The tree-lined main street of Culcairn

 

Culcairn (including Gerogery)
Quiet township servicing the surrounding agricultural district
Culcairn (population 1400) is a small and attractive township, with some beautiful tree-lined streets, which is located 527 km south-west of Sydney via the Olympic Highway. It is 215 metres above sea level.

The explorers Hume and Hovell passed through the area on their journey to Port Phillip. In their report they noted the extensive grass cover and the potential for grazing. The first settlers arrived in 1834 and by 1845 four stations, including Round Hill and Walla Walla, had been gazetted.

Culcairn's main claim to historical fame concerns the career of bushranger Dan 'Mad Dog' Morgan who terrorised the district from 1862-65.

A description of his physical appearance has been left by one of his pursuers, Detective Manwaring: 'He was distinguished by his immense black beard flowing to his breast. His hair hung over his shoulders in gipsy ringlets. His height was nearly six feet. He was stout and muscular but weak in the knees and walked awkwardly. When mounted on horseback he was unsurpassed as a rider. His head had no crown. The forehead was small and angular. The nose was .. massive and straight but terminating in a peculiar hook which curved over the upper lip. This, with small clear blue eyes gave him the appearance of a ferocious bird of prey.

The son of convict parents Morgan served six years for armed robbery in the 1850s and emerged a bitter, resentful, brooding and vengeful man. A skilled horse thief he moved on to highway robbery and acts of violence, committing the first of four murders in 1863. Morgan earned some sympathy from the poor for his attention to their welfare and his focus on the property of the well-to-do (see entry on Walla Walla).

In June, 1864 newspapers around the country publicised Morgan's antics at Round Hill station, then leased by Edward Henty of the Henty family, where Morgan rounded everybody up, forced them to drink alcohol (except himself), was about to depart and, according to one account, fell into a rage when the manager, Sam Watson, claimed that Morgan's stirrups were stolen. Another version has Morgan thinking he'd been fired upon when his own gun accidentally went off.

The result was that Morgan shot and wounded Watson, ran around firing indiscriminately, shot John Heriott, the son of a neighbouring grazier, chased another individual and then returned to Heriott, placing a gun to his temple.

When Watson said 'For God's sake, Morgan, don't kill anyone', he became compassionate, swore he would kill everyone who did not come to Heriott's assistance, carried him to a bed and agreed that overseer John McLean should go to Walla Walla to fetch a doctor. He insisted that McLean could go if he promised not to head in the opposite direction towards Ten Mile Creek and the police.

When Heriott's condition improved Morgan headed for Ten Mile Creek, found McLean and shot him and then returned him to Round Hill. He left just before the police arrived. McLean died after a week of suffering. With £1000 reward on his head Morgan was killed in an ambush the following year.

Culcairn is named after a village in Scotland. The township dates back to 1880 when it was laid out by local landowner James Balfour who donated land for a school and Presbyterian church. The construction of the Sydney to Melbourne railway saw the town grow as a service centre for the most prosperous grazing and stud stock region in NSW. Early industry included chaff mills, a cereal grain company and a quarry.

Today Culcairn is the centre of an agricultural district producing high yields of wheat, wool, clover seed and fat lambs. Water is reticulated to the town from Australia's largest open artesian domestic water supply which was discovered in 1926. A 37-metre shaft taps 800 000 litres a day from the massive basin which has earned the town the title of 'Oasis of the Riverina'.

Things to see:  

Searching for Mad Dog Morgan
The original Round Hill homestead (1848) which Morgan held up still stands, although it is greatly transformed. The gateway is 2.3 km east of Culcairn on the right-hand side of the road to Morven and Holbrook. The grave of the overseer McLean, who was shot by Morgan, has been moved from its initial inaccessible site to the roadside and is clearly signposted. It lies 800 metres east of the homestead on the same side of the road. Another 6 km east along this road is the Round Hill Hotel at Morven. Once a Cobb and Co. stop on the Old Sydney Road it still retains the original stables.

West of Culcairn, opposite Walla Park (formerly Walla Walla Station), is a rocky outcrop on a hill known as Morgan's Lookout. Morgan is alleged to have used this as a vantage point to watch for approaching victims and police. There are metal steps up the rocks and the view is well worthwhile. It was also used as a lookout for fires last century. To get there head west out of Culcairn on the road to Walbundrie. After about 16 km there is a turn to the left towards Walla Walla. The lookout is to your right near Billabong Creek.

 

An old railway carriage in the garden at the Station Master's Residence Railway Museum, Culcairn

 

Historic Culcairn
Many of the buildings in the central shopping area have a heritage listing and are classified by the National Trust. The Culcairn Hotel in Railway Parade, just off Olympic Way, was built in 1891. At the time it was the largest hotel on the Sydney to Melbourne route. With an elegant restaurant and impressive leadlight window which covers one wall this Germanic structure makes a significant contribution to the townscape.

Just across the railway line (heading north) is the Station Master's Residence (circa 1883), a handsome building which is currently being redeveloped by the Culcairn Museum Committee. It is furnished in traditional style with all the furniture being dated between 1880-1890. There's an old railway carriage in the garden out the back of the residence. At the moment it is only open on Saturdays. Ask in the town if you want it opened earlier.

 

 

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Culcairn