Located in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Cobar was a 130km drive from our previous overnight stop in Nyngan. Established in 1870 to mine the rich copper ore discovered there, the town still relies on mining for its existence.
The huge Cobar sign is on of the first thing you see when arriving in town. A car park next to the sign allows easy access to take photos, as well as have a break and relax at the picnic tables in the area.
The Cobar Sign
Fort Bourke Lookout Peak Gold Mines
Only a three minute drive from town, the Fort Bourke Lookout at Peak Gold Mines provides an insight into the size of the local mining industry. The view looks over the old open cut mine, where you can see the entrance to the underground section at the bottom. We watched a truck drive down the decline until it entered the underground section.
Fort Bourke Lookout Over the New Cobar Mine Site
Truck Driving Down the Decline
Truck Entering the Underground Mine Site
Cobar Miners Heritage Park
Currently undergoing a major upgrade, the Miners Heritage Park was temporarily closed during our visit. Many of the exhibits are visible from the road, but you are not able to read any information boards about them. The upgraded site looks like it will be great, from what we could see.
Cobar Miners’ Heritage Park Being Refurbished
Statue at the Miners’ Heritage Park
Underground Loader
Stele Monument
Across the road from the Heritage Park, a stele commemorates Campbell, Hartman and Gibb, who discovered the copper deposit and established the town.
Stele Monument
Great Cobar Heritage Centre & Cobar Visitor Information Centre
Also closed for refurbishment during our trip was the Heritage Centre. Only the silhouettes of miners in the gardens were visible.
Miner Silhouette Outside the Tourist Information Centre
A Miner Silhouette Outside the Tourist Information Centre
Miner Silhouette Outside the Tourist Information Centre
To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.
A gold rush in the 1870s turned Hill End from a small rural village into one of the largest inland towns in New South Wales. When the boom finished, the town reverted back to a small village, however unlike other boom / bust towns many of the historic buildings remain. Now heritage listed, the town offers an insight into life in the 1870s, because of its preserved buildings and artefacts.
Located 75km south of Mudgee or 270km north-west of Sydney, Hill End is a great place to relax and enjoy some history. We enjoyed it here because of the many different things to can see and do. Not only are there buildings from the gold rush, but several interesting walks and museums.
Hill End Heritage Centre
Located in a 1950s Rural Fire Service shed next to the General Store, the Heritage Centre offers a self-guided tour of displays that detail the history of the town. The centre contains some excellent photos of life during the gold rush, as well as a model showing the town at its largest. Artefacts and a fire engine make this a great first stop to learn about Hill End.
The Old Rural Fire Service Shed Now the Heritage Centre
1942 Ford Blitz Fire Truck
Model of the Hill End Town
Gold Smelting Pots
Water Bottle
Old Photo of a Miner’s Cottage
Shops on the Main Street as They Used To Be
Hill End Historic Buildings
The heritage listed town contains many buildings dating from the 1870s gold rush period. Unlike other towns from this period, where old buildings were removed, many of Hill End’s buildings remain intact, giving a view back in time.
We walked through town on the afternoon we arrived and again the next morning, before other people were around. This let us enjoy the area both with and without other people around.
While wandering around, we found an old rusty car a petrol pumps, adding to the old feel of the town.
The Road Into Hill End
St Paul’s Presbyterian Church
Hosies Store
Old Building at Hill End
Beyers Cottage Hill End
Robert Northey’s General Grocer and Produce Store Hill End
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Great Western Store
Old Petrol Pumps
Rusty Car Wreck
Hill End War Memorial Machine Gun
History Hill Museum
Only a ten-minute drive from town, the History Hill Museum contains a huge collection of artefacts from the 1870s gold rush, which include a stamper battery crusher and a replica gold mine.
The collection includes everyday items used by people providing a great insight into ordinary life in the late nineteenth century. There is also what must be one of the largest collections of weighing scales anywhere. Scales formed an important part of the gold mining industry, ensuring that correct payment was made for gold mined.
The Chinese contribution to the area is highlighted, illustrating the diversity of people attracted to the area to mine gold.
Collections of fire arms, locks, porcelain and bottles add to the huge numbers of displays, that go well beyond the normal rocks and mining equipment that mining museums usually have.
Another great attraction at History Hill is the replica gold mine, which you walk through at your own pace. Being able to walk through a mine, even if a replica gives you a great idea of what mining was like here. The exit is fun, with seven lots of ladders to climb to the surface. Of course, if you don’t want to climb the ladders, you can return to the entrance instead. We really liked this!
Not the Entry
Pad Locks
Hand Guns
Collection of Scales
Tools in the Blacksmiths Shop
Gold Weighing Scales
Shackles
Poison Bottle Collection
Bottle Collection
China Collection
Stamping Crusher
Entry to the Son of Hope Mine
Ladders Leading Out of the Mine
Tunnel Inside the Mine
Tunnel Inside the Mine
Golden Gully Walking Track
The eroded banks of Golden Gully are unstable, so take care when walking, rock falls and wall collapses are common. Worked and re-worked by miners workings have become exposed due to erosion, making the landscape seem unreal. Staying to the centre of the gully, away from the walls, we were able to admire the landscape in safety.
