Jembaicumbene (pronounced Jemmi-c'm-bene) is a locality 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 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 ...

, located 8 km (5 miles) out along the Braidwood– Majors Creek Road. Once a thriving goldfield, it is now a peaceful valley on the way to Majors Creek. The mining village of the same name is now virtually a ghost town. The area now known as Jembaicumbene lies on the traditional lands of

Walbanga The Walbunja, also spelt Walbanga, Walbunga and Wulbunja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales, part of the Yuin nation. Language The Walbunja language may be a dialect of Dhurga. Country The Walbunja people are a subgroup o ...

people, a group of

Yuin The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...

. Settlers took over land in the area from the 1830s. In 1853, Jembaicumbene Creek and it tributaries were proclaimed a goldfield. By 1859, there were over a thousand gold miners on the creek, including six hundred Chinese miners. Land for the site of a village of Jembaicumbene was set aside on 1 February 1867. By 1868, it had "''many stores, hotels, and business places, as well as a large flour-mill''". The village was located just to the north of Jembaicumbene Creek, a tributary of the

Shoalhaven River The Shoalhaven River is a perennial stream, perennial river that rises from the Southern Tablelands and flows into an open mature wind wave, wave dominated estuary#Lagoon-type or bar-built, barrier estuary near Nowra on the South Coast, New Sou ...

. Majors Creek Road was its main street, Gillamatong Street, within the village boundaries. Parts of several of its old streets, North, Peel, and Howe Streets still appear on modern-day maps. Stands of fine old trees mark former home sites and the upturned earth along the length of the Jembaicumbene Creek bears witness to the efforts of many hopeful miners, and the later activities of several

dredge mining Dredging is the Digging, excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing Water feature, water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial ...

companies. The Jembaicumbene Steam Flour Mills was built by Charles Dransfield in 1859, and opened in January 1860. The mill building was designed by Sydney architect-surveyor C E Langley. The engineering works for the mill, including supplying the milling equipment, chaff cutters, lift, and 20-horsepower steam engine, were by P. N. Russell & Co. The mill building still stands and has been repurposed. It is today the most substantial building that survives from the gold rush era. By 1874, the steam mill was still in operation, but Jembaicumbene was described as a "quiet village". Although there was still much alluvial gold, in the swampy creek bed at Jembaicumbene, mining it by conventional techniques proved impossible, due to the large amount and high level of groundwater . Gold dredging, a technique widely used in New Zealand, had been introduced to New South Wales in 1899 by Charles Lancelot Garland, and this new mining technique was perfectly suited to the swampy goldfield. The gold dredges brought about a revival in gold mining at Jembaicumbene, from around 1901 to at least 1917, but did considerable damage to the land. In 1905, the village had a hotel, post office, blacksmith, school, two churches and many houses. Horse racing was the most important leisure activity for the miners in the old days, and the social life for the settlers centred largely around the race meetings, held on courses which have now disappeared. The date of the annual race meeting at Jembaicumbene was traditionally

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

; that annual day of racing occurring from, at latest 1863, until at least 1903. A race meeting at Jembaicumbene, for

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

in 1873, was organised by the prominent

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

ethnic-Chinese mine owner and businessman,

Mei Quong Tart Moy Quong Tart, often anachronistically known as Mei Quong Tart, was a prominent nineteenth century Sydney merchant from China. He was one of Sydney's most famous and well-loved personalities and made a significant impact on the social and po ...

(梅光达)—who came from China to the Braidwood area, in 1859, with an uncle, at the age of nine—and others of the area's Chinese community. Jembaicumbene (or nearby

Ballalaba Ballalaba is a locality in the Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council, New South Wales, Australia. It is located about 30 km southwest of Braidwood on the road to Cooma and on the Shoalhaven River The Shoalhaven River is a perennial s ...

) was the birthplace of

Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

, winner of the first two

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia, at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that forms part of the ...

s in 1861 and 1862. Foaled at the "Exeter Farm", it was also his last home where he was retired to stud, and where he is believed to be buried. Several other Melbourne Cup winners were also bred in the district. The other interesting connection between Jembaicumbene and the horse Archer, is that Helen "Ellen" de Mestre, the aboriginal first child of Archer's trainer Etienne de Mestre was born in the area, and some of his Aboriginal grandchildren and great-grandchildren were born there. One of Etienne's great-grandchildren,

Guboo Ted Thomas Edwin "Guboo" Ted Thomas (29 January 1909 – 19 May 2002), a Yuin man, was a prominent Aboriginal leader. He toured Australia with a gumleaf orchestra during the Great Depression of the 1930s, played rugby league and became a respected eld ...

(1909–2002), went on to become an important leader in the Aboriginal community in the South Coast area of

, which is also Yuin country. He was a spiritual leader, and the last initiated tribal elder on the South Coast. Guboo was born under a gum tree at Jembaicumbene. Jembaicumbene had a public school from 1870 to 1934, but it was classified as a part-time school from 1929 to 1931 and a provisional school from 1931 to 1934. The post office, which opened in 1861, closed on 28 March 1979.

References

External links

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Map of Village of Jembaicumbene (1933)Map of Village of Jembaicumbene (1971)
{{authority control Localities in New South Wales Southern Tablelands Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council Ghost towns in New South Wales Mining towns in New South Wales