User:Roslyngardens/sandbox

Coordinates: 32°35′37.043″S 149°17′38.657″E / 32.59362306°S 149.29407139°E / -32.59362306; 149.29407139
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Yarrabin (formerly Merrendee)
New South Wales
Don Endacott's general store at Yarrabin, NSW. The foundations of the McGrath homestead "Murray King" are also visible at right.
Yarrabin (formerly Merrendee) is located in New South Wales
Yarrabin (formerly Merrendee)
Yarrabin (formerly Merrendee)
Coordinates32°35′37.043″S 149°17′38.657″E / 32.59362306°S 149.29407139°E / -32.59362306; 149.29407139
Establishedcirca 1851
LGA(s)Mid-Western Regional Council

Yarrabin (formerly known as Merrendee) is a ghost town near the junction of the Meroo and Cudgegong rivers in the New South Wales Orana Region. The village of Merrendee was established after the discovery of gold in that area around 1851 and was located approximately 23 miles west of Mudgee.[1][2] The locality was renamed Yarrabin by postal authorities in 1923.[3]

Mowgee clan of the Wiradjuri nation ( - 1851)[edit]

The Meroo River at Yarrabin.

The Wiradjuri people (Aboriginal pronunciation: [wiraːjd̪uːraj]) Aboriginal pronunciation: [wiraːjɟuːraj]) are a group of indigenous Australian Aboriginal people that were united by a common language, strong ties of kinship and survived as skilled hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans scattered throughout central New South Wales. Wiradjuri country is bordered by the Lachlan (Kalari), Macquarie (Wambool) and Murrumbidgee (Murrumbidjeri) rivers in central New South Wales. The name Wiradjuri means ‘people of the three rivers’.[4]

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Merrendee Gold Fields (1851 - 1900)[edit]

A mound of quartz rock at Yarrabin.
An undated photograph of Don Endacott's store (left) and McGrath family homestead "Murray King" (right).
An undated photograph of Herbert McGrath's Merrendee Hotel (left) and Merrendee post office (right).

In July 1851 an Aboriginal man "formerly attached to the Wellington Mission and who [had] been in the service of W. J. Kerr Esq. of Wallawa" discovered a hundredweight of gold, partially encased in a mound of quartz, in the locality now known as Yarrabin. The Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal reported that "when heaped together on the table they presented a splendid appearance and shone with an effulgence, calculated to dazzle the brain of any man not armed with the coldness of stoicism". The journal went on to describe the site of the find as near an isolated heap of quartz blocks "about 100 yards from a quartz vein which stretches up the ridge from the Murroo Creek" and "[at] the commencement of an undulating table land, very fertile, and ... contiguous to a never-failing supply of water in the above-named creek". Mr W. J. Kerr, the "fortunate proprietor" of the find, rewarded his servant with two flocks of sheep, two saddle horses and a quantity of rations.[5]

By August 1857 a correspondent for the The Sydney Morning Herald described how "bark and comfortable slab huts [had taken] the place of calico tents, and a little village [had] sprung up". This early account of Merrendee describes the village as being made up of "an excellent building ... being erected for a public house, and Mr. F. B. Gulley's new store, a neat pine building with verandah, fitted out quite in the Sydney style ... [as well as] ... a very neat and substantial slab store".[6]

The first General Publicans' License in Merrendee was issued for "the house situated at Merindee [sic], in the district of Avisford, to be known as the Cricketers Arms". The license was granted to Joseph Cox and transferred to a Mr. Jones in May 1863. Other licensed establishments in the town included Richard Knight's "Merrendee Inn" (c1858) and Robert Forbes Milne's "Royal George Inn" (c1858). By 1904 the only public house in the town was Herbert Francis McGrath's "Merrendee Hotel". McGrath conducted the hotel from July 1904 until its closure in 1923 "as a result of the decree of [the] Licenses Reduction Board".[7] The Australian tennis champion Vivian McGrath, son of Herbert and Florence McGrath, was born at the "Merrendee Hotel" in 1916.

A post office was established at Merrendee in July 1859.[8]

In approximately 1870 James Hooper Endacott built a substantial stone and brick house from the proceeds of gold found at nearby Tunnel Gully. The house, named "Devonshire" after Endacott's native home of Devon, England, is still standing.

"Deserted appearance and abandoned shafts"[9] (1900 - 1946)[edit]

Remains of former public buildings and tennis court at Yarrabin.
A chimneystack near the site of the Yarrabin Public School.

By 1908 the Mudgee Guardian reported that "Merrendee of to-day, with its paucity of population, its deserted appearance, abandoned shafts, grassless paddocks, its monotony and general activity, presents a striking contrast to the Merrendee of about fifty years ago".[10] By 1927 there were only 12 pupils enrolled at the Merrendee Provisional School "and as a rule an average daily attendance of 9 pupils and over".[11] The school was first referred to as Yarrabin Public School in 1925.[12]

A church operated in Yarrabin until at least 1947.[13]

Construction of the Burrendong Dam (1946 - 1967)[edit]

Lake Burrendong

Ghost town (1967 - )[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "MINES AND MINING". Australian Town And Country Journal. Vol. II, , no. 33. New South Wales, Australia. 20 August 1870. p. 10. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  2. ^ "Many Years Ago". Mudgee Guardian And North-western Representative. New South Wales, Australia. 10 May 1934. p. 16. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "MERRENDEE OFF THE MAP". Mudgee Guardian And North-western Representative. New South Wales, Australia. 6 December 1923. p. 17. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/archive/events/exhibitions/2011/carved_trees/02_wiradjuri_country/index.html
  5. ^ "A HUNDRED WEIGHT OF GOLD". Bathurst Free Press And Mining Journal. Vol. II, , no. 102. New South Wales, Australia. 19 July 1851. p. 2. Retrieved 27 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  6. ^ "MERRENDEE". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. XXXVIII, , no. 5978. New South Wales, Australia. 4 August 1857. p. 9. Retrieved 10 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  7. ^ "CLOSING HOTELS". Mudgee Guardian And North-western Representative. New South Wales, Australia. 22 November 1923. p. 19. Retrieved 8 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "NEW POST OFFICE". The Maitland Mercury And Hunter River General Advertiser. Vol. XVII, , no. 1739. New South Wales, Australia. 14 July 1859. p. 4. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  9. ^ "Old Merrendee Reminisences". Mudgee Guardian And North-western Representative. Vol. XIV, , no. 1618. New South Wales, Australia. 10 December 1908. p. 19. Retrieved 27 June 2018 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  10. ^ "Old Merrendee Reminisences". Mudgee Guardian And North-western Representative. Vol. XIV, , no. 1618. New South Wales, Australia. 10 December 1908. p. 19. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  11. ^ "Merrendee School". Mudgee Guardian And North-western Representative. New South Wales, Australia. 3 October 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA". Singleton Argus. New South Wales, Australia. 27 October 1925. p. 3. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "WEDDING". Mudgee Guardian And North-western Representative. New South Wales, Australia. 25 September 1947. p. 10. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.


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