Erosions has formed several interesting arches that reach across the gully, as well as several small tunnels running into the banks. These areas are very unstable, so use caution when looking at them.
Golden Gully Walking Track Hill End
The Arch on the Golden Gully Walking Track
Under the Arch on the Golden Gully Walking Track
The Arch on the Return Trip
Small Tunnel
Small Tunnel on the Golden Gully Walking Track Hill End
Valentine Mine
Located a short drive from town, Valentines Mine, the headframe shows where the shaft drops 53 metres into the hill. Next to the shaft is an old stamper battery used to crush the ore removed from the mine.
Access along a dirt track was incredibly rough, although we only had a two-wheel drive vehicle. Recent rain had damaged the track and had it been any worse, we would not have driven it. However, once graded and repaired, the road will be good to drive on. Alternately, you can park your car and walk up to the mine shaft area.
Valentines Mine Shaft
Stamping Battery at Valentines Mine
Valentines Mine Stamping Battery Head
Cornish Quartz Roasting Pits
A short drive past the Valentines Mine turn-off, a small car park marks the entrance to the roasting pits. Here, quartz roasting pits were established in 1855 and have become a significant insight into our nation’s beginnings and how the gold rush transformed the country.
The roasting pits are an interesting snapshot into quartz mining processes, where the ore was processed before crushing.
Cornish Quartz Roasting Pits
Cornish Quartz Roasting Pits
Ruined Building Near the Cornish Quartz Roasting Pits
Cornish Quartz Roasting Pits
Cornish Quartz Roasting Pits
What did We Think?
Hill End was a great place to visit, not only for the historic buildings, but also for several great walks and interesting museums. We thoroughly enjoyed our time here, and would do it again.
To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.
Located in the Orana Region of western New South Wales, Bourke is the edge of the Outback. To many Australian, the saying Back O’ Bourke means in the middle of nowhere.
Back O’ Bourke Gallery
Visitor Centre
Our first stop was the Back O’ Bourke Tourist Information Centre, so that we could find out if there was anything new in the area to see. The friendly staff told us about a local artist’s gallery, a display at the airport and a riverboat cruise. They also gave us a map of the local cemetery, which had graves of interest marked, which was very helpful.
Outside the main building, an excellent sculpture artwork, The Dance of the Echidnas combines aboriginal culture and local flora, to form a great display.
Back O’ Bourke Tourist Information
Dance of the Echidna’s
Dance of the Echidna’s
Bourke Airport
As suggested by the tourist visitor centre, we dropped into the local airport, where the terminal is named after famous Australian aviator Nancy Bird-Walton. Nancy Bird-Walton, was a pioneering Australian aviator, known as “The Angel of the Outback”, and the founder and patron of the Australian Women Pilots’ Association. In the 1930s, she became a fully qualified pilot at the age of 19 becoming the youngest Australian woman to gain a pilot’s licence.
In addition to information and photos on Nancy Bird Walton, the airport terminal shows the history of aviation at Bourke and how important it was to Australia’s development of aviation. Many air races and original air routes passed through Bourke, before flying became what it is today.
Nancy Bird-Walton
Nancy Bird-Walton
Aviation Heritage at the Bourke Airport
Nancy Bird-Walton
Aviation Heritage at the Bourke Airport
MV Janda Riverboat
Heavy rain in the previous month meant that the Darling River was rising. We were lucky to get on the last river cruise because of the river’s height. The amount of silt washed down stream due to flooding meant that the river was brown.
The peaceful and relaxing 90-minute trip took us passed river red gums and farm land before returning.
Jandra Riverboat
Darling River From the Jandra
Bourke Wharf
The wharf is a reconstruction of the original and is primarily a tourist attraction. However, it still shows how it operated, even as the river rose and fell seasonally, with multiple levels available to access the ships.
Wharf on the Darling River with lowest level submerged
Wharf on the Darling River
Crossley Engine
Sitting undercover near the wharf, the Crossley engine was donated by Bob Crawford and family from Narromine in 2001. Operated on weekdays for an hour by volunteers, and fully restored to working condition it is worth seeing.
Originally used from 1923 to 1938 in the Sydney Power House to generate electricity for Sydney it moved to the Allowrie Butter Factory in Coffs Harbour until 1949. It then went to a property in Narromine in 1949 to pump water for irrigation until 1964.
Crossley Engine
Crossley Engine
Historic Buildings
The centre of town has many lovely old buildings, which makes a walk through the main streets interesting, as you are constantly looking to see what is around.
Corner of Sturt and Oxley Streets The Old London Banking Company
Fitzgerald’s Post Office Hotel
Bourke Courthouse
Bourke Cemetery
Many people were visiting the cemetery when we arrived, mostly to see the grave of Fred Hollows. Fred was an ophthalmologist became known for his work in restoring eyesight for thousands of people in Australia and many other countries.
Our map from the Tourist Information Centre showed several other interesting graves. We found the most interesting to be the Afghan graves and associated mosque. Camels carried freight in the early days of colonial Australia, until replaced by trucks in the 1930s.
Fred Hollow’s Grave
Bourke Cemetery
What did We Think of Bourke?
We found Bourke to be a very relaxed town, easy to find your way around, with plenty to see and do.
To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.
