Red Range, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Red Range is a village on the Northern Tablelands
region of New South Wales
, Australia
in Glen Innes Severn Shire. It is in the Parish of Rusden and Gough County
. The village is located on the Red Range Road 23 km south-east of Glen Innes. At the 2006 census
, Red Range had a population of 254 people.
from Ely
in Cambridgeshire
, England
to make a new home for themselves. In 1854 he made his first selection, "Rocky Valley", on the (now) Red Range Road along the Mann River. A few years later, he made a second choice, a block of land he called "Splitters Home" at the site later to become Red Range. Within a few years the village
grew to consist of a church, a few houses, a general store and a school, surrounded by peppermint
bushes.
The little slab cottage
next to the shop was built around this time and was later used to store produce
for the shop. The cottage
-like appearance is more recent and had resembled a barn
for most of its life. It was built of pit-sawn vertical slabs and given a snow roof, typical of the buildings of that time and altitude.
and around the turn of the 20th century they became Australia’s principal source of molybdenum
. During World War 2 the mines provided limited amounts of piezoelectric quartz
for the radio industry.
pattern. The original shop fittings were of dark-stained panelled knotty pine
and the shelves were lined with linoleum
underlaid with newspapers. The last of these fixtures, the original shop counter, was removed in 1994 because it no longer met with current health
department requirements. Newspapers under the linoleum counter-top revealed that it was re-covered in 1926. Previously lost coins, found lodged between the panels, dated from 1921. The present take-away counter, although of a more recent genre
, typifies the diverse service provision reminiscent of a comment made in the 1920s regarding the store. A family from Bingara who travelled for two days to Red Range to buy footwear, because of the variety and quality of merchandise offered, used the argument, "If you can buy it in Australia, you can buy it in Red Range!" Red Range's nearest other general store in those days was Hollis's Store at Pinket.
Miss Rainbow was also the first shop-keeper in the present building. Later storeowners included the Wilson family, the Rudds, and more recently the Winns. In the 1960s the Cooke family purchased the property and the shop-front was partially demolished and converted into a motor garage for the Cooke's Carrying business.
shop by retired Sociologist, Dr. Lionel D. C. Hartley while restoration
commenced on the nearby cottage. This little cottage, called "The Mews", then opened as temporary premises for the Red Range Store. The shelves were crowded with general merchandise and groceries, and once again Red Range had its own commercial
centre. 1993 saw the commencement of, Council approved, heritage restoration of the old shop-front, using descriptions from local residents.
According to one-time shop-keeper at the old Red Range Store, the late Maureen Morgan, the shop originally had a narrow straight-iron verandah
which was replaced in (about) 1918 with a bull-nosed frontage. As the restoration included rebuilding the verandah, the earlier design was chosen. The shop also originally had two small doors, which were flush with the street as a front entrance. The indented doorway in the restoration is more in keeping with the period and, like The Mews Cottage, mimics the single door entrance of the original Red Range School-of-Arts (now known as the Red Range Hall) building. Timbers used in the restoration are all local to Red Range: the weather-boards are from the house next door (on the western side) which was built about the same time as the shop; the verandah
posts are from the original store; and the roofing timbers are old rafter
s from parts of the original Red Range Butter
Factory
. The carport
on the western side of the shop is constructed using timbers from the eastern wall of the School of Arts (which was replaced with bricks in December 1994). Restoration was completed by Dr Hartley in 1994 and in 2004 The Red Range Store was sold for wholesale removal to Backwater
(Guyra Shire) but continues to trade today, online.
The uniquely contoured façade
is original to the building and its design was partially copied by the original School-of-arts which was built next door in 1902. The hitching-post has been re-built using one of the original fence posts from the old shop. Adjacent to the hitching post, under the grass, are concealed a set of steps the full length of the verandah. For reasons of safety these have been left covered over, although senior residents of the village have recollections of sitting on those very steps "eating a penny
worth of conversation lollies" or "smoking
a cadged cigarette
".
shop has been refurbished. The original fittings were relocated to Red Range Motors in Grafton St in the mid-20th century and are no longer in the village.
