The bridge at Macksville

 

Macksville (including Taylors Arm and Scotts Head)
Quiet township on the Nambucca River
Macksville is an attractive town of 2900 people located on the banks of the Nambucca River 498 km north-east of Sydney, 12 km south of Nambucca Heads and 3 m above sea-level. It is a fishing and oyster-farming centre which services a productive area noted for its bananas and other tropical fruits, along with vegetables, grazing, dairying and timber.

Prior to white settlement the area is thought to have been occupied by the Kumbaingeri or Ngamba Aborigines.

It is probable that the first Europeans in the area were two cedar-cutters and William Miles, a stockman from Yarrabandinni, who explored the Nambucca and Bellinger Rivers while searching for timber in 1839. Miles then guided surveyor Clement Hodgkinson into the area in 1841. Other cedar-getters followed.

 

The lagoon in Macksville Rotary Club

 

The first white settlers began to take up land after the 1861 Lands Act, establishing large dairy herds. A small settlement known as Nambucca or Central Nambucca emerged in the 1870s at the same time as Bowraville and Nambucca Heads. All three were centres for the selectors, timbergetters, fishermen and miners who lived in the district.

The town's present name derives from two Scotsmen, known as Angus Mackay and Hugh McNally, who subdivided their selections for a township which became known as 'Mack's Village'. In 1885 McNally became the first licensee of the Star Hotel. To its east there was once a public wharf used by steamers which picked up timber and cream from the district. By 1897 the village had 120 settlers, a police station, courthouse, post office, school and bank. The railway arrived in 1919.

A park in town is named after Frank Partridge, a local who won the Victoria Cross in 1945 for leading a successful attack against Japanese bunkers in the Bougainville campaign.

Fishing and boating are popular in Macksville and there are boat ramps on both sides of the river. The Macksville Show is held on the last weekend in April.

Things to see:  

 

The Star Hotel beside the river at Macksville

 

Tourist Information
The nearest information centre is at Nambucca Heads, tel: (02) 6568 6954.

 

Star Hotel
The delightful old Star Hotel (1885), which is located on River Street, not far from the Macksville Bridge, doesn't seem to have changed in the last 50 years. It still has the old Tooths advertisements on the walls depicting 1950s sports heroes all eager for a Tooths. It is one of the shire's oldest surviving buildings. Local red cedar were used for the bar and the staircase.

 

Pioneer Cottage
2 km east of the bridge, along River St, is Mary Boulton's Cottage, a charming replica of a rough-sawn timber domicile which is considered typical of those used by the early European settlers, although the timber rather than earthen floor and internal fireplace would then have been considered luxuries.

 

Mary Boulton's Pioneer Cottage

 

It is set in a pleasant garden on the riverbank. The display includes an array of antiquated utensils, furniture, costumes, horse-drawn vehicles, tools of the trade and other memorabilia from the past. Mary Boulton is a descendant of some of the valley's earliest European settlers. The cottage is open by appointment, tel: (02) 6568 1457.

 

Taylors Arm
If you want to become an important footnote in Australian history you could breast the bar at the former Cosmopolitan Hotel (1903) and ask the publican 'How much would I have to drink to return this hostelry to its previous moment of infamy?'

He'll look at you with quizzical disbelief and reply, 'Well, at the moment we're carrying about 620 litres in 13 kegs.'

At that point all you'd have to do is place an open cheque on the counter, leap across the bar, lie on the floor under the taps and open your mouth.

The reason is that the Cosmopolitan Pub [now it has changed its name to the title of the song] was the subject of the song, 'The Pub with No Beer' which dwells upon the regulars who used to drink at this old and isolated timbergetters' watering hole in the 1940s.

 

The famous "Pub With No Beer" at Taylors Arm

 

It is claimed that the song's origins lie with some verse written by a Dan Sheahan of Ingham in Queensland. However, the song is usually credited to bush worker Gordon Parsons who may well have transformed Sheahan's verse. At any rate it became a national number one in the hands of Slim Dusty.

The Cosmopolitan is now officially called The Pub with No Beer in spite of its 620 litres on tap. The Pub With No Beer Festival is held here every year at Easter, tel: (02) 6564 2101. It is located 26 km west of Macksville at Taylors Arm.

Taylors Arm Rd heads west of Macksville off Wallace St. The signposted scenic drive follows Taylors Arm, a major tributary of the Nambucca River, through the river valley. The waterway was named after Taylor and Co. who held a run which stretched from the present village east to Warrell Creek where their head station was located.

 

Bakers Creek Station
8 km from the Pub With No Beer is Bakers Creek Station which offers horseriding, fishing, rainforest walks, swimming, canoeing and picnic-barbecue areas adjacent fine lakeside gardens. Accommodation is also available. Bookings are essential, tel: (02) 6564 2165.

 

Scotts Head
15 km south-east of Macksville by road is Scotts Head where surfing and swimming can be enjoyed. There are also facilities for deep-sea fishing. It is named after a man named Scott who established a cattle run in the area c.1841.

 

Way Way State Forest
Follow the Pacific Highway south for 7 km, turn left into Rosewood Rd at Warrell Creek then follow the forest-drive markers through regenerated forest and the old-growth rainforest along Way Way Creek. There is an 8-km deviation road up to the panoramic Yarrahapinni Lookout (490 m) on the watershed between the Macleay and the Nambucca Rivers. The Pines Picnic Area is the starting point for the 500-m Way Way Creek Forest Walk. Another approach to the forest is via Scotts Head Rd.

 

 

 

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Macksville