At the start of the British arrival the town lay within the area of the Djangadi people's lands.[4] An Aboriginal presence has been attested archaeologically to go back at least 4,000 years, according to the analysis of the materials excavated at the Clybucca midden, a site which the modern-day descendants of the Djangadi and Gumbaynggirr claim native title rights. In the Clybucca area are ancient camp sites with shell beds in the form of mounds which are up to 2 metres (6ft 7 in) high.[citation needed]Middens are attested in the Macleay Valley, together with remnants of a fish trap in the Limeburners Creek Nature Reserve and, just slightly north of Crescent Head, at Richardsons Crossing, there is a bora ring.[citation needed]
White presence on the Djangadi lands first took off as mostly ex-convict cedar cutters, based at a camp at Euroka Creek established by Captain A. C. Innes in 1827, began exploring the rich resources of the area in the late 1820s.[citation needed] The first European settler in the Kempsey district was named Enoch William Rudder, in 1835, who had purchased a land grant of 802 acres (325 ha) from its first owner, Samuel Onions.[citation needed]In 1836, runs held by squatters lying outside the sphere of colonial jurisdiction were absorbed into the southern legal framework.[5] Within a decade the timber cutters had virtually harvested every stand of this highly prized red gold timber in clearances that made the land increasingly attractive to pastoralists,[20] who by 1847, after the passage of the Imperial Waste Lands Act of the preceding year, and the implementation of the Orders-in-Council (1847) had established 31 stations along the Macleay river from Kempsey inland to Kunderang Brook.[citation needed] This coincided with one of the most violent and sustained examples of warfare in the Macleay gorges, during which it is estimated that around 15 massacres took place in the region targeting Aboriginal people of the area.[citation needed]
The Djangadi and other tribes affected adopted guerilla tactics to fight the usurpation of their land, by attacking shepherds, hit-and-run raids on homesteads and duffing sheep and cattle livestock before retreating into the gorges where pursuit was difficult. Some 2 to 3 dozen people were killed for rustling sheep at a massacre which took place at Kunderang Brook in 1840.[citation needed] The war ended with the establishment of a force of native police at Nulla Nulla in 1851. However, by that time, attrition had devastated tribal numbers. Of the 4,000 Aboriginal people in the area before the settlements, one third are thought to have been killed in a little over two decades.[citation needed]
A description of the Djangadi and other Aboriginal groups in the Macleay area was given by Captain John Macdonald Henderson in 1851.[citation needed]
Some Djangadi settled the Shark, Pelican Island and the two Fattorini Islands in the Macleay River, gazette as Aboriginal reserves in 1885, and grew corn there. In 1924 the Fattorini island residents were relocated to Pelican Island, and its status as a reservation was cancelled. Eventually the Djangadi moved to Kinchela Creek Station though an unofficial camp remained at Green Hills, resisting attempts to have them relocated, until they were placed under the administration of a white manager at Burnt Bridge Reserve. Discrimination barriers were finally broken in part when the first Aboriginal children were permitted in 1947 to attend Green Hill Public School, though the white community reacted by shifting their children to West Kempsey.[citation needed] In the 1967 referendum on whether Indigenous people should be counted in the census of the Australian population, Kempsey had the highest number of 'no' votes in the country.[citation needed]
European settlement
Enoch William Rudder is credited with founding the settlement. He arrived from Birmingham in 1834 and bought land on the southern bank of the river in 1836, at what was then the limit of authorised settlement (the boundary of County Macquarie). He was initially attracted by red cedar cutting opportunities but planned also to profit by selling parts of his land.[citation needed] He had riverside blocks surveyed and established a private town, with the first blocks sold in November 1836. He called it Kempsey because the surrounding areas reminded him of the Kempsey Valley in Worcestershire.[6] The collapse in red cedar prices in the early 1840s nearly led to the failure of the town.[7][8]
The main (and most flood-prone) part of Kempsey was founded by John Verge, sub-dividing a grant on the flood-plain opposite Rudder's settlement.[citation needed] 1854, a government town was surveyed at West Kempsey and government facilities moved there when it became clear that no town would form around the police station and courthouse at Belgrave Falls. Rudder's settlement was renamed East Kempsey.