The Red Range Store boasted two Glass-Bulb manually-operated Petrol Pumps which were installed in the period between the wars. The fuel tanks are still under the footpath in front of the store residence and the cement
slabs, where the pumps were, can still be seen. Until his death in the early 1990s, Jack Scott operated the village's second set of petrol pumps at Red Range Motors in Grafton Street, Red Range. The first resident of Red Range to own a motor car is reported to be Mr Jack Lawler Senior, who in 1916 bought one of the first Chevrolet
cars to be imported into Australia. Shortly after, Mr W. Marshall, the mine
manager
at Kingsgate at the time, purchased a model T Ford. A wooden bridge was constructed across the Mann River along the Red Range Road and 1996 saw the closure of this bridge with the opening of a new cement structure named, appropriately, after Mr Jack Lawler Senior.
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lamps lighting the shop were replaced by a gas lighting system, the remains of which are still in existence in the shop attic
. Electricity
first came to the village in the mid 1950s. The North West County Council organised contractors and excitement built as the official "Switching-on" ceremony
was to take place. A dance was organised and the power connected. The night before the official ceremony, however, the transformer
supplying the village caught fire and exploded, plunging the village into darkness again. The following morning it was hastily repaired and the official "Switching-on" event took place on April Fool's Day (1st. April) 1955. This was performed by two of the oldest residents of the village at that time, Mrs Ryall and Mr George Morley. The dance went ahead as planned, and although the night was remembered as being particularly bleak for that time of year, the old brick
fireplaces in the hall were put to good use. (The fireplaces and their chimneys were demolished in 1994 when the eastern wall of the hall was reconstructed in brick.)
The village was then soon dotted with power poles and criss-crossed with wires for both electricity and telephone
, however, underground cables for telephones, along with an automatic telephone exchange
in the village, saw the last of the multi-wired telephone poles removed in 1995 and only the electricity power poles remain. Although most of the poles taken down were removed from Red Range, the last telegraph pole to be taken down in the village is now a log seat in the market ground behind the store.
and movie shows. Boasting a reading room and library
, a "bobs" (like billiards
) area, a large supper room and galley (kitchen). The galley was the congregating place of the children during functions
, as the entire family would usually attend. There is still an underground pipe from the artesian well behind the shop (in the market ground) to the water supply for the School-of-arts, however the rainfall at Red Range usually kept the galley in good supply.
The School-of-arts had a post-office built on the North-East corner in a room currently occupied as a Shire Branch (public) Library. The Post Office had previously been located in a building at the far Eastern end of Victoria Street where the road turns into Tablelands (Kingsgate) Road. Postal services are now handled by courier
from Glen Innes
, although the Red Range Store was licenced as a Stamp
Vendor.
In those early days the School-of-arts caretaker
was a Danish
cartwright called Carl Tronier. Carl had a shed at the rear of the building where he carried out his trade repairing sulkies
and buggies
, and upholstering and painting vehicles. The School-of-arts is now managed jointly by the Red Range Soldier's Memorial Trust and the Red Range Recreational Trust Sub-management Committee.
.jpg)
and digital
equipment was obtained and set up in the rooms behind the store. However, the licence application, although initially provisionally approved, was refused by the Australian Broadcasting Authority
because 'a transmitter
in such a strategic mountain location would interfere with local television channels in neighbouring Glen Innes
and Grafton
'. The equipment has now been re-located and put to use in the production (and post-production) of material for radio and television and for distribution on cassette
, CDs, DAT
s, DVD
s, and videos
etc.
Riding Event established by Denise Lute and the late Denise Griffin.
, tennis
, rugby union football
, horse sports, racing, and even a rifle range. Cricket was played against Emmaville, Dundee, Shannonvale, Mount Mitchel and Glencoe (where it was necessary to travel by sulky
on Friday night, camp at Lambs Valley, and after the game arrive home in the "wee small hours of Sunday morning"). The horse sports were played west of the school on the furthermost side of Rocky Creek, also the location in those days for the annual School Picnic
, which was held on Empire Day each year. (Empire day, May 24., was the anniversary
of Queen Victoria's birthday.)
