CANOWINDRA to FORBES NSW

  I believe today's trip was the longest to date at 318 kms. I decided to drive through to Trundle as there were no Free Camps on the way and I didn't want to stay in a Caravan Park as I am nearing my budget limit with a Pension Payment due in a few days time. Anyway it turned out to be a bit of a sight seeing trip.
  First stop was Cowra another nondescript Town on the larger size with a population of 9600. The Information Centre was of no help with any meaningful insights into Cowra's past. I did stop for a while before exploring the streets looking for something interesting. The only thing I could find was a fine Catholic Church with adjoining buildings that looked as if they could have been a Convent or Presbytery in the past and now a School. Big Towns, big bore, so I soon left for Forbes.

Churches in Cowra

 

 

 

  A little Town on the way, Gooloogong caught my eye. Tiny but with a nice old Pub and a couple of Buildings of note hence the Photos herein.
  Now Forbes, the next major Town on the way to Trundle was a different story and a pleasant surprise. I will tell you all about it in my next Post.

Gooloogong

 

 

 



 

CANOWINDRA NSW

 A Sunday drive in Canowindra

 

 Ok, now try this quick quiz. How do you pronounce the Town Canowindra? Did you say "Can-o-win-dra"; well you are wrong. Believe it or not it is called "Ca-noun-dra". How did anyone work that out? You'd better be right as the locals get upset if you don't. The name is a Wiradjuri word meaning "Home". Note we are now out of Kamilaroi Country and in the ancestral home of the Wiradjuri Tribe.
  My Friend John was right, this is a real Country Heritage Town dating from 1844. The entire length and all the Buildings in the short Main Street are Heritage Listed. The structures, not all renovated are in reasonable condition. It looked like the little Street once had about 6 Pubs operating in its heyday.The Street is narrow with a bend towards the middle. This Gaskill Street, 
known to the locals as "Bendy Street". It follows the bend of the old bullock track and may have been straight if the original bridge had been built where it was originally planned. Due to the difficulties in bridging the large flood Plains of the Belubula river, the Bridge was built slightly upstream, with Gaskill Street curving with the river to the new crossing. 

Bendy (Gaskill) Street Canowindra

 





  There is an Information Centre manned by Volunteers who were friendly and tried to  but couldn't help with any Historical details (as usual). The Lady did say that the Museum next door had all the info I was looking for however, due to lack of Volunteers it was closed until further notice. I did manage to find a Pamphlet with a few clues.
  Canowindra, a town of 2100 (sure!), attracted to the fertile lands soon after the foundation of Bathurst in 1815. It developed into a frontier village at the river ford as settlement moved westward. From the mid 1840s businesses opened on either side of the River. Traffic crossed Private Land until a bridge was built in 1874. Canowindra diverted traffic to Grenfell and Forbes during the Gold Rush. Gold was the motive to be active all around the districts and Canowindra was a favourite place for Bushrangers to replenish their supplies and evade capture from the Police. The arrival of the railway from Cowra in 1910 cased dramatic growth in the Town with many of the old Primitive buildings being replaced with Double Storey structures remain to this day.

          An Old Steam Tractor on the edge of Town

                                                                           Strange looking Sheep in this place!

Four Pubs for 2100 only People

                                                                             The Royal

                             The Old Vic Inn

                                                                                                            The Junction

 

                                                                     The Canowindra

 

                                                                 Old Houses that I liked



 

Commercial Buildings

  Finally, there is on other thing that Canowindra is famous for. "In 1955 an observant Road-worker saved a large slab of rock with strange markings on the underside by pushing it to the side of the road. Little did he know at that time that this action would lead to the discovery of one of the world's Greatest fossil Deposits." It was latter determined that over 100 complete Devonian Fish Fossils were in that rock. A search began in 1973 to find the original Fossil Site and 20 years later in 1993 in was finally located. Evidence came to light of a dramatic fish kill that occurred 360 million years ago in the Devonian Period or "The Age of Fishes". Four different species were found and a single well preserved specimen has been named "Canowindra grossi". Since then about 4000 specimens have been collected from around Canowindra. the original Slab is housed in the "Age of Fisheries" display at the Information centre. I managed to sneak a peek until the Lady Attendant politely but firmly pointed out the sign and the $10 admission fee. I didn't think it was worth that for a closer look.

MOLONG NSW

 My next stop via the tiny Hamlets of Dripstone, Mumbil, Stuart Town and Euchareena is Molong. A couple of things on the way are worth a mention I had picked up a story in Wellington about StuartTown. There is a rich Gold Mining History around Stuart Town with the first discoveries made in 1840 and a major Gold Rush occurring in 1851, when thousands of Men worked the area. Formally known as Ironbarks, it was a favourite haunt of Bushranger, Ben Hall and his Gang who operated all around these parts. A map of the Town shows the location of at 40 or 50 diggings in what became the residential streets. The population of around 6000 at the height of The Rush is long gone with a miserly 104 now in residence. There is virtually nothing left here now and nothing worthy of a Photograph either. The other thing that I saw on the road worth a mention was a little Anglican Church sitting alone on top of a hill about 20 kms from Molong and overlooking the vast Wine Grape Vineyards that are all around this section of road. These Vineyards are huge with lines of vines seemingly stretching for kilometres into the distance, an uncountable number of plants. I didn't recognise any of the names of the properties.

 

  Sunday and Market Day brings many to tiny Molong a Boutique Town to the people of Dubbo and surrounding districts I imagine. with nice Heritage Building stock and a carnival atmosphere it was a change from the norm for me. The market was "Crafty" and jars of Jam and Honey didn't interest me but the old Cobb & Co. Coach House did. Built of stone and old timbers it looked authentic, I had a look inside and sneaked a Photo at the dismay of one Attendant it seemed. The for my usual walk along the short Main Street taking Snapshots as I went.

The Cobb & Co Coach House

 



 



The Heritage Buildings of Molong's Main Street

 

 

 



                     The Railway Station

 

 

  I was back in the Hiace planning my next move when I received a phone call from an old Friend John who once had a large property near Parkes and knows all the districts that I am about to travel through very well. I had intended to turn SW and go to Forbes via Eugowra. John has convinced me instead to change my route to include Canowindra. He knows the type of places that I like so I will take the advice and an extra day to travel that way, then on to Cowra, Forbes, Parkes and Trundle.