Hillston, New South Wales
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Hillston is a township in western New South Wales, Australia, in Carrathool Shire, built on the banks of the Lachlan River. It was founded in 1863 and currently has a population of 1600.
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[edit] History
John Oxley and his exploration party were the first European visitors to the Hillston district, in 1817. Oxley wrote in his journal: "country uninhabitable and useless for all purposes of civilized man".
In 1839 William Hovell followed the Lachlan River to near the site of present-day Hillston and took up a pastoral holding called “Bellingerambil” (later named “Cowl Cowl”).[1]
[edit] Redbank
The locality of present-day Hillston was a crossing-place for stock on the Lachlan River and became known as “Redbank” (following the Wiradjuri name 'Melnunni', meaning “red soil”). In 1863 a stockman named William Ward Hill from nearby “Roto” station established an inn – the Redbank Hotel – at the location. William Hill died on 10 July 1867 of “exhaustion from intemperance” and his widow, Elizabeth, took over the license of the Redbank Hotel (which she held until about 1871).[2] In 1869, when the first post office was opened, the township was renamed Hillston, after its founding publican.
The site of Hillston was originally on land owned by John McGee, who obtained a sub-division and sold lots by public auction, “the lots realizing high prices”. The Government also surveyed a township just north of McGee’s land. Sixty-four lots at Hillston North were also auctioned, bringing “up to £100 per acre”. Thus two townships developed side-by-side.[3]
[edit] Township development
Hillston grew as a service centre to the wool industry in the 1880s and 1890s.
Following the First World War, the South West Closer Settlement Scheme place dozens of returned soldiers and their families on blocks of undeveloped scrub, too small to be economically viable. The personal and financial hardships that resulted over the next 2 decades resulted in most of these families walking off their blocks, and the town declined. The wool boom of the 1950s led to reconstruction of the town, and gave new optimism, only to enter a decline again in the 1960s and 1970s.
Until the bitumen sealing of the Kidman Way from Griffith was completed in the early 1970s, the rough dirt road was an effective barrier to communications with other communities. A train service existed until the mid 1970s, but since then there has been no public transport service to Hillston.
In the late 1990s, the introduction of cotton saw a boom period once again which, after a severe drought 2002-2005, is again establishing itself.
[edit] Climate
[to do][4]
[edit] Agriculture
At present the town is oriented towards grain, cotton, some citrus and vegetables, as well as some sheep and cattle.
[edit] Amenities
Town facilities include Lake Woorabinda, a man-made lake for water-skiing encircled by a scenic walking track between the river and the lake, community hall for sport and cultural events, and art gallery in the main street.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Ronald, Robert B., The Riverina: People and Properties, F.W. Cheshire, Melbourne, 1960.
- ^ Listings of Publican Licenses, New South Wales Government Gazettes; death registration - William Ward Hill (1867 - reg.: Hay),
- ^ 'The Western Riverina: A History of Its Development' by James Jervis (Royal Australian Historical Society Journal and Proceedings Vol. XXXVIII 1952), p. 185 (citing Town and Country Journal, 14 September 1878).
- ^ Hillston airport climate averages, Bureau of Meteorology.
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