Inverell Town Hall

 

Inverell (including Gilgai)
Large and interesting service town on the Macintyre River
Inverell is situated on a bend in the Macintyre River, 590 m above sea-level and 690 km north of Sydney. It has a population of 10 000 and is essentially a service centre to a mixed farming district. Mining has been a staple of the area since the 1870s with tin, sapphires, zircons and diamonds all being commercially exploited. The area is well known as a fossicking district, producing topaz, quartz, silver, diamonds, agate, petrified wood, rhodorite, tourmaline and lead, as well as sapphires, diamonds and tin. The Inverell area has long been a source of much of the world's sapphire supply.

Before white settlement the Jukambal, a sub-group of the Murri people, occupied the land. The first whites in the district were probably convicts who escaped chain gangs in the Hunter Valley. When white settlers arrived the convicts sometimes received pardons in return for acting as guides and interpreters.

Alan Cunningham became the first European to pass through the district on his ground-breaking trip to the Darling Downs in 1827. The first selection in the immediate area (Byron Station) was taken up at the confluence of the Macintyre and Swanbrook Rivers by Alexander Campbell c.1836, on behalf of the McIntyre Estates in Scotland. He was so impressed that he soon took up 50 000 acres himself on the other side of the river, naming his property 'Inverell', a Gaelic word meaning 'the meeting-place of the swans', of which there were apparently numerous in the 1830s. The property still exists, albeit greatly reduced, to the north of the town.

Colin and Rosana Ross established a store near a popular crossing on the Macintyre River in 1853 to cater to early settlers and to teamsters headed north to the Darling Downs. He soon added a water-driven flour mill and an inn. Ross Hill bears their name and nearby streets were named after their children. The residents petitioned for a townsite to be laid out in 1855. By 1859 there was a Presbyterian church (most early settlers being Scottish), two stores, two inns and a collection of bark huts and tents. By 1861 the population had reached 177.

Merino sheep were fundamental to the district in the early days. From 1866 small selectors moved into the area and began wheat-farming. Tin discoveries in the area were sparked by a find at Elsmore, 14 km to the east and, by 1875, 500 men were employed at the Inverell mine, including many Chinese. Consequently the town entered a period of strong growth, becoming a municipality in 1872.

Diamonds were discovered at Copes Creek in 1875 and were mined at Copeton from 1883-1922. Other minerals, metals and gems were soon being mined, including bauxite, lead, silver, sapphires and zircons. The population jumped from 1212 in 1881 to 5131 in 1911.

The Sapphire City Floral Festival, a celebration of the arrival of spring. It lasts a week with a street parade, a ball, fireworks, displays, competitions and other activities. The Sapphire City Markets are held on the third Sunday of each month and the Hobby Markets on the first Sunday in Campbell Park, by the river.

Things to see:  

Tourist Information Centre, Mining Museum and Parks
The town's tourist information centre is located in the Water Towers Complex, once Inverell's water source, in Campbell St. The centre is open from 9.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m weekdays and from 9.00 a.m. - 12.00 a.m. on Saturdays. It also opens for restricted hours on public holidays and on Sundays in school holidays, tel: (02) 6722 1693.

Within the centre is a mining museum with a gem and mineral display and a working sapphire model.

Adjacent is Campbell Park, a lovely riverside spot where the Hobby Markets are held on the first Sunday of each month. Nearby a footbridge leads over the river to Lions Park.

 

Inverell Art Centre
At 5 Evans St is The Inverell Art Centre which has a large array of paintings, pottery and craft. It is open weekdays from 10.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m. It is located in Butler Hall (1909), adjacent the town hall (1905).

 

 

The Court House with its impressive clock tower

 

Some Heritage Buildings
Turn right into Otho St, the town's main street. To the right are the post office (1904) and the Classical brick-rendered Court House. The town's fourth it was built in 1886-89 and has an impressive clock tower. The interior furnishings, joinery and woodwork are of red cedar. It has been restored to its original colours.

Opposite is the CBC Bank building (1890), a two-storey rendered brick Italianate building with the old stables still at the rear of the building.

 

Bicentennial Memorial
At the end of Otho St is a roundabout. Opposite is Sinclair Park, home to the Bicentennial Memorial which features a series of panels depicting the history of the Inverell area. They are organised into three courtyards, the first depicting the era before European arrival in Australia, the second covering 1788-1888 and the third 1888-1988. There is a mosaic map in the central concourse depicting the geographical features of the area that were known to the Aborigines before white settlement.

