Yetman is a hamlet in 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 ...

region of northern

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 , Yetman and the surrounding area had a population of 178. It is located on the

Macintyre River The Macintyre River, a perennial river that forms part of the Border Rivers group, is part of the Barwon catchment of the Murray-Darling basin, located in the Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, and the So ...

about south of the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

border and north of Sydney. It is located at the intersection of the roads south to Tamworth, east to

Tenterfield Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia, situated at the junction of the New England and Bruxner highways, along the Northern Tablelands, within the New England, New South Wales, New England region. At the , Tenterfield ha ...

and north-west to

Boggabilla Boggabilla is a small town in the far north of inland New South Wales, Australia in Moree Plains Shire. At the , the town had a population of 529, of which 43.5% identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. The name Boggabilla ...

History

The area was once occupied by the

Bigambul The Bigambul people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Tablelands and Border Rivers regions of New South Wales and Queensland. Name In the traditional language, the name of this group is derived from the Bigambul word or wh ...

, a sub-group of the Murri Aboriginal people who used to fish along the

. Yetman

Station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

was established in 1837 by the Dights, who followed Allan Cunningham's trail to the north. The first two

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

licences were issued in 1866 at about same time as the first store was built - the Yetman Hotel first and then the Macintyre Hotel. The Macintyre Hotel was built and first operated by William Watson Rainbow. Country hotels were often the social hub of the town and the Macintyre Hotel was no exception. Its verandah served as a stand for the racing stewards at the Easter Races of 1870. New Year and Easter Races saw the "squatters and gentry" mix with the selectors and station labourers - master and man united in their enthusiasm for racing, betting and celebratory dinners. The latter were often hosted by the publican, who often put up a prize or two for the winners. The Macintyre Hotel is no more, while the Yetman Hotel became what is now the Codfish Hotel. The first public school was established in 1867, following a letter from local people - William Watson Rainbow, Sidonia Hensler, William Playle, Jacob Miller, William Sleuk and George Kobs - to the Council of Education. The Yetman Post Office opened on 1 September 1867. In applying for a post office the applicants claimed that the population was then about 100 but this was considered a considerable exaggeration. The publican of the Yetman Hotel, Richard Holmes, became the first Postmaster.'The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser', 24 October 1867, p.3 The first police station was built in 1874. St Andrews Church was built in the 1870s for use by both

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

and

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

congregations. The town has always been associated with beef cattle and horses, with the sheep, wool and timber industries developing only slightly later. The thick rabbit and prickly-pear-ridden scrub of the

brigalow ''Acacia harpophylla'', commonly known as brigalow, brigalow spearwood or orkor, is an endemic tree of Australia. The Aboriginal Australian group the Gamilaraay peoples know the tree as Barranbaa or Burrii. It is found in central and coasta ...

and belah country was reclaimed from expiring leases in the 1920s and the back-breaking work of rendering it fit for agriculture did not bear fruit until the 1950s when wheat-growing became and remains a highly successful enterprise. Some crops are also grown on the fecund black soils of the river flats.

References

{{authority control Towns in New England (New South Wales) Inverell Shire