Hillston is a township in western
New South Wales
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, 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
Carrathool Shire
The Carrathool Shire is a local government area that borders both the Riverina and Far West regions of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire comprises and is located adjacent to the Mid-Western Highway and north of the Sturt Highway.
The l ...
, on the banks of the
Lachlan River
The Lachlan River is an intermittent river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Southern Tablelands, Central West, and Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia.
The Lachlan River ...
. It was founded in 1863 and at the had a population of 1,465.
History
John Oxley
John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1784 – 25 May 1828)
was an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He served as Surveyor General of New South Wales and is perhaps best known for his two exp ...
and his exploration party were the first
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an visitors to the Hillston district, in 1817. Oxley wrote in his journal: "country uninhabitable and useless for all purposes of civilised man".
In 1839
William Hovell
William Hilton Hovell (26 April 1786 – 9 November 1875) was an English explorer of Australia. With Hamilton Hume, he made an 1824 overland expedition from Sydney to Port Phillip (near the site of present-day Melbourne), and later explored the ...
followed the Lachlan River to near the site of present-day Hillston and took up a pastoral holding called "Bellingerambil" (later named "Cowl Cowl").
Redbank
The locality of present-day Hillston was a crossing-place for stock on the Lachlan River. The earliest European name for the place was 'Daisy Plains' or ‘Daisy Hill’.
[‘Back to Hillston Week’ (souvenir booklet), September 1931.] Later it became known as "Redbank" (following the Wiradjuri name 'Melnunni', meaning "red soil"). In 1863 a stockman named William Ward Hill from nearby "Roto" station established an inn – the Redbank Hotel – at the location. William Hill died on 10 July 1867 of "exhaustion from intemperance" and his widow, Elizabeth, took over the licence of the Redbank Hotel (which she held until about 1871). In 1869, when the first post office was opened, the township was renamed Hillston, after its founding publican.
The site of Hillston was originally on land owned by John McGee, who obtained a sub-division and sold lots by
public auction
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
, "the lots realising high prices". The Government also surveyed a township just north of McGee’s land. Sixty-four lots at Hillston North were also auctioned, bringing "up to £100 per acre". Thus two townships developed side-by-side.
Hillston developed as a service centre to the surrounding pastoral holdings, so the pace of development of the township was closely linked to prevailing conditions as they affected the district pastoral enterprises. Due in large measure to drought conditions in the district there was little or no progress of the township during the mid-1860s. However more favourable seasons by the end of the decade, with the return of more reliable rainfall, led to a revitalization of Hillston’s prospects.
Township development
Hillston developed as a service centre to the surrounding pastoral holdings. The Moss brothers, who were successful store-owners at Hay, established a store at Hillston by 1869. Hillston Post Office opened on 1 February 1869.
In mid-1871 the partnership between the brothers was dissolved and Louis Moss ran the Hillston store on his own account.
The first Police Court at Hillston was held on 28 August 1873 in a room at one of the hotels in the town.
The first church at Hillston was of the Anglican denomination. A Roman Catholic church was built during the 1880s. The first Pastoral and Agricultural Show was held at Hillston in 1881. A hospital was erected in the township in 1882; the cost of the building was raised by voluntary subscription. A new post-office was completed in 1883 (in the charge of Mr. W. S. Bellamy). A courthouse at Hillston was completed in about 1883.
Hillston became a municipality in 1888.
The store that became known as Nall, Jackson & Co. Ltd. was established in 1889; the firm had changed its name on various occasions, being known as "Villa and Rossi", "Villa, Rossi and Nall", "J. T. Jackson", and "Nall, Jackson & Co." Nall, Jackson & Co., which later opened branches at Merriwagga and Goolgowi, became a mainstay of the Hillston and district community.
A Presbyterian Church was built at Hillston in 1890.
A magistrate was resident at Hillston until 1916, after which the Hay magistrate visited once a month.
Following the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the Hillston area was divided into relatively small rural properties onto which returning soldiers were repatriated under the
New South Wales soldier settlement scheme. The railway between Griffith and Hillston was completed in 1923
and large areas of Crown land along the route were made available for selection.
By the end of the 1920s, with the influx of population to the district, the prevailing optimistic mood led to progress and growth at Hillston. A lighting system was installed at Hillston in 1929. During the same year the old Club House Hotel was replaced by a two-storey building and the Royal Mail Hotel was extended. The firm of Messrs. Parker and Cordato built rows of shops in the township. In early 1931 the Hillston to Roto railway was completed.
