Scone () is a town in the

Upper Hunter Shire The Upper Hunter Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of Murrurundi Shire, Murrurundi and Merr ...

in the

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River (New Sout ...

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 ...

. At the 2021 census, Scone had a population of 5,013 people. It is on the

New England Highway New England Highway is an long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, Queensland, Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland, at its northern end to Hexham, New South Wales, Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, New South Wales, ...

north of

Muswellbrook Muswellbrook ( ) is a town in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle. Geologically, Muswellbrook is situated in the northern parts of the Sydney bas ...

about 270 kilometres (167.77 miles) north 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 is part of the

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

(federal) and Upper Hunter (state) electorates. Scone is in a farming area and is also noted for breeding

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorses. It is known as the "Horse capital of Australia".

History

Allan Cunningham was the first recorded European person to travel into the Scone area, reaching the Upper Dartbrook and Murrurundi areas in 1823. Surveyor Henry Buffier travelled through the area, prior to passing over the Liverpool Range above Murrurundi in 1824. The first properties in the area were Invermein and Segenhoe in 1825. The town initially started as the village of Redbank in 1826 and in 1831 Hugh Cameron, a Scottish descendant put forward the name of Scone to Thomas Mitchell. It was gazetted as Scone in 1837 and during the early days was renowned for its large pastoral properties including Belltrees and Segenhoe. Early buildings were St Luke's Church, Scone Post Office, the Old Court Theatre (that is now a hall for musicals and plays), and the St Aubins' Inn. Scone Shire was merged into the

in 2004, integrating parts of the former Murrurundi and Merriwa shires. The annual Scone Horse Festival is a celebration of Scone's cultural links to equines. It is celebrated during May and includes all manner of activities, including wine tours, Open Days across the numerous horse studs in the area, the Scone rodeo, the Scone School Horse Sports competition, the Black Tie Ball, and a parade in Kelly Street. The main event is a

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

carnival featuring the prestigious Scone Cup, one of the richest country racing days in

and

. Small celebrations are also a key part of the festival and include schools, businesses, public events and sports centres. The Horse Festival is also traditionally linked with such events as the Belltrees poetry competition, the yarns night and many other small annual fundraisers and events. Scone also hosts the Inglis Guineas Day, a major race meet, in the middle of May. The town is also home to some of the very old pony clubs and is known for a happening polo club. Besides these, the region is well known for its dairies and wineries.

Belltrees Country House

Located on Gundy Road and is heritage listed. The property is 23,000 acre

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

. In 1830 Hamilton Sempill was granted the land and called Belltree after an estate of an

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

. After Sempill returned to England, it was owned by explorer W C Wentworth. In 1853, Wentworth sold the estate to the sons of John White. Designed J W Pender for

Henry Luke White Henry Luke White (9 May 1860 – 30 June 1927) was a wealthy Pastoral farming, grazier, and a keen philatelist, book collector, amateur ornithologist and oologist, oölogist of Scone, New South Wales, Scone, New South Wales, Australia. Persona ...

in 1906. In 1912 it was 160,000 enclosed with 3,200 km fencing and 64 buildings. Currently on the property there is a homestead built in 1908, St James chapel (1887), the original homestead which is now a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

, a trading store (1837) turned into an

office An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...

, a shearing shed (1880) and a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. Patrick White used the property as inspiration for his novel '' The Eye of the Storm'' (1973). In 1994 the property became the set for the film ''A Matter of Honour.''

St Aubin's Arms

In 1836

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

and Henry Dangar leased 6 acres of property at St Aubin's Village from Captain William Dumaresq. It was built in 1837 and is a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

located on 245 Kelly Street. The first name was "The Bird in Hand' and the first owner was James Briggs until 1838. There was seven rooms with attached

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

s, and a small

paddock A paddock is a small enclosure for horses. In the United Kingdom, this term also applies to a field for a general automobile racing competition, particularly Formula 1. Description The most common design provides an area for exercise and is ofte ...

and stockyard. In 1838 the pub was owned by George Chivers. In 1840 the pub was robbed by the Jewboy gang. In 1842, John P Wilkie brought the property and renamed it the White Swan Inn. In 1888 the house was built on the property. In 1917 it was put on market but did not sell due to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1938 the house was purchased. The property sits on 4 acres of land. It is a

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

building with high ceilings, wide verandahs, cedar joinery and an underground cellar. In the 1960s an additional wing was added. The property now has five

bedroom A bedroom or bedchamber is a room situated within a residential or accommodation unit characterized by its usage for sleeping. A typical Western world, western bedroom contains as bedroom furniture one or two beds, a clothes closet, and bedsid ...

s, a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

, lounge and dining areas.

Turanville Estate

William Dangar purchased 800 acres and was given permission to purchase the 1800 acres adjacent to the property. It was well known for horse-breeding – producing racehorses and remounts for the Indian Army and attracted clientele from around the world. Built in the early 1870s with 12 rooms and offices. In 1888, a

telephone line A telephone line or telephone circuit (or just line or circuit industrywide) is a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system. It is designed to reproduce speech of a quality that is understandable. It is the physical wire or oth ...

was installed to connect Turanville to Scone; it was the first connection to Scone from a property. In 1854, Thomas Cook started to work on the property. In 1889, Thomas Cook inherited the property from his uncle William Dangar. After Cook inherited the property, it reached around 10,000 acres; he also built a homestead and gardens. During the 1900s, a new

roof A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of tempera ...

made out

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

with a front

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

was added to replace the shingled one. In 1912, the property was sold to Hugh Corbett Taylor, whose great grandson still lives on the property. In 1938, Helen Ethel Moore and Douglas Hamilton Robertson took over the property. In 1946, a

renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, o ...

occurred which included demolishing the separate kitchen block and adding a southern wing to the house. In 1963, Jock Douglas Robertson and his Elizabeth took over running the property. Since 2003, Douglas Hugh Robertson and his wife Nicola now run the property.

