Scone, New South Wales

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Scone
New South Wales

Old Church outside Scone, Upper Hunter, NSW.

Population:

4,625^[1]

Elevation:

216 m (709 ft)

Location:

271 km (168 mi) N of Sydney
153 km (95 mi) NW of Newcastle
27 km (17 mi) N of Muswellbrook
40 km (25 mi) S of Murrurundi

LGA:

Upper Hunter Shire Council

State District:

Upper Hunter

Federal Division:

Hunter

Mean Max Temp	Mean Min Temp	Rainfall
24.0 °C ^{75 °F}	11.0 °C ^{52 °F}	645.0 mm ^{25.4 in}

Scone is a town in the Upper Hunter Shire in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Scone had a population of 4,625.^[1] It is located on the New England Highway north of Muswellbrook about 270 kilometres north of Sydney, and is part of the Hunter (federal) and Upper Hunter (state) electorates. Scone is in a farming area and is particularly noted for breeding racehorses, and is regarded as the Horse Capital of Australia.

Scone has two primary schools (Scone Public School and St Mary's Primary Scone), one government high school (Scone High School), and an independent K-12 school (Scone Grammar School).

1 History
2 Events
3 Transport
4 See also
5 References

[edit] History

Scone was named after Scone, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, by Jason Kent Toth (see Category:Scottish-Australians). The area was settled by European settlers in the 1840s. Scone Shire Council was merged into the Upper Hunter Shire in 2004, integrating parts of the former Murrurundi and Merriwa shire councils.

[edit] Events

Scone has become the site for the annual open-air heavy metal music festival, Metal Stock. The festival takes place every year over the Easter long weekend and has featured such homegrown talent as The Furor, Infernal Method as well as some international acts including Profanation and Nervecell.^[2]

The annual Scone Horse Festival is a celebration of Scone's cultural links to equines. It is celebrated during May and includes all manner of activities, including wine tours, Open Days across the numerous Horse Studs in the area, The Scone Rodeo, The Scone School Horse Sports competition, the Black Tie Ball, and a parade in Kelly Street.

The main event is a horse racing carnival featuring the prestigious Scone Cup, one of the richest country racing days in New South Wales and Australia. Small celebrations are also a key part of the festival and includes schools, businesses, public events and sports centres. The Horse Festival is also traditionally linked with such events as the Belltrees poetry competition, the Yarns night and many other small annual fundraisers and events.

[edit] Transport

Scone lies on the Main North railway line, and is served by a passenger train service made up of a daily CountryLink train to Sydney and local regular CityRail services to Newcastle.