[
In the wake of a land boom during the mid to late-1920s, the reality of marginal nature of the land became manifest and the soldier settlement blocks were found to be too small to be economically viable. The personal and financial hardships experienced during the inter-war decades resulted in many of these families walking off their blocks, and Hillston began to experience a decline.]
The wool boom of the 1950s led to reconstruction of the town, and gave new optimism, only to enter a decline again in the 1960s and 1970s.
Until the bitumen sealing of the Kidman Way
Kidman Way is a state rural road in the western Riverina and western region of New South Wales, Australia. The highway services the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and outback communities and links the Newell Highway with the Sturt, Mid-Wes ...
from Griffith
Griffith may refer to:
People
* Griffith (name)
* Griffith (surname)
* Griffith (given name)
Places Antarctica
* Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency
* Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land
* Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land
* Griffith Rid ...
was completed in the early 1970s, the rough dirt road was an effective barrier to communications with other communities. A train service existed until the mid-1970s, but since then there has been no public transport service to Hillston.
In the late 1990s, the introduction of cotton saw a boom period once again which, after a severe drought 2002–2007, is again establishing itself.
In August 2021, a new high resolution doppler weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern wea ...
was opened in Hillston. It is operated by the Bureau of Meteorology
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together ...
providing coverage across the Riverina
The Riverina
is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation ...
and western New South Wales.
Heritage listings
Hillston has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
* Willandra National Park: Willandra Homestead
Climate
Hillston has a semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
with hot summers and relatively cool winters. Climate records have been kept for Hillston since 1881. Temperature extremes are quite marked over the full year: the average maximum temperature in January is 33.4 °C and the average minimum temperature in July is 3.8 °C. Snow has never been recorded in Hillston. The highest temperature ever recorded was 46.0 °C (114.8 °F) on 1 January 2006; the lowest was −6.0 °C (21.2 °F) on 15 July 2022. The average annual rainfall is .
Industry
Agriculture is the main industry in Hillston mostly oriented towards livestock, grain, cotton, citrus and vegetables, utilising irrigation from the Lachlan River
The Lachlan River is an intermittent river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Southern Tablelands, Central West, and Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia.
The Lachlan River ...
and underground water sources.
Because of the proximity of Hillston to the Kidman Way
Kidman Way is a state rural road in the western Riverina and western region of New South Wales, Australia. The highway services the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and outback communities and links the Newell Highway with the Sturt, Mid-Wes ...
, Lachlan Valley Way
Lachlan Valley Way is a New South Wales country road running from Booligal to north of Yass.
Route
Lachlan Valley Way commences at the intersection with Cobb Highway in Booligal and heads in a north-easterly direction for about to Hillston. ...
and the Cobb Highway
Cobb Highway is a state highway in the Riverina, western Riverina and the Far West (New South Wales), far western regions of New South Wales, with a short section in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, designated part of route B75.
Initia ...
many road transport companies operate in Hillston.
Amenities
Town facilities include Lake Woorabinda, a man-made lake for water-skiing encircled by a scenic walking track between the river and the lake, community hall for sport and cultural events, and an art gallery in the main street.
Between Lake Woorabinda and the community hall lie a 25m public swimming pool and the Lions' Park, which incorporates children's play equipment and a barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...
area.
Hillston has two schools; Hillston Central School, a K-12 public school, and St Joseph's Primary School, a K-6 Catholic school.
Stan Peters Oval is the local sports ground, home to the Hillston Swans Australian Rules
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
club in the Northern Riverina Football League
The Northern Riverina Football Netball League (NRFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing five clubs based in the northern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The league features four grades in the Austra ...
and the Hillston Bluebirds Rugby League
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
club in Group 17
The halogens () are a group (periodic table), group in the periodic table consisting of five or six chemically related chemical element, elements: fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), astatine (At), and tennessine (Ts). In the ...
.
Hillston is the terminus of the open section of the Temora–Roto railway line
The Temora–Roto railway line is a partly closed railway line in the southwest of New South Wales, Australia. It branches from the Lake Cargelligo line at the town of Temora and travels west through the northern part of the Riverina to the t ...
. Passenger services were discontinued in 1974, but the line remains open to Hillston for goods services.
References
External links
*
General information on Hillston
Hillston railway station
{{authority control
Towns in the Riverina
Towns in New South Wales
Australian soldier settlements
1863 establishments in Australia
Carrathool Shire