Crookwell is a small town located in the

Southern Tablelands The Southern Tablelands is a geographic area of New South Wales, Australia, located south-west of Sydney and generally west of the Great Dividing Range. The area is characterised by high, flat country which has generally been extensively cl ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia, in the Upper Lachlan Shire. At the , Crookwell had a population of 2,641. The town is at a relatively high altitude of 887 metres and there are several

snowfalls Snow consists of 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 througho ...

during the cooler months. The nearest major centre is the city of

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, approximately south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victor ...

which is about a half-hour drive to the south-east of the town. Crookwell is easily accessible to the state capital of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and also the federal capital of

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. Most employment is based on rural industries, and the district is renowned for potato farming. Crookwell is also home to what was

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

's first

wind farm A wind farm, also called a wind park or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turbines covering an exten ...

, which consists of 8 turbines, and is located a few kilometres out of town on the road towards Goulburn. A

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

once connected Goulburn and Crookwell, which opened in 1902, but passenger services to Crookwell station ceased in 1974, and the last goods train ran in 1985. The line is technically not closed, but has been listed as out of use, and in some locations is now impassable.

History

The area now known as Crookwell lies within the traditional lands of the Gundangurra people. These people spoke a similar if not identical language to the neighbouring

Ngunnawal The Ngunnawal people, also spelt Ngunawal, are an Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal people of southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Language Ngunnawal–Gundungurra language, Ngunnawal and Gundungurr ...

people to their south. The first Europeans known to be in the area were the exploratory party of surveyor James Meehan which camped 1 km south of present-day Grabben Gullen (12 km south-west of Crookwell). John Oxley passed to the north and east later that same year. Crookwell was originally known as "Kiama" but later renamed after the river. The area around Crookwell was first settled in the 1820s, and had received its current name by the 1860s. By 1840, some inns had appeared at the crossroads, but Binda remained the head of the district. After this,

selection Selection may refer to: Science * Selection (biology), also called natural selection, selection in evolution ** Sex selection, in genetics ** Mate selection, in mating ** Sexual selection in humans, in human sexuality ** Human mating strat ...

of blocks occurred; and the population of was over 100 by midway through that decade. The first allotments were sold at the end of the decade. By the mid-1870s the population had already reached 1000 people. In 1865,

Mary Gilmore Dame Mary Jean Gilmore (née Cameron; 16 August 18653 December 1962) was an Australian writer and journalist known for her prolific contributions to Australian literature and the broader national discourse. She wrote both prose and poetry. Gi ...

was born just 16 km south in the town or Roslyn. From 1941 to 1945, 508,500 tons of iron ore was mined—about six miles by road from the town—and railed to Port Kembla for wartime steel production. Crookwell contained one of Australias first wind farms, the

Crookwell Wind Farm Crookwell Wind Farm, located at Crookwell west of Goulburn, New South Wales, consists of eight 600 kW wind turbines giving a total capacity of 4.8 MW. It was the first grid-connected wind farm in Australia when built by Pacific Power ...

and the first wind farm that fed into the national power grid.

Heritage listings

Crookwell has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Goulburn-Crookwell railway: Crookwell railway station

Population

In the 2021 Census, there were 2,686 people in Crookwell. In the 2016 census 85.8% of people were born in Australia and 91.4% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 34.9%, Anglican 30.1%, No Religion 14.3% and Uniting Church 7.8%.

Governance

Crookwell is the seat of the Upper Lachlan Shire Council

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 federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

(LGA) of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, formed in 2004.

Transport

Crookwell is approximately 2.5 hours drive from

via

, and 1.5 hours from

. Other than the main road to Goulburn, minor roads link Crookwell with Bathurst,

Boorowa Boorowa () is a farming village in the Hilltops Council, Hilltops Region in the South West Slopes, south west slopes of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in a valley southwest of Sydney around above sea-level. The town is in Hilltops C ...

, Grabben Gullen, Laggan, and

Taralga Taralga is a small village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Upper Lachlan Shire. It is located at the intersection of the Goulburn-Oberon Road and the Laggan-Taralga Road. It is accessible from Oberon, New South Wales, ...

. Crookwell railway station is the terminus of the now disused Crookwell railway line. Crookwell has a small unpaved airstrip approximately 5 km south of the town.

Climate

Owing to its exposed western location on the

upwind In geography and seamanship, windward () and leeward () are directions relative to the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e., towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point o ...

side of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...

and somewhat southern latitude, snow is not uncommon during the winter months, with occasional heavy falls. Summers are warm and dry, with cool to cold nights. Winters are cold and wet; when the prevailing westerly cloud is persistent, daily maximum temperatures can struggle to exceed .

Media

Radio stations

Radio stations with transmitters located in Crookwell include: * Crookwell FM 88.0 FM *

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

91.7 FM (2JJJ) * 93.5 Eagle FM 103.9 FM ''(commercial)'' (2SNO) * GNFM 106.1 FM ''(commercial)'' (2GBN) *

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...

106.9 FM (2ABCRR) *

ABC Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

107.7 FM (2ABCRN) Depending on location some Goulburn, Illawarra, and/or Canberra based radio stations can also be heard. Eagle FM and GNFM (formerly 2GN) are Goulburn based but licensed to serve towns in the Southern Tablelands including Crookwell. In order to reach Crookwell, both have transmitters which relay the Goulburn broadcast but on different frequencies to Goulburn.

Television

Crookwell has a low powered transmitter broadcasting

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

. Residents wishing to receive a wider range of channels and in digital can attempt to receive signals from either

( Black Mountain), or

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

( Mount Canobolas), although Crookwell is located in the fringe area of both transmitters. Another option is to use the VAST free-to-view satellite service, which offers a similar range of channels.

Newspaper

The local newspaper, the '' Crookwell Gazette'' has been published since 1885.

Notable people

Notable people include Kellie White and Emily Smith (Hockeyroos Captain), who both played for the Hockeyroos in international competition.

Photo gallery

File:Crookwell Town Entry West.jpg, Town entry sign File:Crookwell Scout Hall.jpg, Scout Hall File:Crookwell Bluestone.jpg, Bluestone building File:Crookwell Railway Station.jpg, Disused railway station File:Crookwell Sunburst.jpg, Sunburst façade File:Crookwell Trompe l'oeil.jpg, ''Trompe l'oeil'' on shop wall

References

{{authority control Upper Lachlan Shire Towns in New South Wales Southern Tablelands Mining towns in New South Wales