Grenfell, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Grenfell is a country town in the Central West
of New South Wales
, Australia
, in Weddin Shire
. It is 370 kilometres west of Sydney
and five hours' drive from the city. It is close to Forbes
, Cowra
and Young
. At the 2006 census
, Grenfell had a population of 1,994.
Aborigines. Grenfell is a goldmining town first known as Emu Creek and renamed in honour of John Grenfell, Gold Commissioner at Forbes, who had been killed in 1866 when bushranger
s attacked a stagecoach
on which he was travelling. Weddin Post Office opened on 3 December 1866 and was renamed Grenfell on 24 December the same year.By 1870-71 it was producing more gold than any other town in NSW. However by the mid-1870s gold was in decline. Wheat was first grown in the district in 1871. The railway reached Grenfell in 1901. Unlike most Australian country towns Grenfell has a main street which bends.
In June 2007, the Spirit of the Bush Concert was held on the sporting fields. Acts included the organiser and Australian of the Year Lee Kernaghan, local and international star Steve Forde & the Flange, Adam Brand, Leo Sayer, Diesel, and The McClymonts.
was born on the nearby gold fields. On the Queen's Birthday weekend in June every year, the town hosts the Henry Lawson Festival of Arts, which attracts thousands of visitors. The festival is a celebration of local and national talent, with art, poetry and writing competitions drawing entries from all over Australia. It was first held in 1958. The June weekend was chosen because it is close to Lawson's birthday. Over the years, such personalities as Chips Rafferty
, Barry Humphries
, Patrick White
and Sigrid Thornton
have attended.
s of Devonian
fish
es, which occur in many surrounding outcrops of the Hunter Siltstone geological formation.
, cyclist Reggie McNamara
and tennis player Jan Lehane
were born in Grenfell.
Central West, New South Wales
The Central West region refers to the area west of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. It has an area of 63,262 square kilometers....
of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, in Weddin Shire
Weddin Shire
Weddin Shire is a Local Government Area in New South Wales, Australia. Its only significant town is Grenfell....
. It is 370 kilometres west of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and five hours' drive from the city. It is close to Forbes
Forbes, New South Wales
-Notable residents:*Carolyn Simpson - Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales; Member of the first all-female bench to sit in an Australian court*NSW Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt was born and raised in Forbes....
, Cowra
Cowra, New South Wales
Cowra is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia in the Cowra Shire. It is located on the Mid-Western Highway, 317 kilometres west of Sydney on the banks of the Lachlan River at an altitude of 310 metres above sea level. At the 2006 census Cowra had a population of 8,430...
and Young
Young, New South Wales
-Demographics:On census night, 7 August 2001, there were 6,821 people counted in Young. There were 238 people who identified as being of Indigenous origin in the 2001 Census...
. At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Grenfell had a population of 1,994.
History
Prior to European settlement the Grenfell area was home to the WiradjuriWiradjuri
The Wiradjuri are an Indigenous Australian group of central New South Wales.In the 21st century, major Wiradjuri groups live in Condobolin, Peak Hill, Narrandera and Griffith...
Aborigines. Grenfell is a goldmining town first known as Emu Creek and renamed in honour of John Grenfell, Gold Commissioner at Forbes, who had been killed in 1866 when bushranger
Bushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
s attacked a stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
on which he was travelling. Weddin Post Office opened on 3 December 1866 and was renamed Grenfell on 24 December the same year.By 1870-71 it was producing more gold than any other town in NSW. However by the mid-1870s gold was in decline. Wheat was first grown in the district in 1871. The railway reached Grenfell in 1901. Unlike most Australian country towns Grenfell has a main street which bends.
In June 2007, the Spirit of the Bush Concert was held on the sporting fields. Acts included the organiser and Australian of the Year Lee Kernaghan, local and international star Steve Forde & the Flange, Adam Brand, Leo Sayer, Diesel, and The McClymonts.
Henry Lawson Festival of Arts
The poet and story writer Henry LawsonHenry Lawson
Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
was born on the nearby gold fields. On the Queen's Birthday weekend in June every year, the town hosts the Henry Lawson Festival of Arts, which attracts thousands of visitors. The festival is a celebration of local and national talent, with art, poetry and writing competitions drawing entries from all over Australia. It was first held in 1958. The June weekend was chosen because it is close to Lawson's birthday. Over the years, such personalities as Chips Rafferty
Chips Rafferty
Chips Rafferty MBE was an iconic Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the 1940s until his death in 1971, and during this time he performed regularly in major Australian feature films as well as appearing in British and American...
, Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
, Patrick White
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
and Sigrid Thornton
Sigrid Thornton
Sigrid Thornton is an Australian multi-award winning actress.-Early years:Thornton was born in Canberra, the daughter of Merle, a teacher of women's studies and writer, and Neil Thornton, an academic. She spent most of her formative years growing up and attending school at St. Peter's Lutheran...
have attended.
Fossils
Grenfell is an important centre of for fossilFossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s of Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
es, which occur in many surrounding outcrops of the Hunter Siltstone geological formation.
People
Cricketer Stan McCabeStan McCabe
Stanley Joseph McCabe was an Australian cricketer who played 39 Test matches for Australia from 1930 to 1938. A short, stocky right-hander,...
, cyclist Reggie McNamara
Reggie McNamara
Reggie McNamara was an Australian cyclist known as a roughhouse velodrome rider with a string of dramatic crashes and broken bones over 20 years. He was known as the Iron Man...
and tennis player Jan Lehane
Jan Lehane
Jan Lehane O'Neill is a former Australian female tennis player.At the Australian Championships, O'Neill reached the singles final four consecutive years but lost to Margaret Court each time...
were born in Grenfell.