Kempsey initially flourished as a centre for logging and sawmilling. Large reserves of Australian red cedarToona australis, (sold in Britain and the US as "Indian mahogany") were extracted down until the 1920s, and with greater difficulty until the 1960s, by which time the resource was effectively exhausted. [citation needed] Dairying was the major industry in the area until the 1960s, with a Nestlé Milo factory at nearby Smithtown, and several cheese and butter factories.[citation needed]
Burnt Bridge
John Moseley was an Aboriginal farmer who moved to Burnt Bridge, Euroka Creek, near Kempsey, in 1892. Like the European farmers in the district, he grew maize. In 1900, Aboriginal children were excluded from Euroka Public School. Moseley, his son Percy and others petitioned for an Aboriginal school, which was created at Burnt Bridge in 1905.[9]
Under the Aborigines Protection Act 1909, the Aborigines Protection Board (APB) became responsible for the care and control of Aboriginal people, which included powers to remove children from their families. The APB pursued a policy of taking land from Aboriginal farmers and putting it in the hands of white farmers (by sale or lease). His protests to no avail, Moseley was forced to share-farm on a property he formerly owned. In October 1925, Moseley and Jimmy Linwood addressed a meeting at Kempsey showground organised by the Aborigines Progressive Association.[9]
Around 1930, other members of the Moseley family joined John on the farm at Euroka Creek. In 1937 the APB secured a large block next to the farm for the creation of Burnt Bridge Aboriginal Reserve (sometimes referred to as Burnt Bridge Mission). Aboriginal people from various other communities were moved there and forced to live with inadequate housing or a poor water supply.[9]
The manager of the reserve tried to take over the Moseleys' land, but after several scuffles, stand-offs, a letter to the local press by Moseley, a visit to Sydney by one of his sons, and intervention by Michael Sawtell, the APB agreed to leave them alone. After John's death in July 1938, Percy continued to make a claim on the land; he was then threatened with expulsion. He was granted permissive occupancy of 80 acres (32ha) of the old reserve in June 1939, but never won title to the land.[9]
Heritage listings
Kempsey has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
Kempsey features a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) with very warm, humid, rainy summers and mild, drier winters, albeit with cool nights. The town features 116.6 clear days annually with the bulk of clear weather occurring in late winter.[15]
Climate data for Kempsey Airport (31º04'S, 152º46'E, 13 m AMSL) (2001-2024, extremes 1965-2024)
Geographically, Kempsey stretches out around a long loop of the Macleay River at the top of the floodplain. It is famous for its floods. The 1949 flood was particularly destructive, having washed away a large part of the town centre when the railway viaduct (which was acting as a dam-wall due to a build-up of debris against the approaches to the railway bridge) gave way.[citation needed] The area most affected by this flood is now the site of playing fields. The shire council has a policy of buying up land in areas designated as flood plains and many houses have been transported to higher ground in recent years. Other major floods occurred in 1949, 1950, 1963, 2001, 2009, 2013, 2021, late February to March 2022
Economy
Kempsey has a history of economic problems and disadvantage. Of the 10,374 residents in the area 1,573 worked full-time and 1,105 worked part-time. The area has an unemployment rate significantly higher than the national average. A plurality (35.1) of children live in families in which no member works. The median weekly household income is $691, nearly half the national average.[18]
Despite a period of economic stagnation in past decades [citation needed] compared to nearby coastal centres of growth, Kempsey has a growing local economy based on tourism, farming and service industries. As a local centre it has many shops and services including three major supermarkets and fast food chain stores.
A Coles supermarket development (known as the "Kempsey Central Shopping Centre") has been built and is situated where the Tattersalls Hotel and various small businesses were in Little Belgrave Street. This shopping centre opened on 6 December 2008. Target Country closed their department store on 9 June 2018 - this ends a 33-year connection to the Macleay Valley (Fosseys was formerly in town before being rebranded as Target Country).
Growing industries include wineries, nut and finger lime production. Kempsey is a service centre for the nearby coastal resorts of South West Rocks, Arakoon, Hat Head, Crescent Head and for the heritage-listed mountain village of Bellbrook, which are popular places for retirees and holiday-makers alike.
Demographics
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±%
1921
3,613
—
1933
4,824
+33.5%
1947
6,330
+31.2%
1954
7,489
+18.3%
1961
8,016
+7.0%
1966
8,198
+2.3%
1971
8,706
+6.2%
1976
8,881
+2.0%
1981
9,037
+1.8%
1986
9,335
+3.3%
1991
9,049
−3.1%
1996
8,630
−4.6%
2001
8,444
−2.2%
2006
8,137
−3.6%
2011
10,374
+27.5%
2016
10,648
+2.6%
2021
11,073
+4.0%
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics data.[20][21] Note: after 2006, Kempsey's population includes the population of several additional neighbouring communities.
