Caloola

Caloola is a locality in the Central West region of New South Wales. There once was a small village of the same name but it is a ghost town today. At the 2016 census, the locality had a population of 88.[2]

Caloola
New South Wales
Caloola
Coordinates33°36′13.3″S 149°26′13.6″E
Population88 (2016 census)[1]
Postcode(s)2795
Location
LGA(s)Bathurst Regional Council
State electorate(s)Bathurst
Federal Division(s)Calare

Location

Caloola is 28km south-west of Bathurst and 24 km east-south east of Blayney, by road. The nearest settlement is the village of Newbridge, 7 km to the west. The locality lies on either side of Trunkey Road, the road between Bathurst and Trunkey Creek.

History

Aboriginal and early settler history

The area now known as Caloola is on the traditional land of the Wiradjuri people.[3] The name Caloola is probably a settlers' rendering of an aboriginal word and is said to mean "old battleground".[4] After settler colonisation, Caloola lay within the County of Bathurst, Parish of Lowry.[5]

In 1853, Caloola Creek was included as a goldfield within the Western Goldfields.[6] There was a short-lived gold rush to Caloola Creek.[7][8] By 1858, most of the ethnic-European gold diggers had moved on and the field had about 150 ethnic-Chinese miners working there.[9]

Despite the presence of alluvial gold, the main impetus for further settlement, during the 1850s, seems to have been agriculture. Settlers in the area were petitioning for the establishment of a post office in 1856.[10] The post office was opened in 1858 and operated from a newly built store.[11]

In 1865, the Caloola Union Church was built. This church was unusual, in that the building was controlled by a local trust and made available to any denomination to hold church services.[12]

Bushrangers

Gold in areas nearby, such as Tuena and Trunkey Creek and improvements made to the roads to Bathurst and Tuena,[13][14] generated passing traffic for Caloola, which in turn attracted bushrangers. In the early 1860s, the small settlement at Caloola—without any police—had more than its share of mayhem, largely but not only due to Ben Hall, John Gilbert and their criminal associates.[15]

In late 1862, the owner of the store and inn at Caloola was shot during a robbery. Two of the robbers, Charles Ross and—unrelated—Alexander Ross, were convicted of attempted murder and hanged in 1863.[16][17][18][19][20]

On 30 July 1863, the store was again robbed by two men, believed to be the bushrangers, John Glbert and John O'Meally. The storekeeper rode to Bathurst to inform the police about the robbery.[21]

On 23 September 1863, Caloola was the site of a raid by a gang of five notorious bushrangers, Ben Hall, John Gilbert, John O'Meally, John Vane, and Michael Burke. At the time, as well as the store, Caloola had a blacksmith and a shoemaker. The storekeeper and the two others were handcuffed. The gang ransacked the store, taking what they needed and willfully destroying the rest, as revenge for the storekeeper previously having given information to the police. The gang stole two horses from an adjacent paddock to carry their loot—shooting dead some other horses that they could not catch—before adjourning to Caloola's public house and carousing, until ten o'clock at night.[22] One of the gang, John Vane, was later tried and convicted for his part in the raid, among other crimes.[23] The other four members of the gang had all met violent deaths, by the end of May 1865.[24]

Mining village

The impetus for the official establishment of a village was gold mining, after reef gold was found there in 1871.[25][26] In 1897, there were three reef mines in the area.[27] The most significant of these was the Caloola Creek Gold Mine.[28] The Caloola Creek Gold Mining Co. had been registered in 1872.[29]The mine continued in operation, until at least 1914.[30]

The site of a village, with the official name of Egan, was set aside on 27 January 1871. The site was between the left bank of Caloola Creek and the right bank of its tributary Mcgeorges Creek, on either side of the road now known as Trunkey Road, which was originally its main street. Within the village, the main street was called Lanarch Street. Other planned streets of Egan included Belmore, Corrie and Caloola Streets.[5][31] The village had been planned in 1870.[32] As a result of the Crown Lands Act of 1884, the village of Egan was proclaimed a village in 1885.[33]

The manager of the Caloola Creek Gold Mine, in 1872, was Patrick Egan[29] and it seems likely that the village took its official name from his surname. However, as the locality was already known as Caloola, or Caloola Creek, and it had an existing church and post office, the village was always better known as Caloola. The village seems to have grown, but not very much beyond the few buildings that were already on its site by 1871.

A provisional school opened in 1871. An application was made for a public school at Caloola in August 1877. The public school opened in September 1877 and a board to control it was appointed in November of the same year.[34][35][36] A teacher's residence existed at Caloola by 1880.[37] The public school closed in 1891, reopening again as a provisional school in 1896.[36] In 1904 residents were agitating for the opening of a public school.[38] Tenders were called for the construction of a public school building in 1906.[39] The school became a 'half time school' in 1909 and finally closed altogether, in 1917,[40][41] after the mine had closed. In 1954, residents were once again advocating opening a school at Caloola,[42] this time without success. The school was on the western side of Trunkey Road, at the southern end of the village.[43][33]

In 1879, a contract was let for roadworks for a road connecting Caloola with Newbridge, which from 1882 lay on the Main Western railway line.[44]

In 1902 and 1903, the size of the land allocated to the village was reduced and some streets closed, to more realistically reflect the future prospects of the village.[45][46] By 1982, the village had been officially renamed Caloola and Trunkey Road had been realigned so that it ran slightly to the west of the old main street, Lanarch Street.[33]

Present day

The locality of Caloola is largely an agricultural area.

