Tia, is a settlement and parish located approximately 30 kilometres east of Walcha

Walcha, New South Wales

Walcha is a parish and town at the south-eastern edge of the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia.The town serves as the seat of Walcha Shire. Walcha is located 425 kilometres by road from Sydney at the intersection of the Oxley Highway and Thunderbolts Way...

, on the Northern Tablelands 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.

Tia River

Tia River

The Tia River is a river on the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The headwaters of the river rise in high country on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range about south west of Tia. It flows generally north east crossing the Oxley Highway before spilling over the Tia Falls...

 Station was first settled by Richard and William Denne in 1840, then comprising an area of 100 square miles (259 km²). It was later purchased by Augustus Hooke in 1882. It was on this station

Station (Australian agriculture)

Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...

 that Blue Spec

Blue Spec

Blue Spec was a good Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who established a new record in winning the Melbourne Cup in 1905. He was a brown stallion bred by Augustus Hooke, jnr...

, a brown stallion foaled in 1899, was bred and who later won the Kalgoorlie Cup, Perth Cup

Perth Cup

The Perth Cup is Western Australia's premier Thoroughbred horse race and is held at Ascot Racecourse on New Year's Day each year. It has been run since 1887....

 and the 1905 Melbourne Cup

Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...

 in record time.

The first gold mining

Gold mining

Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...

 activity was recorded at Tia in l866. In 1873 a reef was discovered at McLeod’s Creek, when a rush occurred.

In 1877 two Scotsmen, Matheson and Mclntyre spent considerable effort tunnelling and digging shafts. In 1879 they erected a machine for crushing rock and constructed a race half a mile long to bring water to work the machine. After yields slightly over an ounce to the ton they sold out in 1887 to the Tia Gold Mining Company, which deepened shafts, and spent money on their operations, but with poor results. Large scale mining petered out, although fossicking continued for some years to come.

In 1893 the Tia Receiving Office was opened and later became a Post Office in 1901 and closed in 1977. The school has also been closed for quite a few years. The church still remains on the Tia Diggings Road.

In 1895 the following description of Tia appeared in the Uralla and Walcha Times - Tia is situated about 25 miles from Walcha

Walcha

Walcha can refer to* Walcha, a town and Local Government Area in the north of New South Wales, Australia.* the German organist Helmut Walcha...

, on the Port Macquarie

Port Macquarie, New South Wales

Port Macquarie is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, located about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The city is located on the coast, at the mouth of the Hastings River, and has an estimated population of 44,313....

 road, and may aptly be called a thorough poor man's fossicking ground, first on account of its accessibility and known auriferous character, and secondly on account of the low cost at which the necessities of life can be obtained.

Tia Falls and Gorge which are part of the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park is in New South Wales, Australia, 445 kilometres north of Sydney and is named in memory of the Australian explorer John Oxley, who passed through the area in 1818...

 are typical New England granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 country and can be accessed by a six kilometre gravel access road off the Oxley Highway

Oxley Highway

The Oxley Highway is a rural highway in New South Wales, Australia. It starts at Nevertire where it joins the Mitchell Highway. It links Warren, Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, Gunnedah, Carroll, Tamworth, Bendemeer, Walcha, Yarrowitch, Ellenborough, Long Flat, Wauchope and ends at Port Macquarie on the...

. Two walking tracks follow the gorge rim. The Falls walk goes to the Falls lookout and Tia Gorge viewing area and is 1.5 km return. Camping, information and picnic areas are available there.

In the 2006 Census, there were 376 persons usually resident in the Tia area.

Fine wool, beef cattle and prime lambs sustain the local economy.