Dalton is a small inland country town in the
Southern Tablelands
The Southern Tablelands is a Regions of New South Wales, geographic area of New South Wales, Australia, located south-west of Sydney and west of the Great Dividing Range.
The area is characterised by Plateau, high, flat country which has gene ...
of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, Australia in
Upper Lachlan Shire
Upper Lachlan Shire is a local government area in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in February 2004 from Crookwell Shire and parts of Mulwaree, Gunning and Yass Shires.
The mayor of Upper Lac ...
.
Location
Dalton is north of the
Hume Highway
Hume Highway, inclusive of the sections now known as Hume Freeway and Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of the route ...
that joins Sydney and Melbourne, between
Goulburn
Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...
and
Yass in southern New South Wales, southwest of Sydney and north of the national capital,
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
. Nearby towns are
Cullerin
Cullerin is a small township in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Old Hume Highway and Main South railway line in Upper Lachlan Shire. The Cullerin railway station opened in 1880 and closed in 1973. At the , ...
,
Gundaroo
Gundaroo is a small village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia and in Yass Valley Council. It is situated to the east of the Yass River, about north of Sutton, about west of the Lake George range. At the , Gundaroo ...
,
Gunning, Yass, and
Murrumbateman
Murrumbateman is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Barton Highway, approximately 30 kilometres north-west of Canberra, and is part of the Yass Valley Shire. At the , Murrumbateman had a population of 3 ...
.
Economy
The Monaro region is renowned for its sheep
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
As ...
industry, notably for the
Merino
The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...
breed. The dry-land farming supports both summer and winter wheat, and some other cereal crops, but agriculture also extends to cattle production for meat.
The vibrancy of Dalton's heyday in the 19th century as a sheep-shearing centre is gone, lost in 1875 when the train line was routed through nearby Gunning rather than Dalton. Today the town is taking on a new role as a rural-residential centre, with generally well-maintained wide streets and churches, a school, a viable hotel (pub), post office services, and a petrol station.
Geology and earthquakes
The underlying rock strata of the region from Dalton to
Lake George some east is geologically active, with the lake formed along a fault system running north–south.
Dalton has a significantly higher rate of earthquakes and
tremor
A tremor is an involuntary, somewhat rhythmic, muscle contraction and relaxation involving oscillations or twitching movements of one or more body parts. It is the most common of all involuntary movements and can affect the hands, arms, eyes, fa ...
s than the background rate for the eastern highlands of Australia, and because their foci are very shallow (usually less than 1 km deep) the damage they cause is often disproportionately high: events as low as magnitude ML3.0 have damaged buildings in the region.
[McCue, K., Kennett, B.L.N., Gaull, B.A., Michael-Leiba, M.O., Weekes, J. & Krayshck, C. (1989). "A century of earthquakes in the Dalton-Gunning region of New South Wales". BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics, 11, 1-9.]
Significant earthquakes centred on Dalton/Gunning include an ML5.3 event on 5 July 1888 that was felt in Sydney and represents the first record of seismic activity in the area; the largest recorded event - an ML5.6 event on 18 November 1934 that was also felt in Sydney and agitated the water in the Manuka Pool in Canberra; an ML5.5 event on 10–11 March 1949 that caused minor cracking in Canberra buildings and damaged the Anglican Church; and the ML4.3 Oolong event on 9 August 1984 which damaged Oolong Homestead and the Anglican Church.
Several amateur geologists in Dalton and the surrounding region have
seismic
Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
recorders that automatically send data to
Geoscience Australia
Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowl ...
.
History
The area now known as Dalton lies around the margins of the traditional lands of the
Gundungurra
The Gundungurra people, also spelt Gundungara, Gandangarra, Gandangara and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. Their traditional lands include present day Goulburn, Wollondilly Shire ...
people in the north and the
Ngunnawal people
The Ngunnawal people, also spelt Ngunawal, are an Aboriginal people of southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia.
Language
Ngunnawal and Gundungurra are Australian Aboriginal languages from the Pama-Nyungan ...
in the south. These two peoples spoke similar, if not identical, languages.
The town was gazetted in 1862. The name was derived from the family name of the wife of the then
Governor of New South Wales
The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...
The Rt Hon. Sir John Young; her name was Adelaide Annabella Tuite daughter of Edward Tuite Dalton.
Quartz reefs containing gold were discovered in the 1860s but were unprofitable when mining was attempted.
Historical Buildings
Anchor Lodge of
Good Templar's Hall built 1890 and in use until c.1925.
Police Station built 1889
Public School built 1878
[Australian Town and Country Journal 19 January 1878 page 23] replacing an earlier school building dating from c.1860.
Royal Hotel built 1860
Wesleyan Chapel
St Matthew's Anglican Church built 1878.
School
Dalton Public School was, in 1878, under the instruction of Mr. J. V. Moore, and held in a building rented for the purpose, which was very inadequate at the time. As the lease of the schoolhouse was soon to expire, and there was small chance of obtaining any other premises, tenders were called for a new building. The number of children on the roll in 1878 was 60, with an average attendance of 45.
Gallery
Dalton NSW hall.jpg, Dalton Hall (1923).
Dalton NSW Methodist.jpg, Dalton Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
church (1923), now Uniting Church in Australia
The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Union ...
.
References
External links
Gunning Shire
{{authority control
Upper Lachlan Shire
Towns in New South Wales
Southern Tablelands