The Recreation Ground catered for cricket, football and tennis. Other tennis courts were later located in Victoria Street (further West and opposite the store) and at the school. The Red Range Market Ground (behind the Store) was designated with the approval of the Severn Shire Council in 1994 with the first market
on the tenth of October that year. Two years prior to that the first Council approved Carols-by-candlelight was held in the Market Ground on Christmas Eve
, 1992 and presided over by L. Hartley, PhD.
Factory. This facility specialised in the export of butter to Britain
and was fed by just under 100 local dairies in its hey-day.
at Red Range. A Mr Wyld was engaged as baker, and Mr Whan (and occasionally his brother Arthur) delivered bread
to the village residents and the surrounding areas (E.g. the families working the bismuth
& molybdenite
mines
at Kingsgate
and the tin
mines at Skeleton Creek) with a covered two-horse cart. The bakery
was sold to Matt Williamson when Bill purchased a truck
to commence a carrying business. It is thought that the bakery closed in the late nineteen-seventies. It was shortly after this that the Church at Red Range was demolished.
pews made locally by a Mr Waimsley. The Village Church was used mostly by Anglican, Methodist, and Presbyterian ministers, who in the early days came by sulky
or rode horses. Although it was not unusual for Canon Kemmis to arrive at the Village Church wearing leggings
, having ridden there on his horse. More fortunate was Reverend A. P. Cameron, the Presbyterian minister, who usually arrived in a sulky driven by Mr. Alfred W. Lane from Glen Innes. Portions of the old church have found their way to the Retreat House at the present Kingsgate Mines.
Northern Tablelands, New South Wales
The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England region, stretching from the Moonbi Range in the south to...
region 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 Glen Innes Severn Shire. It is in the Parish of Rusden and Gough County
Gough County, New South Wales
Gough County is one of the 141 Cadastral divisions of New South Wales.Gough County was named in honour of Field Marshal Sir Hugh Gough, first Viscount Gough .- Parishes :...
. The village is located on the Red Range Road 23 km south-east of Glen Innes. 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,...
, Red Range had a population of 254 people.
Origins
Red Range was established in 1854. Four years earlier, George Kempton and his wife Harriet had come to AustraliaAustralia
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...
from Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...
in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to make a new home for themselves. In 1854 he made his first selection, "Rocky Valley", on the (now) Red Range Road along the Mann River. A few years later, he made a second choice, a block of land he called "Splitters Home" at the site later to become Red Range. Within a few years the village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
grew to consist of a church, a few houses, a general store and a school, surrounded by peppermint
Peppermint
Peppermint is a hybrid mint, a cross between the watermint and spearmint . The plant, indigenous to Europe, is now widespread in cultivation throughout all regions of the world...
bushes.
The little slab cottage
Slab Hut
A Slab Hut is a kind of dwelling or shed made from slabs of split or sawn timber. It was a common form of construction used by settlers in Australia and New Zealand during their nations' Colonial periods.-The Australian Settler:...
next to the shop was built around this time and was later used to store produce
Produce
Produce is a generalized term for a group of farm-produced goods and, not limited to fruits and vegetables . More specifically, the term "produce" often implies that the products are fresh and generally in the same state as where they were harvested. In supermarkets the term is also used to refer...
for the shop. The cottage
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
-like appearance is more recent and had resembled a barn
Barn
A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...
for most of its life. It was built of pit-sawn vertical slabs and given a snow roof, typical of the buildings of that time and altitude.
First School
The first school began in 1879 and a weather-board school building was built in 1886. The present school building was opened around 1996 and the old building moved (in two sections) to another part of Red Range for conversion into a residence. Water tanks from the old school building are still in use, having been relocated at the store.Families Associated with Red Range
Names associated with Red Range in those early days included (in alphabetical order) Austin, Butcher, Cameron, Chapple, Cheney, Drew, Edwards, Enrights, Goodwin, Hagen, Hall, Hawker, Hollis, Hottes, Kraemer, Lane, Lowe, McCabe, McDonald, Madgwick, Mahoney, Mitchell, Morley, Penson, Perkins, Peters, Pogson. Potter, Rainbow, Rogers, Ross, Rush, Ryall, Rudd, Smith, Ted Sargeant, Taylor, Thompson, Tronier, Waimsley, Wells, Whan, Williams, Willis, Wilson, and Winn.Mining
In the late 19th century the Kingsgate Mines commenced working in the area with over 60 separate workings scattered over a fairly small area. The mines were originally worked for bismuthBismuth
Bismuth is a chemical element with symbol Bi and atomic number 83. Bismuth, a trivalent poor metal, chemically resembles arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth may occur naturally uncombined, although its sulfide and oxide form important commercial ores. The free element is 86% as dense as lead...
