Marrangaroo is a small town in the Central West

Central West, New South Wales

The Central West region refers to the area west of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. It has an area of 63,262 square kilometers....

 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

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in the City of Lithgow

City of Lithgow

Lithgow is a Local Government Area in New South Wales, Australia that includes Lithgow and its surrounding area. It is on the Great Western Highway and the Main Western railway line.- Demographics :According to the , there:...

.

Overview

Marrangaroo is located a few kilometres or 5 minutes west of Lithgow. It is accessible from the Great Western Highway

Great Western Highway

The Great Western Highway is a highway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs 210 km from Sydney to Bathurst.Starting as Broadway at the intersection of City Road near the fringe of the Sydney CBD, and becoming Parramatta Road to Parramatta itself, the Great Western Highway heads due west from...

, and has no rail station and little bus services. Jones Bros Bus Company

Jones Bros Bus Company

Jones Bros Bus Company is a bus company that operates in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia.-Bathurst Services:Jones Bros Bus Company has seven routes, plus three Macquarie Mover Shuttles that operate in and around Bathurst...

 run buses between Lithgow

Lithgow, New South Wales

Lithgow is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia and is the centre of the local political division City of Lithgow. It is located in a mountain valley named Lithgow's Valley by John Oxley in honour of William Lithgow, the first Auditor-General of New South Wales.Lithgow is...

 and Bathurst

Bathurst, New South Wales

-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...

, which makes limited stops at Marrangaroo on the Great Western Highway. A main feature of Marrangaroo was the Trout Farm which was opposite the Lithgow Correctional Centre

Lithgow Correctional Centre

Lithgow Correctional Centre is a maximum security Australian prison located on the Great Western Highway at Marrangaroo, New South Wales, Australia....

. At the 2006 census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, Marrangaroo had a population of 869.

Military

Marrangaroo Army Camp situated at the end of Reserve road used to be a major Ammunition Depot from 1941 to the late 80's. It is now used for demolitions and various training by all three services. During the second world war it housed one of Australia's best kept secrets; Chemical Warfare. Marrangaroo was the administration headquarters for all of NSW RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) Chemical Weapon Stores which were kept in Tunnels and sidings at Marrangaroo (old tunnel and siding near correctional centre), Glenbrook tunnel in the Blue Mountains, Clarence Tunnel (now part of the zig zag railway) and Picton tunnel in Sydney's south. A new book called "Chemical Warfare in Australia" by Geoff Plunkett describes the people and places http://www.mustardgas.org.
During an interview with Plunkett in 2005, Chemical Warfare Armourer, Geoff Burn mentioned he had been involved in the burial of 250 lb phosgene bombs near the headquarter's entrance in 1943. He was subsequently recalled from Cairns (Queensland) in 1944 to identify the site but was unsure as to whether the bombs had been extracted. They hadn't. After Geoff Burn marked the site on an aerial map a ground search revealed they were still there. The legacy of these weapons remains with several hundred empty (so far) chemical munition containers being found buried at Marrangaroo Army Camp from February 2009 to May 2008. Remediation works are continuing.http://lithgow.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/bases-phantom-war-reveals-its-secrets/1237570.aspxhttp://lithgow.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/chemical-warfare-left-its-legacy/1266856.aspx.

A remediation project is due to start in November 2008 with a secondary task (main one is to remove heavy metal contamination) to remove any more buried chemical munitions. The revelation of Marrangaroo's history has sparked much recent interest http://lithgow.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/railway-historians-join-chemical-warfare-issue/1235101.aspxhttp://lithgow.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/hidden-newnes-forest-storage-has-added-to-military-puzzle/813140.aspxhttp://lithgow.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/chemical-experiments-in-the-eighties/813141.aspxhttp://lithgow.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/mustard-gas-tainted-our-reputation/805927.aspxhttp://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24380097-5001021,00.htmlhttp://lithgow.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/cleansing-our-military-sins/1427459.aspx.

For more information on the decontamination see http://www.defence.gov.au/id/marrangaroo/default.htm

The Lithgow Golf Club (aka. Eskroy Park) is a picturesque 18 hole course with the clubhouse originally built by Charles Hoskins as the family residence.

Transport

A railway station opened at Maragnaroo on the Main Western line

Main Western railway line, New South Wales

The Main Western Railway is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through the Blue Mountains, Central West, North West Slopes and the Far West regions.- Description of route :...

 in 1878 and closed in 1974. Little trace of it remains. Also, it has been suggested as the western terminus for the proposed Bells Line Expressway