Molong's main street

 

Molong (plus Cumnock, Yeoval, Manildra and Cudal)
Attractive and interesting country town on the edge of the Macquarie Range.
Molong is a pleasant country town of some 1730 people in the hills of the Macquarie Range, 301 km north-west of Sydney and 529 m above sea-level. It is situated on the Mitchell Highway between Orange (38 km to the south-east) and Wellington (68 km to the north). Molong is located within the rich agricultural shire of Cabonne. Fine wool, wheat, orchards, vineyards, beef cattle and fat lambs are just some of the local produce.

Prior to white settlement the Wiradjuri people inhabited the area. It is from their language that the town's name derives, said to mean 'place of many rocks'.

European settlement began when a government stockyard was established 1.5 km east of the present townsite. Various dates have been given, the earliest being 1822. It was a stopover for those en route to the convict station at Wellington.

The first land grant, 'Larra Lee', was conferred in 1832. A copper mine, the first metal mine in NSW, was operating 3 km north of Molong by 1846, though the discovery of gold at Ophir in 1851 drew the miners away. Molong was gazetted at its present site in 1849. Land sales proceeded in 1856 with the Golden Fleece Hotel (now the Historical Museum), Freemason's Hotel (still operating), a Methodist Chapel (now the basis of a larger Uniting Church), St John's Anglican Church (now the Anglican hall) and a mill (now a residence) being amongst the early buildings. Molong became a municipality in 1878.

The boom years of the 1870s and 1880s saw the development of the town which was further spurred on when it was announced, in 1881, that the railway would be extended to the town. Molong became the terminus of the main western line from Sydney from 1886-1893.

Things to see:  

Tourist Information
The major information centre in the area is that at Orange, tel: (02) 6393 8226 OR 1800 069 466.

 

Heritage Walk
The Cabonne Council has published an historic walking tour of Molong, which is available from the Orange Visitors' Centre.

 

Railway Station
The walk starts at the railway station, on the eastern side of Watson St (the Mitchell Highway), opposite Bank St. The station was completed in time for the arrival of the first train in 1886. Molong became the terminus of the main western line from Sydney from 1886-1893. Myors Park is out the front and the Gatekeeper's Cottage (late 19th century) is adjacent the level crossing).

 

 

National Bank, once the CBC Bank (1883)

 

Bank Street
Head west along Bank St. The town's main thoroughfare it has some fine buildings and underwent restorations for the 1988 Bicentenary. To the right is Freemasons Hotel, originally a single-storey structure erected in the 1850s, but much altered over the years. To the left, as you proceed west along the block towards Gidley St, are the Rural Lands Protection Board (1872), originally the Post Office Hotel and later a bank, Upstairs Downstairs (1876), built as a general store and used for 50 years by the Molong Express Newspaper, the National Bank building (1883), originally the CBC Bank, and the post office (1879-80 with the second storey added in 1900).

On the other side of the road is the Telegraph Hotel (c.1880 with extensive alterations in 1910).

 

Gidley St and the Coach House Craft Gallery
Turn right into Gidley St. To the left, adjacent the Village Green, is The Coach House Craft Gallery (mid-1870s), originally the stables and coach house for the New Royal Hotel which was destroyed by fire in the 1940s. Nearby is Haslam's Mill (1862) which became a residence in the early 1900s. Opposite is the Millhouse Restaurant, built as the residence of miller John Black in 1878.

 

The Yarn Market
Return to Bank St and continue west. To the left is The Yarn Market, a brick cottage built as a family home in 1860 which now sells hand-crafted goods, tel: (02) 6366 8260. It is open daily from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

 

Bank St Continued
The row of shops from the Yarn Market to the town hall were built in the boom which ensued upon the announcement that the railway would be extended to Molong. The hall itself was built in 1888. The community hall was built as a School of Arts in 1878 and was once the town's first movie theatre. The hall of the Anglican Church was the original Anglican Church (1860-1906).

Over Edward St is Currall's House, an impressive home built by the Lee family who, in 1832, acquired the first station in the area. It is now a bed-and-breakfast. A little further along Bank St is the Uniting Church. The front section, without the porch, was the original Methodist chapel. When it was built in 1858, it was the town's first church. Opposite is Blackadder's House (1870s).

 

 

The Roman Catholic Church in Molong

 

Edward St
Return to Edward St and turn left, heading north. To the left, opposite Bells Lane, is the Pensioners' Hall, built as the Christian Army hall in 1882. In the next block is the courthouse, police residence and old lock-up, built in 1885 to replace the original 1864 courthouse.

Return to the corner of Edward and Bank Sts and continue south on Edward. To the left is the old principal's residence of the adjoining school, built in 1879. The school is now the Baptist Church. It was built in 1879 to replace a slab school at Edward and Hill Sts. Over Riddell St is the old Catholic Church (1877).

 

Riddell St and the Historical Museum
Return to Riddell St and head east back towards the highway. At the corner of Gidley and Riddell Sts is the Molong Historical Museum, built as the Golden Fleece Hotel in 1856. Adjoining is a restaurant. Slightly further along Riddell St are the Presbyterian Church and Manse (1866).

 

Crafts and Antiques
Lorna Boucher's Kimrol Pottery and tea shop, at the corner of Speedy St and the Mitchell Highway, is open Wednesdays to Sundays, as well as school and public holidays, from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m, tel: (02) 6366 9007.

 

Yuranigh's Grave
Yuranigh was an Australian Aborigine who led Sir Thomas Mitchell on his 1845 expedition to Queensland. Held in the highest regard by Mitchell he was killed on the southern outskirts of town in 1850 and interred another 2 km south in the traditional manner, with carved trees at the corners of his grave to denote that he was a man of distinction. Mitchell paid for his headstone and the railing. If you wish to see the grave head south of Molong along the Mitchell Highway for 3 km and a small signpost indicates a short side road which runs off to the right.

 

Cumnock
Head along the Mitchell Highway towards Wellington then turn left just before the edge of town on to Banjo Paterson Way which heads north-west to Dubbo through a wheat belt area. Cumnock is a rural service centre of 290 people, 24 km from Molong. The Old Courthouse Craft Gallery and Coffee Shop has metal and woodwork, paintings and folk art, and is open from Friday to Tuesday.

Adjacent the old courthouse is Sue's Bonny Babes, a porcelain doll studio, and the historic Royal Hotel. Hoppers Hill Winery is just out of town (turn right at the hotel), tel: (02) 6367 7270.

 

Yeoval
Another 24 km north-west along Banjo Paterson Way is Yeoval (population 310). Gold, silver and copper were extracted from a lode discovered in 1868, about 7 km from Yeoval. The Goodrich Mine operated periodically until around 1971. However, Yeoval's greatest claim to fame is the fact that one of Australia's most famous poets, A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson, spent his early childhood on a local property. There is a Banjo Paterson Memorial Site in the centre of town. On the eastern side of town, adjacent the railway, is the Buckinbah property where the ruins of the old Paterson home can still be seen. The village also has some fine buildings.

 

Manildra
Manildra, 20 km south-west of Molong, is a small rural service centre of 523 people. It has the largest flour mill in the Southern Hemisphere, established in 1904 when it was moved from Cargo due to the arrival of the railway in Manildra. The Amusu (pronounced 'Amuse You') is supposedly the oldest continuously operating picture theatre in Australia, established as a travelling picture show in 1923, settling at this site permanently in 1936.

 

 

 

 

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Molong