Canowindra


Canowindra is a historic township located between Orange and Cowra in the central west of New South Wales, Australia, in Cabonne Shire. Canowindra is situated on the Belubula River. The curving main street, Gaskill Street, is partly an urban conservation area. At the, Canowindra and the surrounding area had a population of 2,258.

Toponymy

The name of the town is derived from an Aboriginal language word meaning 'a home' or 'camping place'

History

Prior to the arrival of Europeans to Australia, the area now known as Canowindra was occupied for tens of thousands of years by a people known as the Wiradjuri. These "people of the three rivers" were hunters and gatherers who exploited the resources available in the rivers and the lands, particularly the river flats.

European Settlement

The first land grant of 640 acres to a European in the area was to James Collits by Governor Ralph Darling in 1829 as a reward for "pointing out a line of road from Mt. York to Bathurst". Subsequently Collits' father, Pierce, was granted land adjacent to the original grant. There is some evidence that James named the property "Canoundra". Collits owned other significant tracts of land in the area, together with a store and the first hotel. A settlement slowly grew, and as early as 1844 the village was the site of a government pound.
A post office opened at Canowindra in 1847 with mail coming from Carcoar, but the village was handicapped as part of a main route to the lower Lachlan, first by the lack of a bridge and later by the construction of the railway to Orange. The first bridge across the Belubula River at Canowindra was opened on 28 July 1875. It was replaced by the Waddell Bridge in May 1901, and by the current John Grant Bridge in 1997.
In October 1863, Ben Hall's gang took over the village for three days and entertained the whole population, as well as some stray travellers, all herded into the inn. An account of the incident was reported in the Bathurst Times, also quoted in the Maitland Mercury. According to newspaper reports in November 1863 and June 1864, it appears that Hall and his associates made two further visits to the town. A monument to Ben Hall, on the site of Robinson's inn, the Travellers' Rest, was erected in 1951, but evidently, further research has indicated that the events recorded here happened at the inn on the other side of the river.
Today the main street, Gaskill Street, has an old-world air, with its kerbside verandah posts lining the dog-leg course of what was once a bullock team track. A total of 34 buildings and features in the town and environs are listed in the New South Wales State Heritage Register including 17 in or adjacent to Gaskill Street,

The Built Environment

Demographics

Since early days of European settlement the population of the town has grown steadily.
YearPopulationNotes
1866120
1871200-250
1890400within one mile not counting Belmore 154
1901416Year of Federation
19111535Year after railway service opened
19331716Great Depression
19472271Post World War II
19511747Both mills had closed in 1950s
19661717
19711679Finns Store closed 1970
20112381Census

Census data for the "Urban Centre and Locality" which excludes Moorbel shows that between 2001 and 2016 the numbers have reduced from 1516 to 1395. However, the figures for wider area "State Suburb " show a modest increase in the count from 2,126 in 2006 to 2258 in 2016.
In the Canowindra SSC, 88.2% of people were born in Australia and 91.5% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion were Catholic 29.7%, Anglican 26.6%, No Religion 16.5% and Uniting Church 8.9%.

Suburbs

There are two residential areas associated with the town: South Canowindra and Moorbel.
The "Village of South Canowindra" is a rural place located south of the Bellubula River.
Moorbel is a locality about 3 km E by N of Canowindra and 4 km SW by W of South Canowindra. In February 1917, residents of Belmore petitioned the postal inspector at Parkes for a postal receiving station. Because a place named Belmore existed in Sydney, the residents submitted other names, with Moorbel finally being approved by the Department of Lands in July 1917. A local market is held at Moorbel Hall each month.

Canowindra Soldiers Memorial Hospital

Located in Browns Avenue, the hospital was built as a memorial for the men of the district who served in World War 1. The foundation stone was laid in 1921 and the Soldier's Memorial Hospital opened, on Peace Day June 28, 1922. Part of the Western NSW Local Health District, the hospital has a limited number of acute and nursing home beds. The hospital also serves as a centre for various health services including rehabilitation and emergency. The emergency department was redeveloped in 2017.

Education

The town has three schools: a state co-educational Years 7–12 high school, Canowindra High School, a state K–6 primary school, Canowindra Public School and St Edwards Primary School, a Roman Catholic systemic K–6 primary school.
Early childhood education is provided by the Canowindra Pre-school Kindergarten Inc. and registered home based educators managed by Cabonne/Blayney Family Day Care Service.

Service, Social and Community

There is an active Lions Club. The branch of the Country Women's Association which meets in its own hall with modern catering facilities was founded in 1924.
A community garden which is open to all residents and visitors is managed by a local committee.
The Canowindra Services & Citizens Club Ltd is a registered club providing a wide range of facilities for members and the community including a bistro and a community hall which can be hired by the public.
The Canowindra Garden Club organises talks and visits to gardens throughout the region raising money for charity. The club donated $6,000 to the Canowindra Soldiers Memorial Hospital in 2018
The Canowindra Historical Society operates the Canowindra Historical Museum which is located in the town's main street next the Age of Fishes Museum. On display are a shepherd’s hut circa 1828, Harold Boyd’s complete dental surgery, a wedding gown collection from 1881-1982, a reconstructed wool shed, wheat harvesters collection from 1843, photo collection and the Pioneers Wall.
Canowindra Pastoral Agricultural and Horticultural Association manages the town's showgrounds and organises the annual show which has been held since 1900.

