Werris Creek, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Werris Creek
state = nsw


caption =
lga = Liverpool Plains Shire Council
postcode = 2341
est =
pop = 1,600
elevation= 380
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
stategov =
fedgov =
dist1 =
location1= North West

Werris Creek (coord|31|20|S|150|39|E|type:city_region:AU-NSW) is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, near Tamworth, in Liverpool Plains Shire. It is north of Quirindi and is at the junction of the Main North railway line to Armidale and Moree.

History

The area is thought to have been once occupied by the Kamilaroi Aborigines. 'Werris' appears to derive from an Aboriginal word first written as 'Weia Weia', though no meaning is known. There is a similar aboriginal word pronounced "Werai" which means "look out" and this may be related because of the prominent hills in the area. In earlier years Werris was written in a variety of ways, including Werres, Werries and Weery's.

The first European settlers came to the area in the 1830s and the Weia Weia Creek Station was established by the Reverend Francis Vidal around 1841. By the 1870s there were 20 pastoral families occupying the valley and on the eastern side of the present townsite was Summer Hill station, belonging to John Single, after whom the main street is named.

A post office opened in 1877 and a railway station was built there in 1879, designed by the NSW railway engineer John Whitton. It is 411 km from Sydney by rail and was termed 'the first railway town in Australia'. [cite web
url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lab/90/rogers.html
title=Philippa Rogers | The Australian Railway Monument and Rail Journeys Museum | Labour History, 90 | The History Cooperative
publisher=www.historycooperative.org
accessdate=2008-05-05]

Geography

Werris Creek is overlooked by Mount Terrible, known to the locals as 'Terrible Billy'. It is 380m or 1246 feet above sea level. It has an average annual rainfall of 685 mm or 27 inches. On July 18th, 1965, for the first and only time in recorded history, Werris Creek was blanketed by three inches of snow.

Facilities

Werris Creek has two schools, St Joseph's Catholic school, established in 1915, and a government school, Werris Creek Public, which was established in the 1880's. The town has a swimming pool (opened in 1968), tennis courts, bowling green and golf club. There is a rugby league team, the Magpies, which is part of the NSW Country Rugby League, Group 4 competition. In 1996 the Werris Creek Magpies won the Clayton Cup for being the best performed, premiership-winning first grade team, in country New South Wales.

The town has a large grain silo and a recently opened (2005) coal mine. The main employer in the town is Pacific National rail company. A high percentage of the working population are also employed in nearby Tamworth.

Werris Creek is a four hour drive from Sydney and is situated midway between the famous wine growing area of the Hunter Valley and the cooler climate vineyards of the New England. Werris Creek is also located within three hours of beaches in Newcastle and four hours of Australia’s coastal resorts of Forster, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour.”

Railway station

A railway station opened at Werris Creek in 1878, and was moved to its present location in 1880. [ [http://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Werris+Creek&line=NSW:main_north:0 Werris Creek Railway Station] . NSWrail.net. Accessed 1 April 2008.] The heritage listed Werris Creek railway station building, built in the late 1880's, was designed by the famed NSW railway engineer John Whitton. The "Australian Railway Monument" was recently opened near the station and part of the station building has been opened as a railway museum. A historic display depicts the past history of Werris Creek as the first railway town in Australia from the age of steam through to the modern day diesel. It is still served by the daily Countrylink Xplorer service to and from Sydney which amalgamates/divides at the station, half the train to and from Armidale, the other half to and from Moree.

Country Music

American singer/songwriter and Country/Rockabilly recording artist Jason Lee Wilson memorialized the town in the song "Werris Creek" which was included on his 2007 debut solo album entitled "High Country".

References