Wallangarra is a village on the border between Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 and 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...

 in 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...

. It is the third most southerly town in Queensland, 258 km south west of Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

. Wallangarra is on the Queensland side of the border and Jennings

Jennings, New South Wales

Jennings is a town on the Northern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located in the Tenterfield Shire Local Government Area, from the state capital, Sydney and from Brisbane. It is separated by the state border from its neighbouring town of Wallangarra in Queensland. ...

 is on the New South Wales side. 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,...

, Wallangarra had a population of 385.

The name, originally Wallan-Garra, these are Aboriginal words meaning "plenty of water".

In 1885, the Queensland government announced that a town would be formed where the railway line between Queensland and New South Wales would meet. On 29 June 1885, 179 lots were offered for sale at 8 £/acre.

Geography

Wallangarra lies in a valley between two ranges of mountains, which each are branches of the Great Dividing Range

Great Dividing Range

The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...

. It is 878 m above sea level. There is a gap between the more Westerly range at Wyberba, about five kilometres north of Wallangarra. This gap has made Wallangarra the major inland border crossing for the New England Highway

New England Highway

The New England Highway is a highway in Australia running from Hexham near Newcastle at its southern end to Yarraman near Toowoomba at its northern end. At its southern end it connects to the Pacific Highway and at its northern end it connects to the D'Aguilar Highway. It traverses the Hunter...

 and what was the first railway line between Brisbane and Sydney.

A railway heritage

The town was created to service a break-of-gauge

Break-of-gauge

With railways, a break-of-gauge occurs where a line of one gauge meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock cannot run through without some form of conversion between gauges, and freight and passengers must otherwise be transloaded...

 between Queensland's narrow gauge of and New South Wales's standard gauge

Standard gauge

The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

 of when the two systems came together in 1888. The railway was the only rail link between Queensland and New South Wales until a standard gauge track was completed in 1932, with the completion of the bridge at 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...

. From that time on, the Wallangarra station lessened in importance. All scheduled rail services stopped in 1997. In 2003, after major refurbishment, the station was reopened as a museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

.

The railway line from Stanthorpe

Stanthorpe, Queensland

Stanthorpe is a town situated in south east Queensland, Australia. The town lies on the New England Highway near the New South Wales border 223 km from Brisbane via Warwick, 56 km north of Tenterfield and 811 m above sea level. The area surrounding the town is known as the Granite Belt...

 to Wallangarra has continued to be maintained and steam trains taking tourists to Wallangarra occasionally operate.

Army Dump

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Commonwealth Government created a general army store on the Queensland side of the border, and an ammunition dump

Ammunition dump

An ammunition dump, ammunition compound, ammunition depot, bomb dump, ammunition supply point or ammo dump, is a military storage facility for live ammunition and explosives....

 on the New South Wales side. Dual gauge

Dual gauge

A dual-gauge or mixed-gauge railway has railway track that allows trains of different gauges to use the same track. Generally, a dual-gauge railway consists of three rails, rather than the standard two rails. The two outer rails give the wider gauge, while one of the outer rails and the inner rail...

 tracks were run to each store.

Access to the army stores was via Margetts St, one of the main roads in the town. The late Muriel Daphne Verdun Nicolson lived at 30 Margetts St from before WWII until her death in 2001. During WWII she reported that the flow of trucks and materiel

Materiel

Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....

 went on all day and night.

The stores hold enough bridging

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

 material to rebuild the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic...

. Helicopters, F-111

General Dynamics F-111

The General Dynamics F-111 "Aardvark" was a medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft that also filled the roles of strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare in its various versions. Developed in the 1960s by General Dynamics, it first entered service in 1967 with the...

 parts and all sorts of odds and ends are held there. The ammunition dump was, in the 1970s, the largest ammunition dump in the Southern Hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...

. As of 2004, it is the second largest in Australia. Children going to the Wallangarra State Primary School are still entertained by the massive scheduled explosions of stale ammunition.

Riverina Stock Feeds

Taking advantage of the rail junction Riverina Stock Feeds operated a packing plant opposite the Wallangarra railway station for many years until 1995. After that it moved to Warwick, a city 100 kilometres to the north. Warwick also has a major Woolworths warehouse. Interestingly the Chairman of Woolworths who located the ware house at Warwick grew up in Wallangarra.

Abattoirs

Until 1982 The Anderson Meat Packing Company operated a large beef abattoir

Slaughterhouse

A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...

 at Wallangarra. Anderson's employed in excess of 400 workers at the Wallanagarra plant. The plant was located on the border so as to take advantage of rail lines from both Queensland and NSW.

After this closed the town's future looked dim. Ten years later, however, Australia's largest mutton works opened on a new site just to the east of the town. The mutton produced is Halal, and most of it is exported to Arab countries.

Wallangarra Dam

Drive out along Margetts St, over the railway bridge, past the Rugby League grounds and out past the army. From there follow Old Paling Yard Road up the foot hills of Mt Norman. There you will find a water treatment plant and a road branch to the left going down to Beehive dam. Beehive dam is in the mountains, and fed by a spring. It is a beautiful place for a picnic.

Local Attractions

Wallangarra is bounded by Sundown National Park

Sundown National Park

Sundown is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 198 km southwest of Brisbane. The parks contains spectacular gorge country and a number of peaks higher than 1,000 m.-Landforms:...

 to the West and Girraween National Park

Girraween National Park

Girraween National Park is an area of the Granite Belt in south-east Queensland, Australia reserved as a national park. Girraween is known for its spectacular flowers, dramatic landscapes and unique wildlife. Bushwalking and rock climbing are the most popular activities in the park.-Location:The...

 to the East. Being situated on the Great Dividing Range, Sundown is dry and Girraween is much more moist.

Notable Former Residents

Rugby League

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 legend Billy Moore

Billy Moore (rugby league)

Billy Moore is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s. Usually playing at lock, he represented Queensland and Australia....

 lived in Wallangarra as a child. He is best known for playing for the North Sydney Bears

North Sydney Bears

The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. They currently compete in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 92 years of top-grade competition. The Bears are based on...

 and the Queensland State of Origin team

Queensland rugby league team

The Queensland rugby league team have represented the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1908...

. He was born in Tenterfield, New South Wales

Tenterfield, New South Wales

Tenterfield is a town in New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the New England region at the intersection of the New England and Bruxner Highways. Tenterfield is a three-hour drive from Brisbane, 2.5 hours from Byron Bay, two hours from Armidale, New South Wales and 10 hours from Sydney....

as this was the closest hospital.

External links

• University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Wallangarra