Wauchope () is a town in the

Mid North Coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgool ...

region 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. It is within the boundaries of the

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council Port Macquarie-Hastings Council is a local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is located adjacent to the Hastings River, the Pacific Highway, the Oxley Highway and the North Coast railway ...

area. Wauchope is inland on the

Hastings River Hastings River ( Birpai: ''Doongang''), an open and trained intermediate wave dominated barrier estuary, is located in the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast districts of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Hastings River r ...

and the

Oxley Highway Oxley Highway is a rural highway in New South Wales, Australia, linking Nevertire, Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, Tamworth, and Walcha to Port Macquarie, on the coast of the Tasman Sea. It was named to commemorate John Oxley, the first European t ...

west of

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Se ...

. The town is north of the state capital

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

. Wauchope is the location of Timbertown, a popular heritage theme park inspired by the

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply cha ...

industry that formed the basis for Wauchope's early economy and prosperity. The town has a population of approximately 7,500 (as of 2006 - including King Creek & Redbank). It has also played an important role in the Hastings Valley dairy industry.

History

The

Birpai The Birrbay people, also spelt Birpai, Biripi, Birippi and variant spellings, are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. They and share a dialect continuum with the Worimi people. Language The Gathang language (aka Gadjang or Wor ...

(also known as Birrbay) people have lived in this area for more than 40,000 years. By 1828 a number of land grants had been made along the

. It was not until 1836 that the village of Wauchope first came into existence. In that year Captain Robert Andrew Wauch (whose father dropped the 'ope' from the end of his name as a result of a family dispute) paid a deposit on on King Creek. He bought more property and built Wauch House. Robert Wauch died in the Macleay area in 1866, and the Government Gazette published the deeds of his properties, specifying that they should be called Wauchope. When the post office opened in a nearby settlement in 1881, it was named Wauchope, although the Government Gazette misprinted the name Wanghope, an error that was not corrected until 1889. It is pronounced ''war-hope'', although the family pronounced their name 'war-cope'. This is similar to the Canadian town which is pronounced 'walk-up'. The Wauchope family currently pronounce their name 'war-cope'.

Floods

The largest recorded flood in the Hastings River at Wauchope occurred on 13 January 1968 and reached a peak level of above the

Australian height datum The Australian Height Datum was introduced in 1971 as the official vertical datum for Australia, and thereby serves as the benchmark to which all height measurements are referred. The Australian Height Datum is an amalgamation of decades of sp ...

(m AHD). The 1968 flood was estimated to be slightly rarer than a 100-year event. The next largest flood was determined to be the flood of 5 to 7 March 1894. This flood reached a peak flood level of 8.9 m AHD at Wauchope. Other major floods occurred at Wauchope in February 1950 (8.45 m AHD), February 1929 (8.3 m AHD), August 1864 (8.2 m AHD), and June 1950 (8.1 m AHD). The 1963 flood, which is notorious for the damage it caused in the lower reaches of the river, is only ranked as the eighth highest flood at Wauchope. It reached a peak level at Wauchope of 7.75 m AHD and was considered to be a 1 in 15-year event at Wauchope. On 23 February 2013 floodwaters peaked at 7.22 m AHD at 7.30pm after heavy rainfall in the upper catchment area.

Industry and economy

Wauchope's economy was traditionally based on the timber industry. At different stages in its history, more timber was transported out of Wauchope than out of any other town in Australia (via Wauchope railway station). Timber from Wauchope was used in the construction of the Sydney Opera House. Industry in and around Wauchope has transformed primarily into farming and tourism. Increasingly, Wauchope and its surrounding villages and farms are becoming known for gourmet produce, including cheeses, wines and organic fruits and vegetables. The Hastings Farmers Markets are held at the Wauchope Showground on the 4th Saturday of every month and showcase a wide variety of local produce. Timbertown, the town's best-known tourist attraction, is a colonial-era themed village, which is located on the outskirts of Wauchope. It features static displays and attractions such as a working

steam train A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

, bullock team, and a

Cobb and Co Cobb & Co was the name used by many successful sometimes quite independent Australian coaching businesses. The first was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name Cobb & Co grew to great prominence in the late 19th ...

stage coach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dr ...