According to the 2021 census, the median age in the Kempsey area is 42. 18.3% of residents are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. 84.4% of people were born in Australia. compared with the national average of 66.9%. The next most common country of birth was England at 1.6%. 71.9% reported having both parents born in Australia; this is significantly higher than the national average of 45.9%. 84.4% of Kempsey residents spoke only English at home.
The most common responses for religion were No Religion 35.2%, Catholic 19.4%, and Anglican 15.8%.[22]
Kempsey used to have an Australian rules team called the Macleay Valley Eagles, who folded in 2016.
Crime
In recent decades Kempsey has attracted attention for its high and rising rate of crime when compared with state averages.[23] In 2016 crime figures released by the NSW Police Force revealed crime levels in Kempsey are two times the state average.[24]Break and enter is a particular problem, with a rate three times the state average. From 2014 to 2016, most crimes increased in Kempsey, with domestic violence, robbery with a firearm and break and enters all rising.[citation needed]
In 2015 it was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald that Kempsey was experiencing violent crime linked to ice addiction.[25] Offences for methamphetamine trafficking are roughly twice the state average. There followed a proactive program of crime prevention and community safety initiatives funded through the Australian, NSW and local government that has seen the town revitalised and crime incidents reduced. The 2016–17 Annual Report of Kempsey Shire Council indicated 80% of residents felt safe in their homes and public spaces.
Facilities
Government buildings such as the council chambers, library and several offices - are located west of the North Coast Railway line in West Kempsey. This area is not subject to the flooding that the CBD occasionally sees and is seen as a second business district with a variety of businesses and banking facilities. Opened in July 2004, the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre, a minimum to medium prison for 500 male and female inmates, is located in Aldavilla, approximately 14 kilometres (8.7mi) west of Kempsey. As of 2019[update] there are plans to add extra housing for more inmates by 2020.
Transport
Until a new 14.5 kilometre bypass opened on 27 March 2013, the Pacific Highway passed through Kempsey. The former alignment is now known as the Macleay Valley Way. The new bypass included a 3.2 kilometre Macleay River Bridge, the longest bridge in Australia.[26][27]
Tom Keneally's novel A River Town, (1995), a mystery novel centred on the lives of an Irish settler Tim Shea and his family in the period on the eve of Federation, is set in Kempsey.
Maitland is a city in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately 166 kilometres (103 mi) by road north of Sydney and 35 km (22 mi) north-west of Newcastle. It is on the New England Highway approximately 17 km (11 mi) from its origin at Hexham.
Lismore is a city located in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area, it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the state. Lismore is 734 km (456 mi) north of Sydney and 200 km (120 mi) south of Brisbane. It is situated on a low floodplain on the banks of the Wilsons River near the latter's junction with Leycester Creek, both tributaries of the Richmond River which enters the Pacific Ocean at Ballina, 30 km (19 mi) to the east.
Moree is a town in Moree Plains Shire in northern New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Mehi River, in the centre of the rich black-soil plains. Newell and Gwydir highways intersect at the town. It can also be reached from Sydney by daily train and air services.
The Macleay River is a river that spans the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast districts of New South Wales, Australia.
Macksville is a small town on the Nambucca River in the Nambucca Valley, New South Wales, Australia. It is halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, along the Pacific Highway, approximately 40 minutes north of Kempsey, 40 minutes south of Coffs Harbour, 70 minutes north of Port Macquarie, five hours south of Brisbane and five hours north of Sydney.
Casino is a town in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia, with a population of 12,298 people at the 2021 census. It lies on the banks of the Richmond River and is situated at the junction of the Bruxner Highway and the Summerland Way.
Mullumbimby is a town in the Byron Shire in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. It promotes itself as "The Biggest Little Town in Australia". The town lies at the foot of Mount Chincogan in the Brunswick Valley about 9 kilometres by road from the coast. At the 2021 census, Mullumbimby and the surrounding area had a population of 3,589 people. It is known for its hippie subculture.
Bega is a town in the south-east of New South Wales, Australia, in the Bega Valley Shire. It is the economic centre for the Bega Valley.