and around the turn of the 20th century they became Australia’s principal source of molybdenum
Molybdenum
Molybdenum , is a Group 6 chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin Molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek , meaning lead, itself proposed as a loanword from Anatolian Luvian and Lydian languages, since its ores were confused with lead ores...
. During World War 2 the mines provided limited amounts of piezoelectric quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
for the radio industry.
First opening
In 1897 Miss Rainbow opened the first general store in the area of the house which forms part of the present shop building. Today, the shop, which was built in the early 20th century, is an extension of the original house. The interior, as with most of the house, is lined with 12x12 "Wunderlich" pressed steel in a fleur-de-lisFleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...
pattern. The original shop fittings were of dark-stained panelled knotty pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
and the shelves were lined with linoleum
Linoleum
Linoleum is a floor covering made from renewable materials such as solidified linseed oil , pine rosin, ground cork dust, wood flour, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most commonly on a burlap or canvas backing; pigments are often added to the materials.The finest linoleum floors,...
underlaid with newspapers. The last of these fixtures, the original shop counter, was removed in 1994 because it no longer met with current health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
department requirements. Newspapers under the linoleum counter-top revealed that it was re-covered in 1926. Previously lost coins, found lodged between the panels, dated from 1921. The present take-away counter, although of a more recent genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
, typifies the diverse service provision reminiscent of a comment made in the 1920s regarding the store. A family from Bingara who travelled for two days to Red Range to buy footwear, because of the variety and quality of merchandise offered, used the argument, "If you can buy it in Australia, you can buy it in Red Range!" Red Range's nearest other general store in those days was Hollis's Store at Pinket.
Miss Rainbow was also the first shop-keeper in the present building. Later storeowners included the Wilson family, the Rudds, and more recently the Winns. In the 1960s the Cooke family purchased the property and the shop-front was partially demolished and converted into a motor garage for the Cooke's Carrying business.
Re-opening
In 1992 the store re-opened as a second-handSecond-Hand
Second-Hand was a 2005 Romanian film directed by Dan Piţa.-Plot summary:The film's plot surrounds the romantic involvement of two contrasting characters: Petre , a Mafioso, and Andreea , a young violin player. The pair meet and fall in love...
shop by retired Sociologist, Dr. Lionel D. C. Hartley while restoration
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
commenced on the nearby cottage. This little cottage, called "The Mews", then opened as temporary premises for the Red Range Store. The shelves were crowded with general merchandise and groceries, and once again Red Range had its own commercial
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
centre. 1993 saw the commencement of, Council approved, heritage restoration of the old shop-front, using descriptions from local residents.
According to one-time shop-keeper at the old Red Range Store, the late Maureen Morgan, the shop originally had a narrow straight-iron verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
which was replaced in (about) 1918 with a bull-nosed frontage. As the restoration included rebuilding the verandah, the earlier design was chosen. The shop also originally had two small doors, which were flush with the street as a front entrance. The indented doorway in the restoration is more in keeping with the period and, like The Mews Cottage, mimics the single door entrance of the original Red Range School-of-Arts (now known as the Red Range Hall) building. Timbers used in the restoration are all local to Red Range: the weather-boards are from the house next door (on the western side) which was built about the same time as the shop; the verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
posts are from the original store; and the roofing timbers are old rafter
Rafter
A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members , that extend from the ridge or hip to the downslope perimeter or eave, designed to support the roof deck and its associated loads.-Design:...
