Murrumburrah is a township in

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, part of a twin town with Harden. The town is in

Hilltops Council Hilltops Council is a local government area in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. This area was formed on 12 May 2016 from the merger of Boorowa Council, Harden Shire and Young Shire. The local government area covers muc ...

local government area in the

South West Slopes The South Western Slopes, also known as the South West Slopes, is a region predominantly in New South Wales, Australia. It covers the lower inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range, extending from north of Dunedoo through central NSW and into ...

area of NSW. It is on the

Burley Griffin Way Burley Griffin Way is a New South Wales state route, is located in south eastern Australia. Named after the American architect Walter Burley Griffin, designer of the cities of Canberra and Griffith, the road links these two cities via Yass a ...

, the major link from the Riverina to the Hume Highway near Yass, and ultimately Sydney, Canberra and the coast. The name probably comes from Wiradhuri ''murrimboola'', which can reasonably be translated to "two waterholes".

History

Before European settlement the Harden area was inhabited by the

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , ...

people.

Hume and Hovell The Hume and Hovell expedition was a journey of exploration undertaken in eastern Australia. In 1824 the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane, commissioned Hamilton Hume and former Royal Navy Captain William Hovell to lead an exped ...

passed nearby in 1824. In the late 1820s, the 'Murrumburra' was established. Its superintendent, James Kennedy, established an inn on the townsite in the late 1840s. Gold was found in the area in the 1850s. In 1858, it was gazetted as the name Murrimboola, which was a

word meaning ''two water holes''. In mid-1872, a traveller made the following comments about Murrumburrah, "a small township on the road to Lambing Flat":

Murrumburrah has two churches, a school, three hotels, the same number of stores, and a good steam flour mill. The Roman Catholic Church is a fine stone building on a hill above the town, and looks very picturesque; the Wesleyan Chapel is a small wooden building. The principal hotels are Mr. Murphy’s and Mr. Dillon’s. The former owns the flour mill, a good brick building, three stories high. It may be mentioned that a good deal of wheat is grown in the district.

A railway station was opened one km east of Murrumburrah on the Main Southern line in 1877 as ''Murrumburrah station'', but changed its name to '' Harden station'', the year after the opening of a new station in Murrumburrah in 1879. Harden has remained as the main station and, as a result, became the main town.

Population

At the 2021 census, Murrumburrah had a population of 81, a decrease from 110 people at the 2016 census, while at the , there were 479 people.

Heritage listings

Murrumburrah has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Main Southern railway:

Demondrille railway station The Demondrille railway station (pron. de MON drill) is a heritage-listed disused railway station on the Main South railway line in Murrumburrah, Hilltops Council, New South Wales, Australia. The station is located at the junction of the bra ...

Light Horse memorial

A feature of the town is a memorial to the Australian Light Horse regiment, which had its origin in Harden-Murrumburrah by the establishment on 28 August 1897 of the

1st Australian (Volunteer) Horse The 1st Australian Horse was a mounted infantry regiment of the Colony of New South Wales that was formed in 1897. The 1st Australian Horse wore distinctive myrtle green uniforms with black embroidery. History Formation The regiment was rais ...

by 34 men from the district. The two large bronze statues depicting Trooper Bradford, one of the original volunteers, and J. A. Kenneth Mackay, prominent in the development of the 1st Australian Horse, were the work of Carl Valerius.

Gallery

File:Murrumburrah Institute & Hall 002.JPG, Murrumburrah Institute & Hall File:Murrumburrah Anglican Church 002.JPG, Anglican Church File:Murrumburrah Roman Catholic Church 004.JPG, Catholic Church File:Murrumburrah Uniting Church 001.JPG, Uniting Church File:Court House Murrumburrah.JPG, Court House File:Murrumburrah Demondrille Shire Offices 001.JPG, Shire Offices File:Murrumburrah Council Chambers 004.JPG, Council Chambers File:Murrumburrah Exchange Hotel 001.JPG, Exchange Hotel File:Murrumburrah Commercial Hotel 006.JPG, Commercial Hotel File:Murrumburrah Post Office 001.JPG, Post Office File:Murrumburrah CBC Bank 002.JPG, CBC Bank File:Bill the Bastard 2.jpg, Bill the Bastard File:J A Kenneth Mackay.jpg, Kenneth Mackay File:Trooper Bradford.jpg, Trooper Bradford

Notes and references

External links

"Bill the Bastard: Legendary warhorse with bad reputation"
video from ''Landline'' first broadcast April 2021
Australian war memorials: Harden-Murrumburrah Light Horse memorialMonument Australia: Harden-Murrumburrah Light Horse memorial
* {{authority control Towns in New South Wales Hilltops Council