Bellingen is a small town in the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on Waterfall Way on the Bellinger River, approximately halfway between the major Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane. In 2021, the population of Bellingen township was 3,923 and Bellingen shire was 13,253, and it is the council seat of Bellingen Shire.
Wauchope ( ) is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is within the boundaries of the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council area. Wauchope is inland on the Hastings River and the Oxley Highway 19 km (12 mi) west of Port Macquarie. The town is 383 km (238 mi) north of the state capital Sydney.
South West Rocks is a town located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, near the mouth of the Macleay River. It is approximately 40 km (25 mi) from Kempsey. Jerseyville is located nearby.
Kempsey Shire is a local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia.
Apsley River, a perennial stream of the Macleay River catchment, is located in the Northern Tablelands district of New South Wales, Australia.
The Macleay Valley Bridge is a road bridge over the Macleay River and its floodplain near the settlement of Frederickton, New South Wales, Australia. The bridge is part of the Pacific Highway (A1) new alignment which bypasses Kempsey and Frederickton. At the time of its official opening in 2013, the bridge was the longest road bridge in Australia.
Dhanggati, previously known as Dyangadi (Djangadi), is the Australian Aboriginal language once spoken by the Djangadi of the Macleay Valley and surrounding high country of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales. There is an ongoing program of language-revival. Ngaagu (Ngaku) and Burgadi (Burrgati) were probably dialects. The three together have been called the Macleay Valley language. Shared designated Ceremonial between surrounding tribes ie:Anaiwan, Gumbagerri and including tribes from further West from Armidale to the North at Tenderfield New South Wales and Southern tribes such as the tribes around Nowendoc, S.E New South Wales. Anaiwan Country did trade offs with the surrounding tribes for the use of a Ceremonial site which the 'University of New England' is now located at 'Booloominbah house' when the then colonial settlement Armidale was becoming an important trade route and penal colony housing a jail at the earliest time of Colonialism and a route further West to the 'Western Plains'. It was also a deterrent to large groups of natives from gathering so their places of the deepest and Spiritual importance was simply replaced by Aboriginal places of "checks and balances" to the White Imperialism ways of "keeping things in check". The site of this important ceremonial place was the "Original Square Dance" ceremony performed by tribal priests. Elders from the past referring to the 'New England' Tablelands as " Being to cold ". The group's surrounding the areas of Armidale merged with coastal tribes and shared in one of many ceremonies. The Dhunghutti Tribal name for the Creator Spirit was 'Woorparow Yo Wa' also known as 'Bhiamie'. The ceremonial meaning and purpose of the "Original Square Dance," is not lost to history. The ceremony is set in "high up" Country" close to the sky.
Frederickton is a town on the Macleay River, New South Wales. Located about 6 km NE by N of Kempsey and about 7 km W by S of Smithtown. It is roughly 436 kilometres north of Sydney. The Macleay Valley Bridge, the longest bridge on the Pacific Highway commences just to the East of town.
The Djangadi people, also spelt Dhungatti, Dainggati, Tunggutti or Dunghutti are an Aboriginal Australian people resident in the Macleay Valley of northern New South Wales.
Bellbrook is a locality in the Kempsey Shire of New South Wales, Australia along the Macleay River. The mountain village is classified by the National Trust as a heritage village and is part of the Macleay Valley Coast.
The Macleay River Railway Bridge is a heritage-listed railway bridge that carries the North Coast railway line across the Macleay River from Kempsey to South Kempsey in New South Wales, Australia.
Extreme rainfall on the east coast of Australia beginning on 18 March 2021 led to widespread flooding in New South Wales, affecting regions from the North Coast to the Sydney metropolitan area in the south. Suburbs of Sydney experienced the worst flooding in 60 years, and the events were described by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian as "one in 100-year" flooding. Far-southeast communities in Queensland were also affected by flooding and heavy rainfall, though to a lesser extent than those in New South Wales.
↑ Tom Keneally, A River Town,William Heinemann Australia (1995) p.5. Keneally does identify 'Primrose', a servant of a local family, as speaking on her deathbed the language of the Yarrahappini of the Macleay Valley(p.276)
↑ "Kempsey". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 February 2004. Archived from the original on 3 July 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2007.
1 2 3 4 Morris, Barry (2005). "John Moseley". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 22 February 2020. ...first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Supplementary Volume, (MUP), 2005
↑ Poole, Fiona (14 February 2008). "When sorry will be enough". ABC Mid North Coast NSW. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
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