Mathoura, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Mathoura is a small town in the Riverina
Riverina
The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales , Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop...

 region of southern 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 the Murray Shire local government area. 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,...

, Mathoura had a population of 653. The town's name is derived from an aboriginal word for 'windy'.

History

In 1848 a reserve was established on Gulpa Creek by Surveyor Townsend.  The locality became known as Redbank.  By 1853 W. Moore Carter had established an inn at Redbank and in 1856 he was permitted to purchase 12 acres (4.9 ha) at £2 10s. per acre.  By 1860 Carter had about 40 acres (16.2 ha) under cultivation, including a 5 acres (2 ha) vineyard.

A petition in 1859 called on the Government to put up the reserve at Redbank for sale.  However there were others who considered a more suitable position for a village was at Hill Plain, where Mr. Stuckey had erected an inn (opened in June 1860 and managed by John Atkinson).

In 1860 Surveyor McCulloch laid out the township of Redbank near the site of Carter's Redbank Inn.  In 1864 Carter was growing tobacco at Redbank (from which cigars were manufactured).

A traveller passing through Redbank in mid-1865 stated that “Mr. Carter has established a brick public-house… situated on the bank of the Gulpa Creek”.  The writer added: “I observed three or four acres fenced and stocked with fruit trees, withered and dried up”.

In 1865 Henry Burton, a circus proprietor, purchased the Redbank Inn; he held the license until at least 1870.

Mathoura Post Office opened on 1 September 1867.

The village was made a stopping-place on the Victorian railway line that was extended into New South Wales to Deniliquin.  By 1879 it was reported that the village had about six houses of "straggling order" and was supported principally by the timber trade.  By 1882 a flour mill had been established at Mathoura; there were two hotels, the Mathoura Inn and the Railway Hotel, as well as a school, a Union church and a sawmill.

Today

The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Picola & District Football League
Picola & District Football League
The Picola & District Football Netball League is an Australian rules football league affiliated with the Victorian Country Football League.The league covers a large area of northern Victoria and southern New South Wales from Shepparton in the south to Jerilderie in the north and consists of teams...

.

Golfers play at the course of the Mathoura Golf Club on the Cobb Highway
Cobb Highway
The Cobb Highway is a State highway in western New South Wales, Australia.  From north to south the Cobb Highway begins at its junction with the Barrier Highway near Wilcannia and runs south through the townships of Ivanhoe, Booligal, Hay and Deniliquin.  It ends at Moama where the...

.

External links

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