Parish of Wallandra

Rankin county NSW.

Wallandra Parish in Cobar Shire is a civil parish of Rankin County, ^[1] a Cadastral division of New South Wales. ^{[2] [3]} The Parish is on the Darling River upstream of Wilcannia, New South Wales and is located at 30°33′04″N144°20′06″E / 30.5511°N 144.3351°E / 30.5511; 144.3351 . The only town of the parish is Tilpa, New South Wales.

Geography

New bridge over the Darling River at tilpa, low river, with the old hand-operated ferry on the river bank, on right.

The topography of Wallandra Parish is flat with a Köppen climate classification of BsK (Hot semi arid). ^[4]

Tilpa is a 120 km downstream from Louth, New South Wales and 250km upstream of Wilcannia. The parish has a number of billabongs.

Economy

The economy in the parish is mainly an agricultural area, with sheep grazing the primary activity, and some pockets of irrigated land along the river. Tourism, including farmstay programs on local stations, is the other major local industry. Fishing and camping are popular along the river. ^[5] The prolonged drought in 2007 saw Tilpa run out of potable water. A Sydney-based company has offered to trial a portable water filtration plant to improve the quality of both the river and bore water. ^[6]

History

The traditional owners of the area are the Barkindji people. ^{[7] [8]}

In 1835, explorer Major Thomas Mitchell was the first European to the region, in which he traced the Darling River to what is now Menindee. ^[9]

In its heyday, the town of Tilpa was an important river port with paddle steamers delivering supplies to nearby sheep stations and returning down river laden with bales of wool. ^{[5] [10]} At Tilpa a punt, allowing sheep, horses and people to cross the Darling River safely, for a fee. ^[5] was replaced by a bridge in 1963.

See also

• Rankin County, Mississippi

References

1. [cartographer] C.A. Orwin, Map of the County of Rankin : Western Division, Land Districts of Bourke, Cobar and Wilcannia, N.S.W. 1912 (New South Wales. Department of Lands Title, Sydney N.S.W. 1914).
2. "Rankin". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales . Retrieved 4 August 2013.
3. The New atlas of Australia (John Sands, 1886) map 22.
4. Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen–Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11: 1633–1644. doi: 10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007 . ISSN   1027-5606.(direct: Final Revised Paper)
5. "Tilpa". WISE Basins. National Parks and Wildlife (New South Wales). Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
6. "Cobb says no funding help for Tilpa water woes". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 18 May 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
7. Norman Tindale's Catalogue of Australian Aboriginal Tribes
8. Aboriginal Australia Map, David Horton (ed.), 1994 published in The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia by AIATSIS.
9. "Wilcannia – Culture and History". Fairfax Media. November 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
10. "Visit Outback NSW: Tilpa". Outback NSW Tourism. Retrieved 2 October 2008.