Laurel Hill is a village community in the south east part of the Riverina, 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 ...

. It is situated by road, about 14 kilometres south-southwest of

Batlow Batlow is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, on the edge of the Great Dividing Range, 775 m above sea level. Batlow is well known for its apples. About 50 growers in the district supply 1.6 million cas ...

and 22 kilometres north-northeast of Tumbarumba. In the late 1800s, gold mining was being carried out at a location about 12 km south of Batlow on the Paddy's River. This location, named Quartzville, was home at one point to about 2,000 people. A dam for the washing of alluvial gold and sluicing operations was constructed at the site. The population in the area extended into the Bago forest area and Laurel Hill came into being on the route taken by coaches from

Adelong Adelong is a small town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the banks of the Adelong Creek. Adelong sits on the Snowy Mountains Highway and is a part of the Snowy Valleys Council. At the , Adelong had an urban popul ...

to Tumbarumba. ''Bago'' Post Office opened on 10 June 1878, was renamed ''Laurel Hill'' in 1880 and closed in 1989. The Miners Arms hotel at Laurel Hill was owned by the Waters family who held the licence until 1887, when it was taken over by Mr Dickson Currie. Mary Ann Waters took over the hotel as licensee in 1891 and Mr Currie built a new hotel for her in the early 1900s, as the old building had been condemned. The new hotel was located on the opposite side of the road to the original pub. Mr Jim Waters bought the new hotel in 1910 and operated it until 1928 when it was sold to a Mr Hayden. The hotel was later sold to Mr George King, who remodelled the building, altering the roof and enclosing the front verandah. Mr King later moved to Batlow and the hotel was taken over for a time by Mrs Latham, before she too moved to Batlow. The hotel building burned down in 1958 and was not replaced. Laurel Hill Prison Farm was established in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

. It was renamed the Leslie Nott Afforestation Camp in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

and then the Laurel Hill Forest Camp, under the direction of the Forestry Commission of New South Wales. It is now a privately owned conference centre.

Climate

The Bago Plateau, to the south of Batlow, has a cold rainforest climate owing to its great elevation and exposure.

Snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

is frequent from June to September, and often falls heavily. The region is subject to heavy cloud cover in the winter months. Climate data are sourced from Pilot Hill, at an altitude of .

Notes and references

{{authority control Towns in the Riverina Towns in New South Wales