ADELONG

AUSTRALIA

Adelong, New South Wales From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Adelong New South Wales Main street Adelong Population: 829[1] Established: 1840 Postcode: 2729 Elevation: 303 m (994 ft)

Location:

410 km (255 mi) from Sydney

81 km (50 mi) from Wagga Wagga

20 km (12 mi) from Tumut

6 km (4 mi) from Grahamstown [2]

LGA:Tumut Shire - County: Wynyard - State electorate: Wagga Wagga - Federal Division: Riverina

Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 21.8 °C 71 °F 6.7 °C 44 °F 790.5 mm 31.1 in

Adelong is a small town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia and is a part of the Tumut Shire. The Adelong district has a population of about 1400, while Adelong itself has a population of 829 people.[1]

The town is situated about 160 kilometres west of Canberra. It is on the Snowy Mountains Highway.

The town's name is said to be derived from an Aboriginal language meaning "along the way" or "plain with a river".[3]

It was settled about 1840 to 1850 before gold was found. The initial discovery of gold at Adelong by a Mr Williams took place in 1857, the find being located on the crest of Victoria Hill and representing the weathered capping of the Old Hill Reef. Alluvial gold, both in Adelong Creek and Golden Gully is also believed to have been discovered at about the same time, and the field quickly developed into an important producer.

By 1859 a number of prominent lines of mineralisation were being actively exploited. The two most prominent lines of mineralisation, the Old Reef and the Victoria, produced some 3,798 kilograms of gold during the period 1857-1876. During the gold rush the population expanded to more than 30,000 people. Over 25 tonnes of gold was mined from 1857 to the close of the mine in 1914. Adelong's importance in Australia's early mining history has been recognised by the National Trust of Australia with a large section of the main street as well as a number of impressive early buildings being classified.

A number of narrow-gauge tramlines were laid throughout the mine area. Adelong is one of the only two gold mining areas in New South Wales known to have employed a steam locomotive on its tramways.[5]

The gold ran out in the latter part of the 19th century and the pastoral industry became the principal activity.

This was mainly Merino sheep and beef cattle, and continues now.

Over the last 20 years a tourist industry has developed because of the pleasant scenery and gold mining history.

During the gold rush many Chinese people worked in the mines, a lot of whom died and were buried in a special portion of the Adelong cemetery. Unfortunately the Chinese portion of the cemetery was obliterated in the early 1900s. One or two elderly Chinese and Indians still lived in Adelong in the 1950s.

A community named Cornishtown existed about a mile to the west of Adelong till the 1940s.

The famous Adelong Falls, with its rich gold-mining past, is an ideal spot to have a leisurely picnic or to explore the unique surrounding area. - (Ref - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelong,_New_South_Wales).

Parts of this page are from AnyPoint Australia

Historians and Gold fossickers alike find Adelong a place of great interest. Located on the Snowy Mountain Highway in the south west slopes of the Great Dividing Range, Adelong nestles in the hills between Gundagai to the north, Batlow to the south, Tumut to the east and Wagga Wagga to the west. Adelong has a rich heritage extending back over 170 years. Hume and Hovell made the first western recording of the area as they passed by the creek on their way back to Sydney Town, completing their historic expedition of 1824-25. The word 'Adelong' contains a sense of older contact with the area, being the local Aboriginal word for 'river of plain'.

The explorers Hume and Hovell described Adelong and surrounds as "rough and difficult country", and white settlement of the area proved a slow affair. By the 1830s, 12,000-13,000 sheep were grazed along the Murrumbidgee River. David Johnson

was founded in late 1825, shortly after the Hume and Hovell expedition passed though the region, and covered an area in those early days extending from Tumblong to Batlow.

Adelong's economy no longer depends upon gold finds. Its chief industries are beef and dairy cattle, wool, fat lambs, orcharding, and the local cattle sale yards. It is mostly visited today out of historical interest. The main street from Campbell to Neil Streets has been classified for preservation by the National Trust. The Adelong Falls reserve which was established in 1971 covers 27 hectares, and includes the picturesque `Cascade Falls'. Offering picnicking and BBQ facilities, the walking tracks of the reserve lead to the sites of two early homesteads, 'Campsie' and 'Ferndale', as well as an area specially designated by the New South Wales government as a "Fossicking Area".

Pastoralists anxious to expand their grazing lands had followed in the wake of the Hume and Hovell’s 1824 expedition, and by 1830 sheep were being run along the extent of the Murrumbidgee (Brodribb 1883). Grazing land on Adelong Creek was first taken up by Thomas Hill Bardwell , and his Adelong Station extended from Adelong Crossing (Tumbalong) to Reedy Creek (Ritchie 1987).

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