Yarrabin, New South Wales

Yarrabin (formerly known as Merrendee) is a ghost town near the junction of the Meroo and Cudgegong rivers in the New South Wales Orana Region. The village of Merrendee was established after the discovery of gold in that area around 1851 and was located approximately 23 miles west of Mudgee.[1][2] The locality was renamed Yarrabin by postal authorities in 1923.[3]

Yarrabin (formerly Merrendee)
New South Wales
Don Endacott's general store at Yarrabin, NSW. The foundations of the McGrath homestead "Murray King" are also visible at right.
Yarrabin (formerly Merrendee)
Coordinates32°35′37.043″S 149°17′38.657″E
Establishedcirca 1851
LGA(s)Mid-Western Regional Council

History
Don Endacott's store and McGrath family home "Murray King" at Yarrabin (then Merrendee), NSW. Approx. 1920
Merrendee Hotel (left) and post office (right). Photographer and date unknown. Approx. 1920.
Site of former Yarrabin (Merrendee) Post Office.
A chimneystack on the site of the teacher's residence at Yarrabin.
Looking towards the site of Yarrabin (Merrendee) township from the southern bank of the Meroo River. The original crossing is visible at right.

Gold was discovered by European settlers at Merrendee in approximately August 1851.[4] By August 1857 a correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald described how "bark and comfortable slab huts [had taken] the place of calico tents, and a little village [had] sprung up". This early account of Merrendee describes the village as being made up of "an excellent building ... being erected for a public house, and Mr. F. B. Gulley's new store, a neat pine building with verandah, fitted out quite in the Sydney style ... [as well as] ... a very neat and substantial slab store".[5]

The first General Publicans' License in Merrendee was issued for "the house situated at Merindee [sic], in the district of Avisford, to be known as the Cricketers Arms". The license was granted to Joseph Cox and transferred to a Mr. Jones in May 1863. Other licensed establishments in the town included Richard Knight's "Merrendee Inn" (c1858) and Robert Forbes Milne's "Royal George Inn" (c1858). By 1904 the only public house in the town was Herbert Francis McGrath's "Merrendee Hotel". McGrath conducted the hotel from July 1904 until its closure in 1923 "as a result of the decree of [the] Licenses Reduction Board".[6] The Australian tennis champion Vivian McGrath, son of Herbert and Florence McGrath, was born at the "Merrendee Hotel" in 1916.

A post office was established at Merrendee in July 1859.[7]

By 1908 the Mudgee Guardian reported that "Merrendee of to-day, with its paucity of population, its deserted appearance, abandoned shafts, grassless paddocks, its monotony and general activity, presents a striking contrast to the Merrendee of about fifty years ago".[8] By 1927 there were only 12 pupils enrolled at the Merrendee Provisional School "and as a rule an average daily attendance of 9 pupils and over".[9] The school was first referred to as Yarrabin Public School in 1925.[10]

A church operated in Yarrabin until at least 1947.[11]

References
  1. "MINES AND MINING". Australian Town and Country Journal. II (33). New South Wales. 20 August 1870. p. 10. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "Many Years Ago". The Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative. New South Wales. 10 May 1934. p. 16. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "MERRENDEE OFF THE MAP". The Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative. New South Wales. 6 December 1923. p. 17. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "GOLD FIELDS". The Northern Times (75). New South Wales. 29 April 1857. p. 3. Retrieved 10 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "MERRENDEE". The Sydney Morning Herald. XXXVIII (5978). New South Wales, Australia. 4 August 1857. p. 9. Retrieved 10 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "CLOSING HOTELS". The Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative. New South Wales. 22 November 1923. p. 19. Retrieved 8 January 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "NEW POST OFFICE". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. XVII (1739). New South Wales. 14 July 1859. p. 4. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Old Merrendee Reminisences". The Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative. XIV (1618). New South Wales. 10 December 1908. p. 19. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Merrendee School". The Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative. New South Wales. 3 October 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA". The Singleton Argus. New South Wales. 27 October 1925. p. 3. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "WEDDING". The Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative. New South Wales. 25 September 1947. p. 10. Retrieved 11 December 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
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