Heritage listings

Scone has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * 144 Kelly Street: Scone Civic Theatre * 41 Kingdon Road: Old Court Theatre * 117 Liverpool Street: Scone Post Office * Main Northern railway: Scone railway station

Education

One of the first educational groups to be established in New South Wales was a reading society, The Scone Book Society, formed in 1841. This later became the Scone School of Arts, a

Mechanics' Institute Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts (especially in the Australian colonies), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult edu ...

and library, which occupied buildings in Kingdon Street (1873–1917) and Kelly Street (1924–1954). Present-day schools include: * Scone Public School * Scone High School * St Mary's Scone * Scone Grammar School There is also a campus of

TAFE NSW TAFE NSW is an Australian vocational education and training provider. Annually, the network trains over 500,000 students in campus, workplace, online, or distance education methods of education. It was established as an independent statutory bod ...

Transport

Scone lies on the Main North railway line, and is served by a passenger train service made up of a daily

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a regional train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and into Australian Capital Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria (state), Victoria, Queensland and South Australia ...

train to

and two or three

services to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. The town is connected to nearby

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

via Scone Road, which traverses the Barrington Tops. Scone Airport (ICAO code YSCO, IATA code NSO) is located 3.5 kilometers Northwest of the town center. The airport has a 1404 meter asphalt runway. It hosts an aeroclub, a flight school, a warbird collection (Hunter Warbirds) but does not currently have any scheduled airline service. Osborn’s Buses runs a bus service between Scone and Muswellbrook. There are approximately 20 services per week in each direction.

Media

Scone is serviced by a number of regional radio stations, television stations and newspapers.

Radio

Radio stations include: * ABC Upper Hunter on 104.7 FM (Regional) * ABC New England North West can also be heard on 648 AM (Regional) * ABC RN on 104.1 FM (National) *

ABC NewsRadio ABC NewsRadio, since 2017 broadcast under the ABC News brand and for a short time known as ABC News on Radio, is a 24-hour news radio service broadcast by the Australian public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ABC ...

on 104.9 FM (National) *

ABC Classic ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. I ...

on 103.1 FM (National) * Hit106.9 on 106.9 FM (Commercial) *

Power FM Capital South Coast was a regional radio station owned by operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital (radio network), Capital radio network. It broadcast to Hampshire from studios in Segensworth, Fareham. In 2019, Capital South Coast was r ...

on 98.1 FM (Community) * 2NM on 981 AM (Community)

Television stations

* Seven (formerly branded as

Prime7 Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as ''CBN (Australian TV station), CBN-8'' in Orange, New South Wales, Ora ...

), 7two,

7mate 7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a c ...

7flix 7flix is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 28 February 2016. 7flix targets a variety of viewers and offers drama, comedy, reality, docusoap, and movies. History On 18 Decembe ...

7Bravo 7Bravo is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network under license from NBCUniversal International Networks on 15 January 2023. The channel contains programming from NBCUniversal's Americ ...

–

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

owned and operated channels. *

Nine 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

( NBN),

9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anima ...

9Gem 9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network in September 2010. The channel provides general entertainment and movie programming, from which the original name "GEM" is derived. History The la ...

9Life 9Life is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Nine Entertainment. The channel airs mostly foreign lifestyle and reality programs, with the channel having a licensing agreement with Discovery Inc. (previously Scr ...

–

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

owned and operated channels. *

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...

, 10 Bold Drama, 10 Peach Comedy –

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

affiliated channels. * ABC,

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

, ABC Kids,

ABC Entertains ABC Entertains is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched on 4 December 2009 as a children's channel called ABC3. It was rebranded on 19 September 2016 to ABC ME. It rebra ...

and

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

, part of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

. *

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels (SBS (Australian TV chann ...

, SBS, SBS Viceland,

SBS Food SBS Food (formerly Food Network) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel airs programs about food and cooking, from cultures around the world. History SBS first ...

, SBS WorldWatch, SBS World Movies and

NITV National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the six-day-a-week ''NITV News Updat ...

Subscription Television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

services are provided by

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

Newspapers

'' The Scone Advocate'' is the town's local newspaper which publishes on print and online.

Climate

Scone possesses a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

( Köppen: Cfa), with hot, relatively wet summers and mild, relatively dry winters with cool nights. Average maxima vary from in January to in July, while average minima fluctuate between in January and in July. Annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

is moderately low (averaging ), and is spread across 75.9 precipitation days (over ). Rainfall is less common in winter than in summer due to the foehn effect, as the town lies on the

leeward 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 ...

. The town experiences 105.3 clear days and 57.1 cloudy days per annum. Extreme temperatures have ranged from on 12 February 2017 to on 20 July 2023.

Sport and recreation

Scone Polo Club was established in 1891.

Notes

References

External links

providing images of properties near Scone * Scone are
visitor information centre
{{authority control Scone, New South Wales, Suburbs of Upper Hunter Shire Towns in the Hunter Region