s from parts of the original Red Range Butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
Factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
. The carport
Carport
A carport is a covered structure used to offer limited protection to vehicles, primarily cars, from the elements. The structure can either be free standing or attached to a wall. Unlike most structures a carport does not have four walls, and usually has one or two...
on the western side of the shop is constructed using timbers from the eastern wall of the School of Arts (which was replaced with bricks in December 1994). Restoration was completed by Dr Hartley in 1994 and in 2004 The Red Range Store was sold for wholesale removal to Backwater
Backwater
Backwater or Backwaters may refer to:* Backwater , water in a main river which is backed up by an obstruction such as the tide or a dam, or a branch of a main river which runs alongside it before rejoining it...
(Guyra Shire) but continues to trade today, online.
The uniquely contoured façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
is original to the building and its design was partially copied by the original School-of-arts which was built next door in 1902. The hitching-post has been re-built using one of the original fence posts from the old shop. Adjacent to the hitching post, under the grass, are concealed a set of steps the full length of the verandah. For reasons of safety these have been left covered over, although senior residents of the village have recollections of sitting on those very steps "eating a penny
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...
worth of conversation lollies" or "smoking
Smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them...
a cadged cigarette
Cigarette
A cigarette is a small roll of finely cut tobacco leaves wrapped in a cylinder of thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smoulder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth and in some cases a cigarette holder may be used as well...
".
Kiln
The underground (Newcastle) kiln on the western side of the cottage was constructed using bricks from the fuel storage shed which formed part of the original shop, and behind the cottage the old blacksmithBlacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
shop has been refurbished. The original fittings were relocated to Red Range Motors in Grafton St in the mid-20th century and are no longer in the village.
The Red Range Store boasted two Glass-Bulb manually-operated Petrol Pumps which were installed in the period between the wars. The fuel tanks are still under the footpath in front of the store residence and the cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
slabs, where the pumps were, can still be seen. Until his death in the early 1990s, Jack Scott operated the village's second set of petrol pumps at Red Range Motors in Grafton Street, Red Range. The first resident of Red Range to own a motor car is reported to be Mr Jack Lawler Senior, who in 1916 bought one of the first Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
cars to be imported into Australia. Shortly after, Mr W. Marshall, the mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
manager
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
at Kingsgate at the time, purchased a model T Ford. A wooden bridge was constructed across the Mann River along the Red Range Road and 1996 saw the closure of this bridge with the opening of a new cement structure named, appropriately, after Mr Jack Lawler Senior.
Improvements in facilities
Like the School-of-Arts next door, around 1910 the keroseneKerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
lamps lighting the shop were replaced by a gas lighting system, the remains of which are still in existence in the shop attic
Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...
. Electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
first came to the village in the mid 1950s. The North West County Council organised contractors and excitement built as the official "Switching-on" ceremony
Ceremony
A ceremony is an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin.-Ceremonial occasions:A ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a human life, marking the significance of, for example:* birth...
was to take place. A dance was organised and the power connected. The night before the official ceremony, however, the transformer
Transformer
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors—the transformer's coils. A varying current in the first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus a varying magnetic field...
supplying the village caught fire and exploded, plunging the village into darkness again. The following morning it was hastily repaired and the official "Switching-on" event took place on April Fool's Day (1st. April) 1955. This was performed by two of the oldest residents of the village at that time, Mrs Ryall and Mr George Morley. The dance went ahead as planned, and although the night was remembered as being particularly bleak for that time of year, the old brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
fireplaces in the hall were put to good use. (The fireplaces and their chimneys were demolished in 1994 when the eastern wall of the hall was reconstructed in brick.)
The village was then soon dotted with power poles and criss-crossed with wires for both electricity and telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
, however, underground cables for telephones, along with an automatic telephone exchange
Telephone exchange
In the field of telecommunications, a telephone exchange or telephone switch is a system of electronic components that connects telephone calls...
in the village, saw the last of the multi-wired telephone poles removed in 1995 and only the electricity power poles remain. Although most of the poles taken down were removed from Red Range, the last telegraph pole to be taken down in the village is now a log seat in the market ground behind the store.
