Ilford is a village in

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 ...

, beside the Crudine River within the

Mid-Western Regional Council The Mid-Western Regional Council 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 area is located adjacent to the Castlereagh Highway that passe ...

. It is located on the

Castlereagh Highway Castlereagh Highway is a state highway located in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. From north to south the highway traverses South West Queensland and the North West Slopes, Orana (New South Wales), Orana, and Central West (New South ...

(locally referred to as the 'Sydney Road'), about 220 kilometres north-west 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 ...

. At the 2016 census Ilford and the surrounding rural district had a population of 187, living in 65 private dwellings. The district also included 43 unoccupied private dwellings. Ilford was named after the English township of

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

(in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, now a part of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

), from where early residents of the locality originated. Unremarkable in appearance, Ilford appears to the traveller as no more than a cluster of buildings around a T-junction on the 'Sydney Road', where the Bathurst-Ilford Road joins the Castlereagh Highway. The focus of the community is Ilford Public School on the outskirts of the road-side settlement. An information bay with toilet facilities is located on the northern edge of the village.

History

An early name for the locality was Kean's Swamp.A Tour to the North-Western Interior: Wallerawang to Mudgee
''Australian Town and Country Journal'', 27 June 1874, page 28. In June 1853 a thirty-acre portion of Crown Land was proclaimed to be set aside at Kean's Swamp (in Roxburgh county) as a potential town lot. In December 1860 a public meeting of electors of the Hartley electorate was held in the “School-house” at Kean's Swamp. The meeting was one of a number held for the purpose of nomination and election of one member to serve in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales”. In January 1863 tenders were called for the conveyance of mails by horseback “to and from Kean’s Swamp and Sofala, twice a week". The successful contractor was Michael Moore of Kean's Swamp. In April 1863 the Sydney mail coach between Bowenfels and Cudgegong was held up and robbed by two bushrangers at Cherrytree Hill, two and a half miles from Kean's Swamp. The robbers were pursued by constables Wright and Cleary, who were stationed at Kean's Swamp. The policemen finally captured one of the men near Capertee Camp (now

Capertee Capertee ( ) is a village 46 km north of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. It is on an elevated site (808 metres) above the Capertee Valley. In 2016, the township had a population of 145 people. The Castlereagh Highway (previously known ...

). In March 1868 it was officially notified that the post-office previously known as Kean's Swamp would henceforth “bear the designation of ‘Ilford’”. In June 1874 a visitor to Ilford described the township as being “in a most picturesque situation, at the foot of a mountain”. There were four stores in the settlement (of which Mrs. Phelps’ store incorporated the Post Office) and an inn called The Plough. The only place of worship was a stone-built Wesleyan church. The public school was described as a “miserable slab building”. By November 1875 there were two places of worship in Ilford, Episcopalian and Wesleyan, and the township had “a population of 100”. The buildings in the village were “neat and substantial”, the businesses consisting of “two stores, a public-house, a carpenter’s shop, a bakery, a butchery, and a post-office”. The original school-house was replaced in late 1877 or early 1878, after the foundation stone for the new building was laid in September 1877. In November 1880 the following were granted publican's licenses at Ilford: Mrs. Elizabeth Donovan for the Carriers' Arms and Robert Moore for The Plough Inn. At the 1881 census Ilford village had 162 inhabitants. In November 1883 the publican's license held by John Farry for The Plough Inn at Ilford was cancelled by the Rylstone Licensing Court for the reason that Farry had “abandoned the said premises as his usual place of abode”. In 1884 John Guthrie held the publican's license for the Carriers' Arms. In June 1884 the railway branch line connecting Capertee to Wallerawang was extended through to Rylstone. The railway extension by-passed Ilford village to the east, but did, however, include a station named Ilford, even though it was located eight miles north-east of the village. The Ilford station had been completed by February 1884 when a correspondent made the observation that “the Ilford station house… seems too pretentious for the likely public requirements there”. The physical distance between the settlement of Ilford on the Sydney Road and the Ilford railway station was a significant factor in the steady decline of Ilford village from the mid-1880s. The railway station was named Ilford until 1900, when it was renamed Mornington. Three years later it was briefly renamed Carwell and then renamed Clandulla in 1905. The railway station (now closed) is the location of the modern village of Clandulla. At the 1891 census Ilford village had 92 inhabitants. In April 1898 it was reported that “almost all the children” of the Ilford locality were “suffering from scarlet fever, and the epidemic shows no sign of abating”. At the 1901 census Ilford village had 71 inhabitants. In 1909 Harriet Guthrie held the publican's license for the Carriers' Arms at Ilford. A visitor to Ilford in July 1922 described the settlement as “a place of the past, one of the towns of the old carrying days... like all roadside towns that were built up with team traffic the railway has killed it”. Many of the houses in the village had “gone to decay, their roofs of shingles dropping off in patches” and a “deserted” police station. Still remaining was “an up-to-date store kept by Mr. Olliver” and a "rabbit works, the product of which goes to Sydney via Capertee”. Ilford “evidently boasted three or four little hotels, now there is none”. The local school-house was described as “a fine public building with a sadly depleted attendance roll of children”. A “new co-operative sawmill” commenced work at Ilford in July 1926, run by the Ilford Co-operative Sawmilling Society Ltd. The local Co-operative Society was declared bankrupt in 1931 and was dissolved in May 1932.

Farmhouse rental program

Ilford was one of several rural New South Wales townships to initiate a farmhouse rental program, offering farmhouses for rent for one dollar per week to attract new residents to the area. The program is not currently operating.

Astronomy

The Astronomical Society of New South Wales runs a property 'Wiruna' just outside Ilford, which is one of the country's premier dark-sky observing sites, used by the society's members and guests. Each year since 1993, the Society has hosted the " South Pacific Star Party" there. This event attracts between 200 and 400 amateur star-gazers from Australia and abroad, effectively doubling the population of the region for the weekend. It is also used as a fund-raising opportunity for the local

Scouts Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

who provide hot food.

Access

* From

travel along

(Sydney Road). * From

Mudgee Mudgee () is a town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council Local gov ...

travel along Castlereagh Highway (Sydney Road). * From

Sofala Sofala , at present known as Nova Sofala , used to be the chief seaport of the Mwenemutapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique. The first recorded use of this port town w ...

travel along Bathurst-Ilford Road (MR 54). * From

Kandos Kandos is a small town in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, within the Mid-Western Regional Council. The area is the traditional home of the Dabee tribe of the Wiradjuri people. The town sits beneath Cumber Melon Mountain (f ...

travel along Bylong Valley Way to get to Castlereagh Highway (Sydney Road).

References

External links