Carroll, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Carroll
state = nsw


caption = Entry sign to Carroll, NSW
lga = Gunnedah Shire Council
county = Buckland
postcode = 2340
est = 1885
pop = 447 (2006)
elevation= 280
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
stategov =
fedgov =
dist1 = 54
location1= Tamworth
dist2 = 450
location2= Sydney

Carroll is a parish and small village on the Oxley Highway, 20km east of Gunnedah, New South Wales. The Namoi River runs approximately parallel to the highway which is also the main street there. Periodically this river floods the town and surrounding area, forcing the closure of the Oxley Highway. The surrounding area is part of the Liverpool Plains region. Carroll is an Aboriginal word for ‘forked tree’. [Geographical Names Board of New South Wales: http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=JPKqBKKmTR]

In 1839 John Howe of Windsor took out Depasturing Licence for 'Carrol'. An adjoining ‘Carrol’ was held by Hannah Dight in 1846. [Geographical Names Board of New South Wales: http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=JPKqBKKmTR]

During December 1865 Captain Thunderbolt (Fred Ward) and two accomplices robbed the inn at Caroll then danced and drank until the police arrived. They wounded a policeman and escaped, abandoning three pack-horses. [Victor Crittenden, 'Ward, Frederick (Captain Thunderbolt) (1835–1870)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, 1976, pp 353-354.]

The district produces cotton, wheat, other grains, fat lambs and beef cattle. The Olympic eventing horses, Kibah Tic-Tic, a noted dual gold medal winner and Kibah Sandstone (gold medalist in team & individual 1992, gold 2000) were bred on Kibah, a property close to the village. [Bud Hyem of Kibah: http://www.horsemagazine.com/CLINIC/H/HYEM_BUD/bud_hyem.html]

According to the entry sign there are 188 people in the village. The village now has a public school and a fuel supplier.

References