is taken from the Gamilaraay word guna (faeces) and -bil.
Lightning Ridge is a small outback town in north-western New South Wales, Australia. Part of Walgett Shire, Lightning Ridge is situated near the southern border of Queensland, about 6 km (4 mi) east of the Castlereagh Highway. The Lightning Ridge area is a centre of the mining of black opal and other opal gemstones.
Cooee! is a shout that originated in Australia to attract attention, find missing people, or to indicate one's own location. When done correctly—loudly and shrilly—a call of "cooee" can carry over a considerable distance. The distance one's cooee call travels can be a matter of competitive pride. It is also known as a call of help, distinct amongst the natural sounds of the bush.
Gulargambone is a small town in the central-west plains of New South Wales, Australia, on the banks of the Castlereagh River, in Coonamble Shire. It is 382 km north-west of Sydney. At the 2016 census, Gulargambone had a population of 400.
George William Evans was a surveyor and early explorer in the Colony of New South Wales. Evans was born in Warwick, England, migrating to Australia in October 1802.
John Brophy Renshaw was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of New South Wales from 30 April 1964 to 13 May 1965. He was the first New South Wales Premier born in the 20th century.
The Castlereagh River is located in the central–western district of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Macquarie-Castlereagh catchment within the Murray–Darling basin and is an unregulated river, meaning no dams or storage have been built on it to control flows. On a map of NSW, the Castlereagh has a distinctive appearance among the north-western rivers for its fish-hook-like shape: from upstream in the north at its confluence with the Macquarie River it extends southwards to a hook-shape, flattened-out at the base, which curves to the right through to the tip of the hook in the Warrumbungle Mountains at the river's source.
The Daily Liberal is a daily newspaper produced in the city of Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia. The news stories published relate particularly to the city of Dubbo and the surrounding district. The newspaper was first printed in 1875. The current price for the daily editions is A$2.00. It has previously been published as The Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate and The Daily Liberal and Macquarie Advocate.
During World War I, recruitment marches or snowball marches to state capital cities were a feature of volunteer recruiting drives for the Australian Imperial Force in rural Australia. Between October 1915 and February 1916, nine marches were held starting from various points in the state; the most notable was the first march from Gilgandra, New South Wales, known as the Cooee march. The March of the Dungarees took place in south-eastern Queensland in November 1915. In 1918, in an effort to promote recruitment, another march was staged, but this was less spontaneous and the marchers in fact travelled by train.
Gilgandra Shire is a local government area in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the junction of the Newell, Oxley and Castlereagh highways and can be reached in about six hours by car from Sydney CBD. The Shire lies on the Castlereagh River and includes part of the Warrumbungles National Park. The shire was constituted in 1906.
Castlereagh, or The Castlereagh until 1910, was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales originally created in the 1904 re-distribution of electorates following the 1903 New South Wales referendum, which required the number of members of the Legislative Assembly to be reduced from 125 to 90. It consisted of the abolished seat of Coonamble and part of the abolished seat of Dubbo and was named after the Castlereagh River. In 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation, it was absorbed into Wammerawa, along with Mudgee and Liverpool Plains. It was recreated in 1927 and abolished in 1991, replaced by Barwon in the north-west, including the towns of Narrabri and Gilgandra, and by Upper Hunter in the south-east, including the town of Mudgee.
Alfred William Yeo was an Australian politician. He was a Country Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1932 to 1941, representing the electorate of Castlereagh.
The Coonabarabran Shire was a local government area in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was proclaimed on 7 March 1906 with the enactment of the Local Government (Shires) Act 1905 and was centred on the town of Coonabarabran, but also covered a wide area extending to smaller towns, such as Baradine and Binnaway. On 25 August 2004, the Shire voluntarily amalgamated with the adjoining Coolah Shire to form the Warrumbungle Shire.
Eringanerin Parish, New South Wales is a bounded rural locality of Gilgandra Shire and a civil parish of Gowen County, New South Wales.
St Ambrose Church is a heritage-listed Anglican church at Myrtle Street, Gilgandra, Gilgandra Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Louis R. Williams of North and Williams and built from 1921 to 1922 by J. D. Ryan. It is also known as Cooee Church and Church of St. Ambrose. The property is owned by the Anglican Property Trust Diocese of Bathurst. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 28 January 2011.
Corduroy Road Ruin Historic Site is a heritage-listed former stagecoach route and now disused road at East Coonamble Road, Curban, Gilgandra Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by n/a and built from 1850 to 1923. It is also known as Cobb & Co route. The property is owned by Gilgandra Shire Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 October 2018.