School of Arts
The School-of-arts next to the store was enlarged in the 1920s to cater for the new magic lanternMagic lantern
The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...
and movie shows. Boasting a reading room and library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
, a "bobs" (like billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
) area, a large supper room and galley (kitchen). The galley was the congregating place of the children during functions
Meeting
In a meeting, two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal setting.- Definitions :An act or process of coming together as an assembly for a common purpose....
, as the entire family would usually attend. There is still an underground pipe from the artesian well behind the shop (in the market ground) to the water supply for the School-of-arts, however the rainfall at Red Range usually kept the galley in good supply.
The School-of-arts had a post-office built on the North-East corner in a room currently occupied as a Shire Branch (public) Library. The Post Office had previously been located in a building at the far Eastern end of Victoria Street where the road turns into Tablelands (Kingsgate) Road. Postal services are now handled by courier
Courier
A courier is a person or a company who delivers messages, packages, and mail. Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialization and individualization of express services, and swift delivery times, which are optional for...
from Glen Innes
Glen Innes, New South Wales
Glen Innes is a parish and town on the Northern Tablelands, in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the centre of the Glen Innes Severn Shire Council. The town is located at the intersection of the New England Highway and the Gwydir Highway...
, although the Red Range Store was licenced as a Stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
Vendor.
In those early days the School-of-arts caretaker
Property caretaker
A Property caretaker is a person, group or organization that cares for real estate for trade or financial compensation, and sometimes as a barter for rent-free living accommodations...
was a Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
cartwright called Carl Tronier. Carl had a shed at the rear of the building where he carried out his trade repairing sulkies
Sulky
A sulky is a lightweight cart having two wheels and a seat for the driver only but usually without a body, generally pulled by horses or dogs, and is used for harness races...
and buggies
Horse and buggy
A horse and buggy or horse and carriage refers to a light, simple, two-person carriage of the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, drawn usually by one or sometimes by two horses...
, and upholstering and painting vehicles. The School-of-arts is now managed jointly by the Red Range Soldier's Memorial Trust and the Red Range Recreational Trust Sub-management Committee.
Red Range Radio
In 1998 preparations were made for the establishment of Red Range Radio, a privately owned 'community' narrow-cast station on 88.5 FM. A full complement of analogueAnalog signal
An analog or analogue signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e., analogous to another time varying signal. It differs from a digital signal in terms of small fluctuations in the signal which are...
and digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
equipment was obtained and set up in the rooms behind the store. However, the licence application, although initially provisionally approved, was refused by the Australian Broadcasting Authority
Australian Broadcasting Authority
The Australian Broadcasting Authority was an Australian government agency whose main roles were to regulate broadcasting, radiocommunications and telecommunications....
because 'a transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
in such a strategic mountain location would interfere with local television channels in neighbouring Glen Innes
Glen Innes, New South Wales
Glen Innes is a parish and town on the Northern Tablelands, in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the centre of the Glen Innes Severn Shire Council. The town is located at the intersection of the New England Highway and the Gwydir Highway...
and Grafton
Grafton, New South Wales
The city of Grafton is the commercial hub of the Clarence River Valley. Established in 1851, Grafton features many historic buildings and tree-lined streets. Located approximately 630 kilometres north of Sydney and 340 km south of Brisbane, Grafton and the Clarence Valley can be reached...
'. The equipment has now been re-located and put to use in the production (and post-production) of material for radio and television and for distribution on cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
, CDs, DAT
DAT
DAT or Dat may refer to:Biology:* Direct agglutination test, any test that uses whole organisms as a means of looking for serum antibody* Direct antiglobulin test, one of two Coombs tests...
s, DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s, and videos
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
etc.
Sports
Sports have always played an important part in the village. The most recent noteworthy activity being the annual Red Range CarriageCarriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
Riding Event established by Denise Lute and the late Denise Griffin.
