Culcairn () is a town in the south-east

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 ...

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Culcairn is located in the

Greater Hume Shire Greater Hume Shire is a local government area in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in 2004 incorporating Culcairn Shire, the majority of Holbrook Shire and part of Hume Shire. The shire had an est ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

on the

Olympic Highway Olympic Highway is a rural road in the central western and south-eastern Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia. The highway services rural communities and links Hume Highway with Mid-Western Highway and provides part of an alterna ...

between

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – t ...

and

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's ...

. The town is south-west 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 ...

and at the 2016 census had a population of 1,473. The town is an important supply centre for nearby towns and villages including, Morven,

Gerogery Gerogery ( ) is a town established on Wiradjuri land in the Riverina region of the Australian state of New South Wales. The town is in the Greater Hume Shire local government area and on the Main South railway line between Sydney and Melbourne, ...

, Henty, Walla Walla and Pleasant Hills.

Billabong Creek The Billabong Creek, a partly perennial stream of the Murray River catchment within the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. At (with some estimates ranging up to ), Billabong Creek is belie ...

runs along the southern edge of town, lending its name to the local high school.

History

European settlement of Culcairn began in 1834, following favorable reports on grazing potential and grass cover by the explorers

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 ...

when traveling overland to the Port Phillip district in 1824. A number of stations were gazetted and between 1862 and 1865 the district was terrorized by the

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up " robbery unde ...

, Dan "Mad Dog" Morgan. The reward for Morgan would reach £1,000. He was ambushed and killed in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

after his final holdup in 1865. The town itself was laid out in 1880 by James Balfour, a local landowner, who named it after a property in the parish of Kiltearn, his mother's birthplace. Culcairn Post Office opened on 1 September 1880. Early industries included chaff mills, a cereal grain company and a quarry. The extension of the

Main Southern railway line The Main Southern Railway is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs from Sydney to Albury, near the Victorian border. The line passes through the Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands, South West Slopes and Riverina regions. ...

to Albury to meet the

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union ( C ...

line from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

saw Culcairn prosper. The Culcairn Hotel, constructed in 1891, was the largest on the line between Melbourne and Sydney.

Heritage listings

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

Culcairn railway station Culcairn railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Main South line in New South Wales, Australia. It serves the town of Culcairn. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. History ...

Sports and recreation

The Culcairn Football Club is an

Australian rules football 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 that was first established in May, 1895. In 1916, a 21 year old former player, Private Dan Dalahunty was killed in action, was one of the "Men of the Dardanelles". In 1923, Culcairn's jumper colours were - maroon with blue cuffs and collars; maroon socks, topped with blue. Culcairn played Mangoplah in the 1923 Grand Final at Yerong Creek and Mangoplah won the Yerong Creek & DFA premiership. Culcairn has played in the following football competitions - *1910 - 1913: Culcairn & District Football Association. Premiers - 1910. Captain - E J Wilson. *1914 - 1915: Culcairn & District Junior Football Association *1916 - 1918: In recess due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

*1919 - 1921: Culcairn & District Football Association. Premiers - 1921. *1922 - Riverina Main Line Football Association. Runners Up - 1922. *1923 - Yerong Creek & District Football Association. Runners Up - 1923. *1924 - 1929: Riverina Football Association. Runners Up - 1928. *1930 - 1940: Albury & District Football League. Premiers - 1936 Runners Up - 1938, 1940 *1941 - 1945: In recess due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

*1946 - 1956: Albury & District Football League. Premiers - 1952, 1953, 1954. Runners Up - 1946, 1951. *1957 - 1980:

Farrer Football League The Farrer Football Netball League (FFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing nine clubs based in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The league features three grades in the Australian rules footba ...

. Premiers - 1963, 1968. Runners Up - *1981 - 1991:

Tallangatta & District Football League The Tallangatta and District Football League (TDFL) is an Australian rules football competition in north-east Victoria and the southern border area of Riverina region of the New South Wales. The clubs compete across four competitions, two of ...

. Premiers - 1990. *1992 - 2022:

Hume Football League The Hume Australian Football Netball League (HFNL), often shortened to Hume Football League, is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing twelve clubs based in the South West Slopes and southern Riverina regions of New South ...

. Premiers - 1993, 2007. Runners Up - 1992, 1994, 2005. ;Culcairn & District Football Association This

Australian Rules Football 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 ...

competition was formed in 1910 and ran for four years up until 1913, then went into recess due to World War One. Depending on what side of the railway line the club was situated in, the competition had a Western Division and an Eastern Division. The competition re-formed in 1919. *Culcairn & DFA - Grand Finals ** 1910 - Culcairn: 43 defeated Walbundrie: 35. Played at Culcairn. **1911 - Walbundrie: 6.12 - 48 defeated Germanton: 2.7 - 19. Played at Culcairn. **1912 - Germanton: 6.11 - 47 defeated Walla Walla: 2.7 - 19. Played at Culcairn. Scholtz Cup. **1913 - Germanton: 7.3 - 45 defeated Culcairn: 4.7 - 31. Played at Culcairn. **1914 - 1918: Culcairn & DFA in recess due to

WW1 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 fighti ...

. **1919 - Holbrook: 10.13 - 73 defeated Culcairn: 4.10 - 34. Played at Culcairn. **1920 - Holbrook d Henty **1921 - Culcairn defeated Holbrook. Played at Culcairn. * Germanton. This town was renamed as Holbrook in 1915. In 1922, the Riverina Main Line Football Association that was formed and based in

. The seven club's that made up this competition were - Culcairn, Henty, Mangoplah, Wagga Federals, Wagga Newtown, Wagga Stars and Yerong Creek. This competition was only in existence for one season, with the Wagga Stars defeating Yerong Creek in the Grand Final. On the eve of the final series Culcairn, Henty, and Mangoplah withdrew from the competition, citing the fact the association refused to provide a VFL umpire for the final series. ;Teams in the Culcairn & DFA per year *1910: Eastern Division - Cookardinia, Culcairn, Germanton and Henty. Western Division - Balldale, Brocklesby, Walbundrie and Walla Walla. *1911: Eastern Division - Cookardinia, Culcairn, Germanton and Henty. Western Division - Balldale, Brocklesby, Walbundrie and Walla Walla. *1912: Eastern Division - Cookardinia, Culcairn, Germanton, Henty and Morven. Western Division - Balldale, Brocklesby, Walbundrie and Walla Walla.

Notable residents

* Rugby league player Bradley Clyde was born and raised in Culcairn. * Triple

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

Gold medallist

Andrew Hoy Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

was born and raised in Culcairn.Equestrian Federation website
Retrieved 2 January 2006.

Transport

Culcairn sits on the main railway line between

and

and is serviced by the NSW TrainLink XPT service which runs twice daily and stops at the local railway station. The station was once the junction for the

Corowa Corowa is a town in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is on the bank of the Murray River, the border between New South Wales and Victoria, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah. It is the largest town in the Federation Council ...

and

Holbrook Holbrook may refer to: Places England *Holbrook, Derbyshire, a village * Holbrook, Somerset, a hamlet in Charlton Musgrove * Holbrook, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, a former mining village in Mosborough ward, now known as Halfway *Holbrook, Suffolk, ...

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

References

External links

Greater Hume Shire Council
- Greater Hume Shire Website
Culcairn Railway Station
{{authority control Towns in the Riverina Towns in New South Wales Greater Hume Shire