Little remains of the village of Caloola. Old roads roughly corresponding to Lanarch and Belmore Streets are still discernible.[47][33] The Caloola Union Church, and its associated cemetery survive. These are still managed and maintained by a local trust.[12][48] The church and the former schoolhouse and teacher's residence were on a local heritage item list in 2014.[43]

Reference section
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Caloola". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  2. "2016 Census QuickStats: Caloola". quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  3. "Tindale Tribes - Wiradjuri". archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  4. "ABORIGINAL GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 1905-06-03. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  5. "Parish of Lowry, County of Bathurst [cartographic material] : Land District of Bathurst". Trove. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  6. "SCHEDULE". Newcastle Chronicle and Hunter River District News (NSW : 1859 - 1866). 1862-01-04. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  7. "CALOOLA CREEK". Bathurst Times (NSW : 1909 - 1925). 1912-05-04. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  8. "THE WESTERN COLD FIELDS". Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875). 1853-03-30. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  9. "Local Intelligence". Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal (NSW : 1851 - 1904). 1858-04-07. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  10. "YESTERDAY'S RECEIPT OF GOLD". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 1856-11-01. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  11. "QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S VALE RACES". Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal (NSW : 1851 - 1904). 1858-01-06. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  12. Design, UBC Web. "Caloola Union Church | Churches Australia". www.churchesaustralia.org. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  13. "LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY". Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875). 1862-08-15. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  14. "THE ROADS OF THE COLONY". Sydney Mail (NSW : 1860 - 1871). 1861-03-09. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  15. "OFFENCES OF HALL AND GILBERT". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 1865-05-29. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  16. White, Charles (1902-11-29). "AUSTRALIAN BUSHRANGING - THE CALOOLA ROBBERS". Goulburn Evening Penny Post (NSW : 1881 - 1940). p. 6. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  17. "DARING ROBBERY AND ATTEMPTED MURDER". Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954). 1862-12-06. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  18. "NEW SOUTH WALES". Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954). 1863-03-09. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
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  22. "OUTRAGE AT CALOOLA". Golden Age (Queanbeyan, NSW : 1860 - 1864). 1863-10-01. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  23. "TRIAL OF VANE THE BUSHRANGER". Sydney Mail (NSW : 1860 - 1871). 1864-04-16. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  24. "The Gang". Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  25. "Caloola". Sydney Mail (NSW : 1860 - 1871). 1870-02-19. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  26. "GOLD DIGGING AT CALOOLA CREEK". Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal (NSW : 1851 - 1904). 1872-01-20. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  27. "MINING". Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931). 1897-02-25. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  28. "The Caloola Creek Mine". Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1907). 1897-09-11. p. 23. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  29. "I THE undersigned, Patrick Egan, do hereby make application to register the "Caloola Creek Gold Mining Company."". New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900). 1872-10-01. p. 2534. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  30. "MINING NEWS". Lithgow Mercury (NSW : 1898 - 1954). 1914-11-20. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  31. "SITE FOR VILLAGE OF EGAN, CALOOLA CREEK". New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900). 1871-01-27. p. 229. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  32. "Plan of the Village of Egan [cartographic material] : Parish of Lowry, County of Bathurst, N.S.W., 1870". trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  33. "Parish of Lowry, County of Bathurst [cartographic material]". Trove. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  34. "NEW PUBLIC SCHOOL". New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900). 1877-09-04. p. 3411. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  35. "Government Gazette Appointments and Employment". New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900). 1877-11-23. p. 4527. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  36. "Caloola (1)". nswgovschoolhistory.cese.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  37. "Family Notices". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912). 1880-05-08. p. 861. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  38. "CALOOLA NEWS". National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 - 1954). 1904-09-05. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  39. "CALOOLA". Lithgow Mercury (NSW : 1898 - 1954). 1906-06-26. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  40. "Caloola (2)". nswgovschoolhistory.cese.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  41. "Glossary of school types". education.nsw.gov.au. 2019-12-03. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
  42. "SCHOOL SOUGHT FOR CALOOLA". National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 - 1954). 1954-07-21. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  43. "BATHURST REGIONAL LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN 2014 - SCHEDULE 5". www5.austlii.edu.au. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  44. "Government Gazette". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912). 1879-09-13. p. 423. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  45. "PROPOSED ALTERATION OF DESIGN OP THE VILLAGE OF EGAN AND CANCELLATION OF SUBURBAN LANDS". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001). 1902-09-10. p. 6466. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  46. "ALTERATION OF DESIGN OF THE VILLAGE OF EGAN". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001). 1903-11-21. p. 8554. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  47. "Roads in Caloola". Google maps. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  48. "Australian Cemeteries Index - Cemetery 1207 - Caloola Union Church". austcemindex.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
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