Australia So Much to See

A little to the north of the town turned east onto the Oxley Highway towards Gunnedah to avoid the trucks on the Newell. This was an enjoyable drive, at first through forests, and later through farmland.

We stopped at the Oxley’s Crossing (Rocky Glen) Rest Area, where there was a memorial to explorer John Oxley who crossed here in 1818. There was an odd shaped old concrete slab near the road, together with what may have been some sort of water tanks – origin of these unknown.

Rest area, which has tracks and loops into the bush behind the rest area, is thirty kilometres north east of Coonabarabran and three kilometres south west of Rocky Glen locality, on the north side of the highway.

We visited a family farm of 9,000 hectares. Crops planted in May following rains were growing but suffering from the very dry winter. They had some irrigation rights from the Castlereagh River, from which they store water in dam when the river is flowing. This is used to grow fodder crops for livestock feed.

The farm had distant views to the jagged horizon of the Warrumbungle Range to the north.

Gilgandra is a rural centre with a population of around 3,100. It is now at the junction of five highways. The town was officially proclaimed in 1888, but the town preceded this, with the Post Office operating from 1967.

The name Gilgandra came from Aboriginal use of the word for this place, which means "long waterhole". The town was established on a semi permanent waterhole known as Gilgandra, on the Castlereagh River which dries seasonally.

Windmills were common, used to draw water from the Great Artesian Basin. Now water is reticulated from the town scheme, drawing on artesian water from a network of nine bores.

Boggabri

Mullaley

Oxley’s Crossing

In an area with undulating farmland, Mullaley was a very small township with a modern rural supplies store, a postal agency and a small primary school. Mountains were visible on the horizon to the east.

At Mullaley, which is 38 kilometres west of Gunnedah, we turned north on a part sealed and part unsealed rural road, the Grain Valley Road through flat cropping land with a rich soil. This met the Kamilaroi Highway at Boggabri.

Boggabri has a large grain receival facility, and here are also active coal mines in the area. As we approached the town from the south, we passed a Namoi Cotton gin. Irrigation dams, irrigation sprinklers, channels and cotton farms were more evident to the north of Boggabri.

Boggabri, on the Namoi River, means place of many creeks. The town was gazetted in 1860.

We visit Narrabri, Mount Kapatur and Sawn Rocks.

The bridge across the Castlereagh River, with parklands alongside the river.

Coonabarabran

Resources

Wikipedia – Boggabri

Visit Narrabri – Boggabri

Aussie Towns – Boggabri

Town clock in central Coonabarabran.

Around seven kilometres north of Boggabri on the Kamilaroi Highway, there were two railway crossings over the road (above left). This appears to be due to a realignment making one line obsolete. Further to the north more ranges appeared (above right).

Baan Baa

Gins Leap

Gins Leap, four kilometres north of the town on the Kamilaroi Highway, has an interesting history as the site of the Rock Inn between 1854 and 1867, predating the town. This bluff is said to be a site where two Aboriginal lovers leapt to their deaths as their tribal customs forbid their union, as she had been promised to a tribal elder.

At the parking area, a few family graves include those of a mother and young son who died following a spirits explosion at the Inn.

The tiny town of Baan Baa has a small old grain receival bin which appears disused, in front of which there is a sign advertising the “Baan Baa Pub”. The sign looked like it was referring to the old silos when in fact the hotel is a block back from the highway on a side street.

Baan Baa is said to be Aboriginal for "swim away". The railway station at Baan Baa opened in 1883 and once had the longest railway platform in country New South Wales. The Baan Baa Post Office opened in 1885 and closed in 1988.

The Baan Baa Literary Institute building which constructed of local cypress pine timber, was erected in 1923, and is now the local community hall. Well I suspect that the much smaller derelict old wooden building next door was the actually the original building.

Baan Baa was once a bustling railway village, which once had its own bakery, butchery and service station. Very little is left now. The Baan Baa Railway Hotel was established in 1922 is currently operating although it has not been open continuously.

The primary school closed in 2005 when student numbers fell below 20, and has since been purchased as a private residence and a place for the new owners to display their collections. They have a camping area with toilets and hot showers, for $5 per person per night.

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The Gilgandra Rural Museum displays and preserves an extensive collection of local farming equipment, agricultural plant and machinery. It was established and is run by the volunteers of the Gilgandra Historical Society.