Forest Reefs is a village and its surrounding rural locality in

Blayney Shire Blayney Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Central West, New South Wales, Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Mid-Western Highway and the Main Western railwa ...

, within the Central West region of

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 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 ...

. It is approximately 18 km from

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 ...

. In 2021, the village and locality had a population of 537.

History

The area now known as Forest Reefs lies within the traditional lands of

Wiradjuri people The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in f ...

. The area was known as The Forest or Beneree, at the time of the

Robertson Land Act The Crown Lands Acts 1861 (NSW) (or Robertson Land Acts) were introduced by the New South Wales Premier, John Robertson, in 1861 to reform land holdings in New South Wales and in particular to break the squattocracy's domination of land tenure. T ...

, in 1860. Forest Reefs was a gold mining area with alluvial gold being found in the 1860s and 1870s. There was also very significant deep lead gold mining in the area, although the material mined from the deep leads needed to be crushed to obtain the gold it contained. Only a few of the reefs in the area were gold-bearing. A post office was opened in 1870. In 1901, the Post Office Directory showed its population of 500, with a butcher shop, blacksmith shop, baker, school, two hotels and three stores. A school opened in January 1871 but closed in May the same year. Another school opened in February 1882 and closed in December 1990. An area that was identified as 'Forest Reefs' was one of the sites suggested for the new national capital and capital territory, but that proposed area lay west of Blayney, north of

Carcoar Carcoar is a small town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Blayney Shire. In 2021, the town had a population of 271 people. It is situated just off the Mid-Western Highway 258 km west ...

; it does not correspond with the locality now called Forest Reefs. This suggests that in those times, 'Forest Reefs' was taken to mean a far wider area than it does now. By 1974, the Post Office had closed. One of the hotels, the Forest Reef Tavern, remains open at the village.

References

External links

{{commons-inline, Forest Reefs, New South Wales, Forest Reefs, New South Wales Blayney Shire Towns in New South Wales Mining towns in New South Wales