Towrang, New South Wales
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Towrang () is a village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Goulburn Mulwaree Council. It is approximately 13 km before Goulburn on the Hume Highway 180 km south from Sydney. The town was setup in the 1800s, early in the European settlement of New South Wales. The area was once a large producer of fruit for the Sydney market. The railway station was one of the busiest in the state but was removed in the 1970s after Goulburn outgrew Towrang and fruit production declined.
[edit] History
A major stockade for chain-bound convicts and others involved in the construction of the Great South Road was located on the north side of the Hume Highway at Towrang Creek from around 1836 to 1842. The stockade became the principal penal establishment in the southern district and was noted for its harsh discipline. There were usually at least 250 convicts hutted there. They slept on bare boards with a blanket apiece, 10 men to a box or cell. One of the two official floggers was later found murdered Sydney Morning Herald.
There is a rest area on the south side where a well-preserved bridge (possibly designed by the designer of impressive early bridges in New South Wales, David Lenox) and a culvert can be viewed.
The stockade is on the north side of the Highway and used to be accessible by a stile, but this has been taken down to discourage people from stopping and using the daunting intersection with Towrang Road, especially for those turning right on to the Highway towards Goulburn. There are the remains of the powder magazine next to the Wollondilly River, three graves on the north bank of Towrang Creek, and the remains of a weir on Towrang Creek built for the stockade. Aboriginal stone tools have also been found on the banks of Towrang Creek, indicating that this was a route well-travelled long before Hamilton Hume came this way in 1818.
The Hume highway in this area is about to be upgraded to improve the safety of the intersections with Towrang and Carrick Roads under AusLink, and it is to be hoped that access to the stockade site will be restored.
