West Wyalong

West Wyalong
Main Street ( Newell Highway ) in West Wyalong
State :  Australia State : New South Wales Founded : 1895
Coordinates : 33 ° 55 ′  S , 147 ° 13 ′  E Coordinates: 33 ° 55 ′  S , 147 ° 13 ′  E Height : 262  m Area : 8.3  km²
Residents : 2,749 (2016) Population density : 331 inhabitants per km²
Time zone : AEST (UTC + 10) Postal code : 2671 LGA : Bland Shire
West Wyalong

West Wyalong is a city of about 2,700 people in the center of the Australian state of New South Wales . It is 467 kilometers west of Sydney , at the junction of the Newell Highway , between Melbourne and Brisbane , with the Mid Western Highway between Sydney and Adelaide . The city is the administrative seat of the Bland Shire Administrative Region (LGA) .

The West Wyalong area is the largest grain growing area in NSW. In addition, the production of eucalyptus oil began here in 1907 and West Wyalong is now one of the main producers worldwide.

history

The original inhabitants of this region were Aborigines from the Wiradjuri tribe before John Oxley, the first European to explore the area on an inland expedition in 1817 . But it wasn't until the Colony's chief surveyor, Thomas Mitchell, mapped the area 10 years later that the first settlers settled in 1833. Thomas Mitchell referred to the area as The Blands, the origin of the name for what is now Shire.

With the discovery of gold by Joseph Neeld in September 1893, the region experienced a boom. Within a few months, up to 12,000 prospectors came to the previously almost deserted area. As a result, the city of Wyalong was planned in 1894. In the meantime, however, the prospectors had pitched their tents around the only available water source, known as the White Tank , and showed no willingness to move to the newly founded city. Then a year later in 1895 a little west of the originally planned city of West Wyalong was founded. Even today, the somewhat angled course of the main road reflects the Bullock Track from this time .

By the late 19th century, the Wyalong gold fields were the most productive in the country. In 1899 alone, 1264 kg of gold were mined here. However, the yield continued to decline in the following years until the mining of gold was completely stopped in 1921. Until then, a total of 12.5 tons of gold could be mined. Newer processes such as cyanide leaching made it possible to extract more gold from the spoil heaps in the 1930s.

With the decline of mining, West Wyalong became more and more of a service center for the surrounding farms and is now the center of the largest grain growing area in New South Wales.

In 1981 at Lake Cowal, about 30 km north of the city, the investigation picked up by ore again and a promising ore body discovered that since 2006 in the Cowal gold mine in open pit is mined.

sons and daughters of the town

• Dymphna Cusack (1902-1981), author
• Mark O'Meley (born 1981), rugby player
• Scott Staniforth (born 1977), rugby player

Web links

Commons : West Wyalong  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.aboutwestwyalong.com - Our Town , Accessed on 15 May 2012 found.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Australian Bureau of Statistics : West Wyalong ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} SMH - West Wyalong  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Sydney Morning Herald . Published January 1, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2012.