Recreation Ground
Annually the Recreation Ground vibrates with the excitement of the annual sports day and (usually) a camp draft. Older residents recall that earlier this century there were facilities for cricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, rugby union football
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, horse sports, racing, and even a rifle range. Cricket was played against Emmaville, Dundee, Shannonvale, Mount Mitchel and Glencoe (where it was necessary to travel by sulky
Sulky
A sulky is a lightweight cart having two wheels and a seat for the driver only but usually without a body, generally pulled by horses or dogs, and is used for harness races...
on Friday night, camp at Lambs Valley, and after the game arrive home in the "wee small hours of Sunday morning"). The horse sports were played west of the school on the furthermost side of Rocky Creek, also the location in those days for the annual School Picnic
Picnic
In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...
, which was held on Empire Day each year. (Empire day, May 24., was the anniversary
Anniversary
An anniversary is a day that commemorates or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. For example, the first event is the initial occurrence or, if planned, the inaugural of the event. One year later would be the first anniversary of that event...
of Queen Victoria's birthday.)
The Recreation Ground catered for cricket, football and tennis. Other tennis courts were later located in Victoria Street (further West and opposite the store) and at the school. The Red Range Market Ground (behind the Store) was designated with the approval of the Severn Shire Council in 1994 with the first market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
on the tenth of October that year. Two years prior to that the first Council approved Carols-by-candlelight was held in the Market Ground on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
, 1992 and presided over by L. Hartley, PhD.
Butter Factory
Adjacent to the Market Ground are to be found the remains of the Red Range ButterButter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
Factory. This facility specialised in the export of butter to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and was fed by just under 100 local dairies in its hey-day.
First Bakery
In 1919, when the Great War was in full momentum, Mr William (Bill) Whan built the first bakeryBakery
A bakery is an establishment which produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cakes, pastries and pies. Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.-See also:*Baker*Cake...
at Red Range. A Mr Wyld was engaged as baker, and Mr Whan (and occasionally his brother Arthur) delivered bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
to the village residents and the surrounding areas (E.g. the families working the bismuth
Bismuth
Bismuth is a chemical element with symbol Bi and atomic number 83. Bismuth, a trivalent poor metal, chemically resembles arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth may occur naturally uncombined, although its sulfide and oxide form important commercial ores. The free element is 86% as dense as lead...
& molybdenite
Molybdenite
Molybdenite is a mineral of molybdenum disulfide, MoS2. Similar in appearance and feel to graphite, molybdenite has a lubricating effect that is a consequence of its layered structure. The atomic structure consists of a sheet of molybdenum atoms sandwiched between sheets of sulfur atoms...
mines
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
at Kingsgate
Kingsgate
-Places:* Kingsgate, East Kilbride, Scotland* Kingsgate, Kent, England, part of Broadstairs* Kingsgate, Washington* Kingsgate, Winchester, Hampshire, England-Church:...
and the tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
mines at Skeleton Creek) with a covered two-horse cart. The bakery
Bakery
A bakery is an establishment which produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cakes, pastries and pies. Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.-See also:*Baker*Cake...
was sold to Matt Williamson when Bill purchased a truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
to commence a carrying business. It is thought that the bakery closed in the late nineteen-seventies. It was shortly after this that the Church at Red Range was demolished.
Village Church
The old Village Church was one of the first buildings in the village and it has been noted by residents that it boasted some beautifully crafted cedarCedar wood
Cedar wood comes from several different trees that grow in different parts of the world, and may have different uses.* California incense-cedar, from Calocedrus decurrens, is the primary type of wood used for making pencils...
pews made locally by a Mr Waimsley. The Village Church was used mostly by Anglican, Methodist, and Presbyterian ministers, who in the early days came by sulky
Sulky
A sulky is a lightweight cart having two wheels and a seat for the driver only but usually without a body, generally pulled by horses or dogs, and is used for harness races...
or rode horses. Although it was not unusual for Canon Kemmis to arrive at the Village Church wearing leggings
Leggings
Leggings are a type of fitted clothing covering the legs, which can be worn by both men and women.Originally leggings were two separate garments, one for each leg....
, having ridden there on his horse. More fortunate was Reverend A. P. Cameron, the Presbyterian minister, who usually arrived in a sulky driven by Mr. Alfred W. Lane from Glen Innes. Portions of the old church have found their way to the Retreat House at the present Kingsgate Mines.