THE CENTRE Australia’sOF NSW Wool & Cotton Capital A History of Bourke...................................................................................3 A History of Brewarrina...........................................................................5 A History of Cobar .....................................................................................6 A History of Narromine ............................................................................7 A History of Nyngan..................................................................................9 A History of Tottenham .........................................................................10 A History of Trangie................................................................................11 A History of Tullamore...........................................................................12 A History of Wanaaring..........................................................................13 A History of Warren.................................................................................14 Things you need to know ......................................................................15 Things you need to know ......................................................................15 All that The Centre of NSW has to Offer ..........................................18 Cultural Services..........................................................................................18 Communications..........................................................................................20 Migrant Support ...........................................................................................23 Transport ......................................................................................................25 Main Industry of the Region........................................................................30 Accommodation...........................................................................................33 Real Estate....................................................................................................36 Childcare ......................................................................................................37 Education .....................................................................................................38 Higher Education .........................................................................................39 Employment Agencies ................................................................................40 1 A Better Life THE CENTRE Australia’s OF Wool NSW & Cotton Capital Attractions/ Things to Do ............................................................................41 Sporting Clubs/Associations......................................................................43 Community Groups/Associations ..............................................................46 Churches/Religious Services......................................................................49 Financial Institutions ...................................................................................50 Services and Trades ....................................................................................51 Retail Services .............................................................................................55 Cafes/Restaurants .......................................................................................62 Cafes .............................................................................................................62 Restaurants ..................................................................................................62 Takeaway......................................................................................................63 Clubs/Hotels.................................................................................................64 The Country Careers Program.............................................................65 Medical Services ..........................................................................................66 Health Service Details .................................................................................70 History on Nyngan Hospital........................................................................70 History on Tottenham MPS .........................................................................77 GWAHS Learning & Development Division......................................83 The Institute of Rural Clinical Services and Teaching (IRCST)84 AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements ................................................................................85 Created by: Catherine Deverell Country Careers Coordinator May 2008 2 A Better Life THE CENTRE Australia’sOF NSW Wool & Cotton Capital A History of Bourke To most rural Australians, the 'outback' is always 'further out'. There can be no doubt, however, that when you arrive at Bourke, what Henry Lawson called "the Metropolis of the Great Scrubs", and cross the Darling River you are in the REAL outback. Located 789 km north west of Sydney, Bourke is situated on the Darling River 110 m above sea level. It is, by any measure, a thriving country town with a population around 3500 and a sense of prosperity which is the result of its geographic importance as the centre of a large wool, cotton and citrus area. Charles Sturt passed through the district in 1828 and accompanied by Hamilton Hume, reached the Darling River (Sturt named the river after Sir Ralph Darling, Governor of NSW at the time) about 30 km north of the present town site and they followed the river downstream for about 100 km. It wasn't until 1835 that Sir Thomas Mitchell returned to the area and constructed a fort about 13 km south of the town site. Mitchell had bad relations with the local Aborigines and he felt a fort was suitable protection against their attacks. It was named Fort Bourke after the governor of NSW, Sir Richard Bourke (1777-1855). Eventually the district and later the town came to be known by this name. Fort Bourke was short-lived but it did establish the possibility of settlement in the area and over the next decade pastoralists moved into the area. It was marginal land and few prospered. However the history of the district changed dramatically when, in 1859, Captain W. R. Randall sailed the Gemini up the Darling from South Australia. Suddenly Bourke and Brewarrina and other centres along the river became vital transport nodes. For decades Bourke was the transport centre for the whole of south west Queensland and western NSW. Its port was the only efficient way to transport wool to the coastal markets and at its height in the late 1800s over 40 000 bales of wool were being shipped down the Darling annually. The river transport continued until the last commercial riverboat in 1931. In 1862 the township was surveyed and the first businesses - 'Bourke Store' and 'Bourke' Hotel - were established. That same year, the town's first court case - a bushranging charge - was conducted in the open air. This was a boom time for the town with large landholdings being taken up by optimistic graziers. The unreliability of the rainfall - it averages 340 mm but is likely to vary from 150 mm one year to 800 mm the next - forced many of the optimists out of the area. 3 A Better Life THE CENTRE Australia’s OF Wool NSW & Cotton Capital Generations of Australians have talked about the “back of Bourke” as the edge of the great unknown, but visitors will be surprised to learn that Bourke itself is a fascinating and exciting inland town with a rich historical tradition. In the 1800s, the poet Henry Lawson wrote: “If you know Bourke, you know Australia”, and there’s still some truth to it. Bourke still retains much of its heritage, with places of historical importance having been well preserved. Whether the Darling is at its lowest ebb or brimming with life, Bourke is a fascinating place to spend some time. A re-creation of the Old Fort at the site of the original building 4 A Better Life THE CENTRE Australia’s OF Wool NSW & Cotton Capital A History of Brewarrina There are few more charming outback towns in Australia than Brewarrina. With a town population of about 1500 and a further 1500 living on properties around the town it has just the right number of people to give it a sense of purpose and stability without losing the lazy rural character which hasn't changed for decades. The wide main street, the old style pubs, the easy lifestyle, the beautiful parks by the Darling - Barwon River, the local newspaper produced fortnightly by the local Chamber of Commerce and the historic court house and Anglican Church make it much more than just another country town. No one knows exactly what the word 'Brewarrina' means. There are five versions all of which have some claim to accuracy. The most common is 'clumps of acacias' then there is 'where the gooseberry grows', 'fishing', 'acacia clumps' and, perhaps the most plausible, 'place of gooseberries' coming from 'warrina' meaning 'place of' and 'bre' or 'burie' or 'biree' meaning 'gooseberries'. The first settlers arrived in the district around 1839-40. The first people to own land where the town now stands were the Lawson brothers who had two holdings - one called 'Walcha' and another called 'Moona'. The first name given to the settlement was 'Walcha Hut' but this later changed to 'Fishery' and finally to 'Brewarrina'. In 1859 a riverboat called Gemini skippered by William Randell reached the town. This opened up the possibility of the