Binalong, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Southern Tablelands
The Southern Tablelands is a geographic area of the State of New South Wales, Australia. This area is located west of the Great Dividing Range.The area is characterised by flat country which has generally been extensively cleared and used for grazing purposes...
of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia, 37 km north-west of Yass
Yass, New South Wales
Yass is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Yass Valley Shire. The name appears to have been derived from an Aboriginal word, "Yarrh" , said to mean 'running water'....
in Yass Valley Shire
Yass Valley, New South Wales
Yass Valley Council is a local government area in the Australian State of New South Wales. It is located in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales on the Hume and Barton Highways and the Main Southern railway line....
. In 2006, the town had a population of about 269 people.
Overview
The indigenous people of the district were part of the NgunnawalNgunnawal people
The Ngunnawal people are the Indigenous Australian inhabitants whose traditional lands encompass much of the area now occupied by the city of Canberra, Australia and the surrounding Australian Capital Territory...
people. The first Europeans recorded as visiting the area were the exploratory party of Hamilton Hume
Hamilton Hume
Hamilton Hume was the first Australian born explorer. Along with Hovell in 1824, Hume was part of an expedition that first took an overland route from Sydney to Port Phillip near the site of present day Melbourne...
in 1821.
The name of the town is believed to derive either from an Aboriginal word meaning 'under the hills, surrounded by hills, or towards a high place' or from 'Bennelong', the name of a noted Aborigine.
Binalong lay beyond the border of the Nineteen Counties
Nineteen Counties
The Nineteen Counties were the limits of location in the colony of New South Wales defined by the Governor of New South Wales Sir Ralph Darling in 1826 in accordance with a government order from Lord Bathurst, the secretary of State. Counties had been used since the first year of settlement, with...
which was the formal legal extent of European settlement in New South Wales. However, squatters settled in the district prior to the formal establishment of squatting districts in 1839.
From 1847 there was a permanent police presence in Binalong and a court of petty sessions. The same year a local entrepreneur applied successfully to the Commissioner of Police for a grant to build an inn to provide accommodation and victuals for the visiting magistrate and police witnesses, and the Swan Inn was established close to the courthouse.
Six years later, Cobb and Co
Cobb and Co
Cobb and Co is the name of a transportation company in Australia. It was prominent in the late 19th century when it operated stagecoaches to many areas in the outback and at one point in several other countries, as well....
was established in Melbourne as a coaching company, and upon eventually expanding their operations into New South Wales, entered into an agreement with the Swan to provide staging services for coaches, drivers and passengers travelling along the adjacent road to the goldfields at Lambing Flat or Young
Young, New South Wales
-Demographics:On census night, 7 August 2001, there were 6,821 people counted in Young. There were 238 people who identified as being of Indigenous origin in the 2001 Census...
.
The town was gazetted in 1850 and flourished as a coaching stop. The public school was established in 1861.
Over the years the Swan became known as "The Cobb and Co". Following the building of the railway and the establishment of other hostelries closer to the railway station, the Swan fell into private hands and it was not until the mid-1980s that it was restored as a fine-dining restaurant of great character, continuing to this day under the name The Black Swan. It has been complemented with a fine modern motel (under different management, former owners of the Black Swan) on the adjoining block of land .
The railway
Main Southern railway line, New South Wales
The Main Southern Railway is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through the Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands, South West Slopes and the Riverina regions.- Description of route :...
arrived in 1876.
The family of the poet Banjo Paterson
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
moved to the Binalong district in 1869 when he was five years old. He attended the primary school in Binalong but later went to boarding school in Sydney
Sydney Grammar School
Sydney Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, selective, day school for boys, located in Darlinghurst, Edgecliff and St Ives, all suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
returning home in the holidays. The district features in a number of his poems, for example, Pardon, the son of Reprieve. Paterson's father is buried in the local cemetery.
The presence of gold meant also that there were bushranger
Bushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
s in the area. The grave of John Gilbert
John Gilbert (bushranger)
Johnny Gilbert was an Australian bushranger shot dead by the police at the age of 23 near Binalong, New South Wales on 13 May 1865.John Gilbert was the only Australian bushranger never to go to prison...
is near the town in the former police paddock. He was a member of the Gardiner-Hall gang and shot by police in 1865.
The original railway station opened in 1876, and was replaced by the current structure on an island platform
Island platform
An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...
when the railway was deviated and duplicated in 1916. The railway station opened in 1875 The 1916 signal box is now closed. The original 1876 station remains as a private house on the road to Yass.