It is not known for sure who the first European explorers were in this area. Hamilton Hume and his neighbour, William Broughton, had explored the Yass area in 1821. They may have gone farther towards the Lachlan. Broughton had one of the first farms on the Boorowa River in 1828. By 1849, he had of land in the area. Other early settlers were James Hassall in 1827. His family already had large farms at Cowra by 1823. His brother Tom Hassal, a clergyman and his wife Ann Marsden (daughter of Reverend Samuel Marsden) and other family members were given land in 1831. There was a law at the time which gave free land to the children of clergy.
Many of the settlers in Boorowa were from Ireland and the town shows their influence. Two early settlers in the 1820s were cousins, Roger Corcoran and Ned Ryan. They had been sent to Australia as convicts. Saint Patrick's Church, built in 1877 has a huge stained glass window brought from Ireland in 1881. It shows Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) the "Liberator of Ireland." The oldest building still standing in Boorowa is Shamrock Cottage, built in 1850, once the home of the owner of the Queens Arms Hotel.
There are many old buildings still standing in Boorowa. Webb and Crego's store, built in 1862, was robbed by bushranger Ben Hall in 1863. The Royal Hotel, built in 1860, is still a hotel although it is now called the Ram and Stallion Hotel. The Court House, built in 1884, is now an information centre for tourists.
Guity Novin
Guity Novin (born Guity Navran), is a Persian-Canadian painter and sculptor. She has started a movement in painting that she has named Transpressionism. She was born in Kermanshah, Iran, in 1944. She now lives and works in Vancouver and Toronto. Guity Novin was graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Tehran in 1970. After leaving Iran, she moved to The Hague, Netherlands in 1975, and then to Manchester, UK where she completed her studies.
She moved to Canada in 1980 and lived and exhibited in Kingston (Ontario), Montreal, and Ottawa and finally settled in Vancouver, British Columbia.
She has introduced the Transpressionism style in 1994. By using this style she tries to convey her passionate philosophical ideas.
She has served on a UNESCO national committee of artists.
Murringo, New South Wales
Murringo is a small town in New South Wales. It is 25kms east of Young and 406 km west of the state capital, Sydney. The town was in the area often robbed by the bushranger, Ben Hall.
Europen settlers moved into the area in 1827. The first farm in the area was Marengo Station, 1833, owned by John Scarr. By 1840 there were about 40 people living in the area. When the town was laid out by the surveyors in 1849, they called the town Murringo. It has also been called Meringo, Marringa, Maringa, Muringo, Maringo and Marengo. In 1926 the town was officially called Murringo. In 1864, Ben Hall robbed John Scarr and his brother as they rode along the road to Burrowa.
The original plans included a market place, a big cemetery and large parks. When gold was found nearby at Lambing Flat in 1860, most of the people moved to the goldfields. Although there were only about 120 people living in the town, the people saved money and built the Christ Church Anglican Church in 1866. The foundation stone for the Sacred Heart Catholic Church was laid in 1871. A post office opened in 1857.
A number of historic buildings are still standing in Murringo. The church (1866), the Marengo Hotel, the police station (1880), the school (1870), school teacher's house (1879), the Plough Inn (a hotel) (built before 1860) and the Post Office (1857). A blacksmiths shop and cottage from the 1870's has been turned into a craft workshop.
Wellington, New South Wales
Wellington is a town in New South Wales. It is where the Macquarie and Bell Rivers join together. The town is the centre of the Wellington Shire Local Government Area. The town is 362kms from Sydney on the Great Western Highway and Mitchell Highway. The average summer temperatures are between 17.5º Celsius and 31.7º Celsius. In winter the temperatures are between 1.5º Celsius and 15º Celsius. In 2001 there were 4,672 people living in Wellington. There were 9,200 people living in the Wellington Shire.
The area was originally lived in by the Wiradjuri people. Explorer John Oxley was the first Europen to visit the area in 1817. He named it "Wellington Valley" after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.
Wellington was settled in the 1823 by Lieutenant Percy Simpson in early 1823 as a convict settlement. Farmers started settling along the Macquarie Valley. The convict settlement closed in 1831. In 1832 a Christian mission was started in the settlement for the Aborigines. A village called Montefiores was started on the north side of the Macquarie River crossing. The village of Wellington was officially listed in 1846 and was made a town in 1879. Wellington Shire Council was started in 1947.
Wellington is the second oldest New South Wales settlement west of the Blue Mountains. A hotel that opened in 1842 is the oldest hotel west of the Blue Mountains. It was also the site of the last recorded duel fought in Australia in 1854. The railway from Sydney reached Wellington in 1880.
Wellington is the centre of rich farm land. Lucerne and vegetables are grown on land beside the river. Wheat, wool, fat lambs and beef cattle are grown nearby. The town acts as a business centre for the district. However, now Orange and Dubbo have become bigger business centres.
In September 2008, a gaol, the Wellington Correctional Centre was opened. A Probation and Parole Office was also opened in the centre of town. Wellington Council hopes this will increase the number of jobs and bring visitors to the town.
The local newspaper "The Wellington Times", owned by Rural Press, is printed three times a week.Home - ACM Ad Centre.
There is a daily train, the CountryLink XPT, which runs between Sydney and Dubbo.
The closest commercial airport is at Dubbo. There are regular daily flights from Sydney. There is a small airport ( Bondangora Airport) for private planes 12 km east of Wellington.
Lake Burrendong, a man-made lake. is 30 km south of the town. Its holds three and a half times more water than Sydney Harbour. Its water is used for farming. It is also visited by people wanting to fish, sail and water ski. Burrendong Arboretum is a sanctuary for endangered Australian plants and covers 1.60 km².
The Wellington Caves are millions of years old. The main cave is Cathedral Cave with the massive Altar Rock.
The Wellington Boot, a country racing festival is held in every year in March and April. There is also a winery, the Bell River Wine Estate. The Nangara Gallery has a collection of Aboriginal objects.
White Christmas
A white Christmas means that at least an inch of snow has fallen on Christmas Morning. This is more common in some countries than in others.
For example, in the United Kingdom, there are not a lot of White Christmases; but in Canada, there is almost always a White Christmas. Ireland's last "official" White Christmas was in 2004.
Since the 1950's, there are less White Christmases in the USA.
Binalong, New South Wales
Binalong is a small town in New South Wales, Australia. It is 37 km north-west of Yass.
The Aboriginal people who lived in the area were part of the Ngunnawal people. The first Europen to visit the area was Hamilton Hume in 1821. The name of the town is believed to come from either an Aboriginal word meaning 'towards a high place' or from 'Bennelong', the name of a famous Aborigine.
Binalong was outside the legal limits of European settlement in New South Wales. However farmers settled in the area before the law changed to allow settlement in 1839. From 1847 there was a police camp at Binalong and a court. The old Cobb and Co inn was built at that time as a staging post for Cobb and Co coaches.