 

Presbyterian Church
Over Vivian St, opposite, is the Presbyterian Church, the town's second, built to a Gothic design of English bonded brick in 1878. It has a prominent tower, a slate roof with terracotta ridge-capping, rainwater heads, brick lintels, stuccoed trims, finials and articulated quoins.

 

Anglican Church
Walk along Henderson St, turning left into Lawrence St. In the second block, to the right, is the Church of England, designed by J. Horbury Hunt, arguably the finest architect practising in 19th-century Australia. Like the Presbyterian Church it is a Gothic design with terracotta ridge-capping and a slate roof.

 

Kurrajong Memorial Ave
At the southern end of Clive St there is a walking track along the riverside and through a native tree reserve. There are picnic facilities and views of the town from John Northey Lookout.

 

Lake Inverell Reserve
At the eastern edge of town Onus Ave heads south off the highway. At its end is the parking area and information board of Lake Inverell Reserve, an aquatic sanctuary which is a fine spot for picnicking, fishing and bushwalking along the designated walking tracks through open sclerophyll forest. There is plenty of wildlife around the lake which was, for 45 years, the town's water supply.

 

McIlveen Lookout
Just 3 km west of town is McIlveen Park Lookout which has good views over the town and district. There are picnic and barbecue facilities.

 

Morris's Honey Farm
4 km along the Copeton Dam Rd is Morris's Honey Farm which has a train ride through the park to see a working demonstration, a chance to taste local honeys, a native bird aviary, a bottle museum,a gem display with a sapphire cutter and polisher in attendance and a range of souvenirs for sale. Fishing bait can also be obtained here, tel: (02) 6722 1725.

 

Gwydir Ranch Park
On Copeton Dam Rd, not far from the lake, is Gwydir Ranch Park, a 4WD recreation area situated in picturesque and rugged mountain country. A recreation and camping area has been set up by the river where fishing, swimming, canoeing and bushwalking can all be pursued, tel: (02) 6723 6281.

 

Copeton Dam
39 km south-west is Copeton Dam. There are camp and caravan sites, a kiosk, an amenities block, cabins, on-site vans, fuel sales, boat hire, a six-hole golf course, tennis courts, sailing, windsurfing, power boating, waterskiing, fishing, walking tracks, two adventure playgrounds, waterslides and plenty of wildlife.

 

Whitewater Rafting
From October to March irrigation water is released from the dam into the Gwydir River creating grade 4-5 rapids. There are one-day and two-day excursions. Ring Wildwater Adventures on (02) 6653 4469 or the visitors' centre on (02) 6722 1693.

 

 

Inverell Pioneer Village

 

Inverell Pioneer Village
Inverell Pioneer Village, just south of town, is a collection of 19th-century homes and buildings, relocated in landscaped environs to present the impression of a colonial village. Included is a printing office, Paddy's Pub (1874, built of pit-sawn timber and once a Cobb & Co stopover on the road to Bundarra), a miner's hut, the Nullamanna Church (c. 1901), a hall, Goonoowigall school (1887), a blacksmith's hut, a telephone exchange, a farrier's shop, a shearing shed, a cottage which houses a collection of gems and minerals, and an 1841 homestead with a stringybark roof from the Tingha area which serves as a museum housing artefacts of the period 1840-1925. There are also old steam and traction engines. Afternoon tea is available on Sunday and by arrangement. The complex is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m. and, on Sunday and Monday, from 2.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m.

 

Goonoowigall Reserve
The 2000-ha reserve, home to an extensive array of flora and fauna, is 5 km south of Inverell, just off the Tingha Rd. In pre-colonial days the Jukambal hunted here and the vegetation is today much as it would have been 200 years ago. The name is Jukambal for 'water and rock wallabies'.

Five short walking tracks lead by huge granite outcrops such as Thunderbolts Rock, which can be climbed, and to other scenic sites and picnic spots. There is a pamphlet, available from the visitors' centre, with a map detailing the walks. Tin-mining commenced here in the 1870s. Chinese earth ovens from those days are thought to still be scattered about. A woolwash was established in the 1880s and a school operated from 1887-1911, catering to about 11 pupils at a time. It has been relocated to the Pioneer Village.

 

 

 

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Inverell