Whitton is a small town located in

Leeton Shire Leeton Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Murrumbidgee River and falls within the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. The Shire i ...

in the

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 ...

n state 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 ...

and is located 23km west of the Leeton township. Founded in 1850, it is named after

John Whitton John Whitton (1820 near Wakefield, Yorkshire, England – 20 February 1898), an English people, Anglo–Australians, Australian Railway systems engineering, railway civil engineer, engineer, was the Engineer-in-Charge for the New South Wales Gov ...

(1820–98), Engineer-in-Charge of the

New South Wales Government Railways New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in the colony, and then the state, of New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. History The NSWGR built ...

. The railway reached Whitton in 1881. At the , Whitton had a population of 496.

History

Whitton was originally named "Hulong" and is the oldest town in the

Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) is geographically located within the Riverina area of New South Wales. It was created to control and divert the flow of local river and creek systems for the purpose of food production. The main river s ...

. It developed on a main teamster route transporting goods to the South-West of New South Wales. Hulong was renamed to Whitton in 1883.

Services

The Whitton township contains the Ricebowl Hotel, a general store, a post office, St Carthage Catholic Church (closed), Whitton Uniting Church (closed), St John's Anglican Church, a fire station, a bowling club, a primary school, a public swimming pool and a number of houses. Whitton also supports several Agribusiness manufacturing business such as ''Southern Cotton's''

Cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

and ''Voyager Malt's'' craft Malt production facility, as well as a regional tourist attraction, the ''Whitton Malt House'' that was opened in late 2020.

Sport

Whitton formerly had a rugby league team competing in the

Group 17 Rugby League Group 17 is a rugby league competition based in the Riverina and Central West regions of New South Wales, Australia. The competition collapsed in 2006 and reformed in 2018 as the Western Riverina Community Cup with six teams. It is currently s ...

competition, known as the Whitton Bulls. They won the competition in 1998 and 2001, and reached numerous Grand Finals around this period, before folding in the mid 2000s. The club's home ground, the Whitton Sports Ground, has since been abandoned and fallen into a state of disrepair. The site, which still contains the timekeeper's box, rusted rugby league goalposts and the remains of the clubrooms amongst the overgrown weeds, has become a site frequented by curious explorers. The ground is located on the Whitton-Darlington Point Road, about 100 metres south of the intersection on the bend of the

Irrigation Way Irrigation Way is a major rural road that runs approximately through the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area in south western New South Wales, Australia. Route Irrigation Way commences at the intersection with Newell Highway in Narrandera and head ...

. The town nominally has a merged Australian Rules Football team, the Leeton-Whitton Crows, who play in the

Riverina Football League The Riverina Football Netball League (RFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing nine clubs based in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The league features three grades in the Australian rules footba ...

, although the club has not played in Whitton for many decades. Prior to merging with Leeton, the town had a team with

Yanco Yanco is a village in Leeton Shire in south western New South Wales, Australia. Yanco is a Wiradjuri aboriginal language word meaning ''the sound of running water''. Yanco is located from Leeton along Irrigation Way. Yanco is home to the Pow ...

, known as the Whitton-Yanco Tigers.

Notable people

Bill Box Bill Box (11 June 1938 – 8 July 2006) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia op ...

, Australian rules footballer *

Linda Burney Linda Jean Burney (born 25 April 1957) is an Australian Labor Party (ALP) politician who was the member of Parliament (MP) for the division of Barton from 2016 to 2025. She was the minister for Indigenous Australians from 2022 to July 2024. S ...

, member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

for Barton and

Minister for Indigenous Australians The Minister for Indigenous Australians in the Government of Australia is a position which holds responsibility for affairs affecting Indigenous Australians. Previous ministers have held various other titles since the position was created in 196 ...

* Stan Lloyd, Australian rules footballer

Gallery

File:Whitton Railway Station (1899-1925).jpg, Whitton Railway Station (1899-1925) File:Whitton Railway Station platform.JPG, Whitton Railway Station File:WhittonRailwayStation.JPG, Whitton Railway Station File:Rear view of the railway station building at the Whitton Museum.jpg, Whitton Railway Station File:Whitton Malthouse 20210410.jpg, Whitton Malt House venue in front of the Voyager Craft Malt factory (2021)

References

{{authority control Leeton Shire Towns in New South Wales