The Miracle House

When the special support needs of a local family with triplets diagnosed with a congenital form of muscular dystrophy and restrictive lung disease were identified in 2013, residents of the town and the wider central western NSW region started fundraising with the aim, inter alia, of building a house with appropriate design features for the use of the family as well as providing ongoing support. Since then hundreds of thousands of dollars both in cash donations and in kind have been raised with the family moving into their new house in March 2018. A charity was registered in 2016

Culture

Organised by the Canowindra Fine Music Group, The Baroque Music Festival is an annual presentation of baroque and related music performances at various venues around the town.
The town's branch of the CWA presents a "Sunday Serenade" at All Saints Church annually which showcases local performance talent. Monies raised are used to fund music and voice scholarships for local school children.

Sport and Recreation

A number of sports clubs provide facilities and organised competitions. Such sports include Rugby league, Rugby union, Cricket, Tennis, Lawn Bowls, Squash, Golf and Swimming. For younger age groups there is a pony club which meets fortnightly at the showground and a Little Athletics centre which participates in the Central Tablelands zone.
The town has a council maintained sports oval with floodlighting, Tom Clyburn Oval. At the oval there are well maintained fitness stations, basketball courts and skateboarding facilities.
A nine hole golf course is supported by a registered club.
Cabonne Council owns and operates the swimming pool which is open from late Spring to mid Autumn.

RV Friendly Town

Since 2016 Canowindra has been recognised by the Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia as an RV Friendly Town™. Facilities for caravaners and campers include low cost camp sites, easy access to the retail area, access to water and a free user friendly waste dump point.

Media

Radio stations
Radio stations with transmissions able to be received in Canowindra include-
AM Band:
FM Band:
Television
Canowindra receives five free-to-air television networks and their affiliates which are broadcast from nearby Mt Canobolas:
Subscription television service Foxtel is available in Canowindra and the surrounding area via satellite transmission.
Internet
NBN FTTN internet service is available to most of the built up area of the town via a number of reseller ISPs.

Wineries

Canowindra is considered to be part of the Cowra wine region which is a sub-area of the Central Ranges wine zone. There are eight wineries centred on the town, some of which offer cellar door sales.

Other

The Royal Hotel is on the site of another inn owned by Robinson and the plaque on the wall indicates present day understanding that this was the inn where Ben Hall's bushranging gang had their spree.
Other notable buildings include the nursing home, the Junction Hotel, Finn's Building, the Victoria Hotel, the former Bank of NSW and the former CBC Bank. The Trading Post, a homewares shop, won the inland tourism award for 2006.

Ballooning

Canowindra is also popularly known as the Ballooning Capital of Australia.
In April 1988 an endorsed bicentennial activity, "Canowindra 88 Bicentennial Balloon Championships" was held in the town. The 1988 event was also the Australian National Championship under the auspices of the Australian Ballooning Federation. The champion in 1988 was John Wallington. Subsequently, the 2011, 2013 and 2014 championships were held in Canowindra.
From 1995 to 2005, an event known as Marti's Balloon Fiesta was held in Canowindra. Funded in large part by Frank Hackett-Jones, it was primarily a fun event designed to bring together balloonists and spectators from local, national and international locations in a celebration of Central West hospitality and goodwill.
Canowindra International Balloon Challenge is the largest ballooning event in Australia and takes place in Canowindra every April. In 2010, the Canowindra Challenge created a local balloon event that has since grown to where the event now attracts pilots and balloons from around the globe to build upon the principles of Marti's Fiesta, bringing businesses together to support a week-long event of ballooning competitions and skill-based activities. The use of location-enabled, point-of-view camera technologies was combined with live-to-web broadcasts via an for viewers to share in the spectacle and to join in the event virtually and for free.
A balloon glow is held as part of the event along with a local food and wine market based on the 100-mile principle where the products must be made or produced within 100 miles of Canowindra.
The last Sunday of the event also features a key grab where pilots test their skill in an attempt to grab a large key from the top of a 10 m pole.
This event coincides with food and wine events which brings participation from the greater Cabonne and surrounding districts during April each year.
Canowindra also hosted the Australian National Balloon Championships in 2011, 2013 and 2014, creating a larger, more competitive event. In 2014, the event went fully international with pilots from Japan, US, Russia, Brazil and the UK competing.
In 2020 the Balloon Challenge was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,

Fossils

Canowindra is the site of one of the world's great fossil discoveries from the late Devonian period. A chance discovery by a road worker in 1956 uncovered a rich find of 360-million-year-old fish fossils, dating from the Devonian period in the Paleozoic era. The "Canowindra slab" was removed to the Australian Museum, Sydney. The fish had been buried when trapped in a pool of water that dried up, stranding two armoured antiarch placoderms, Remigolepis walkeri and Bothriolepis yeungae, and Canowindra grossi, a lobe-finned crossopterygian fish, with two rare juvenile arthrodire placoderms, Groenlandaspis species.
No further fossils had been recovered until January 1993, when a trial dig on the site using an excavator rediscovered the fossil stratum, where the mass mortality of fishes was preserved in detail. Specimens can be viewed in the specially established The Age of Fishes Museum, with scientific support and funding from the Australian Museum. The Canowindra site has now been listed as part of Australia's National Heritage because of its international scientific importance.
In 2013 the naturalist and wildlife broadcaster Sir David Attenborough described the collection of fossils as world class.
In May 2018 work started on a $600,000 facility to house the fossil bearing rock slabs currently stored off site.

State Emblem

The official NSW State Fossil Emblem is Mandageria fairfaxi. The 370 million year old fossil fish from the Canowindra Fish Bed was named as the NSW State Fossil Emblem in 2015.

Notable Canowindrans