. The

Big Bull The Big Bull was a large (14 metres × 21 metres) Holstein bull fibreglass model located near Wauchope, New South Wales, Australia. When open, it contained a gift shop on the ground floor and a beef display. It was located just off the Oxley ...

was a notable tourist attraction between Wauchope and Port Macquarie for twenty years, but was removed in 2007. Other important attractions include the historical society, historic buildings, Broken Bago vineyards and natural attractions including state forests and

Bago Bluff National Park Bago Bluff is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, approximately 410 km northeast of Sydney. It is situated south west of Wauchope and includes parts of the former Broken Bago State Forest and a part of Lorne State Forest. The ...

. Wauchope railway station serves as an interchange for passengers travelling to nearby coastal centres such as

Layout

The township is set out along the southern bank of the Hastings River with the back drop of Bago Mountain further south. The main street is High Street (a small section of the

), running generally westward through the town after coming east from Port Macquarie and across the North Coast railway line. The main street includes the Co-op general store (previously Parkers) and a number of smaller businesses and local bank branches. At the corner of Hastings Street is the local post office. Further up the main street is the town clock, a legacy of the days the town was the centre of the Hastings Shire local government area. Back along Hastings Street is the Co-op supermarket as well as the court house. In 2009 work commenced on the rebuilding of this supermarket. The old building was completely demolished and a much larger and more modern structure was completed and opened in 2010. Wauchope Heritage Building

The main cross street is Cameron Street. The Hastings Hotel is on the south-east corner of Cameron and High and the Star Hotel is a short distance north. The RSL club is another north. Cameron Street leads to the Hastings River. A wharf was built at the northern end of Cameron Street for shipping produce downstream to Port Macquarie, but this no longer exists. South of the main shopping area is the Wauchope Golf Course and Country Club, which occupies a premium site within the middle of the town. Further west is Timbertown, on the edge of large tracts of forestry land leading into the Bago Mountain area. East of the main shopping area is the railway line from Sydney. The Hastings dairy and milk factory is located close to the point where the railway line crosses the Hastings River.

Schools

Wauchope Public School

St Joseph's Primary School

Wauchope High School
Wauchope has its own railway station on the North Coast Line of New South Wales. It is serviced by six

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Queensland and South Austral ...

trains per day 3 heading South (to Sydney), 3 heading further north to Grafton, Casino, and Brisbane. Passengers can alight at this station for connecting coaches to the nearby Port Macquarie.

People from Wauchope

* Bill Bain -

Emmy award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning TV director *

Iva Davies Ivor Arthur Davies, AM (born 22 May 1955), known professionally as Iva Davies, is an Australian singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Davies' music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in t ...

- Musician,

Icehouse Icehouse or ice house may refer to: * Ice house (building), a building where ice is stored * Ice shanty, a shelter for ice fishing also known as an ''Icehouse'' * Ice skating rink, a facility for ice skating. * Ice hockey arena, an area where i ...

* Reginald Elliott Davies - Former Independent Member of Western Australian Parliament and Member of Special Air Service Regiment * Rhali Dobson - Professional W-League footballer for Melbourne City * Angus Gill - Musician * Phil Jamieson - Musician, Grinspoon * Allison Langdon - television presenter and journalist, co-host of

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

show * Mark Laurie - former professional

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 ...

footballer * Robert Laurie - former professional

footballer * Ian Schubert - former professional

footballer and current

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

Salary Cap auditor. *

Andrew Stoner Andrew John Stoner (born 14 January 1960), an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Oxley from 1999 state election to 2015. Stoner was the Leader of the New South Wales National P ...

- NSW

National Party of Australia The National Party of Australia, also known as The Nationals or The Nats, is an Australian political party. Traditionally representing graziers, farmers, and regional voters generally, it began as the Australian Country Party in 1920 at a fed ...

leader, Member for Oxley * Rex Terp - former professional

footballer * Nicholas Kelly - competitive powerlifter

Sister cities

The following city has been identified as a sister city of Wauchope by

Sister Cities International Sister Cities International (SCI) is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between communities in the United States and those in other countries, particularly through the establishment of " sister citie ...

: * Canisteo,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States

References

External links

Timbertown

Town History
{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Mid North Coast