Condobolin, New South Wales

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

---

caption = Condobolin Court house built 1902
lga = Lachlan Shire
postcode = 2877
pop = 3,500
est = 1859
elevation= 220
maxtemp = 24.8
mintemp = 11.0
rainfall = 449.4
stategov = Lachlan
fedgov = Parkes
dist1 = 463
location1= Sydney

Condobolin is a town of 3,500 in the west of the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, on the Lachlan River.

Location

Condobolin is very close to Mount Tilga, which is said to be the geographical centre of New South Wales.

Condobolin is located at the junction of Lachlan River and Goobang Creek. It is 463 km west of Australia's largest city, Sydney.

Close to Condobolin is the Overflow Station, the setting of the poem Clancy of the Overflow by Banjo Paterson. The poem is about a Queensland drover, a cattle handler responsible for herding large mobs of cattle long distances to market.

Events

Condobolin is the home to a two day cross country navigational rally, known as the " [http://www.condo750.com.au/ Condo 750] ". Now in its 10th year, the Condo 750 runs over a variety of private and public roads and tracks and attracts competitors from all over Australia. It is a CAMS and MA sanctioned event. The course is made up of competitive sections known as selective sections which are timed over private tracks around the various sheep and cattle stations, these range in length from 20 km to 70 km. Non-competitive road sections on public roads join the sections, these range from 200 m to 30 km. The total length of the course is over 750 kilometres.

History

Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by the Wiradjuri people.

The name Condobolin is suggested by some to have evolved from the Aboriginal word Cundabullen – shallow crossing. The crossing was located a short distance below the junction of the Lachlan River and the Goobang Creek.cite web | | url = http://www.heritageaustralia.com.au/search.php?state=NSW&region=102&view=438#a
title = Condobolin | work = Historical Towns Directory | publisher = Hallmark Editions: Australian Heritage Magazine | accessdate = 2006-05-03] Others suggest that the town's name from the Wiradjuri word for 'hop bush', or 'hop brush'.cite web | year = 2005 | url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/New-South-Wales/Condobolin/2005/02/17/1108500193350.html | title = Condobolin | work = Travel | publisher = Sydney Morning Herald | accessdate = 2006-05-03]

The area was explored by John Oxley in 1817 and Thomas Mitchell in 1836. The 'Condoublin' run was established by 1844. There had been squatters in the district since Mitchell's 1836 exploration. Closer settlement of the area began in 1880 when the large runs were broken up into smaller holdings.

The town of Condobolin was proclaimed in 1859. The railway arrived in 1898, and the town's population boomed, assisted by finds in 1885 of copper north of the town and in 1896 of gold in the district, north-west of the town. A major copper and gold mine was in operation at Condobolin from 1898 until around 1910. Agriculture is still a major influence on the town, production having expanded with the damming of the Lachlan River in 1935 by the Wyangala Dam. Wheat, barley, canola, wool, sheep and cattle are produced in the district. In more recent years irrigation has brought horticulture and cotton to the Lachlan River area. [cite web | url = http://condobolin.ctcnsw.net.au/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=219&Itemid=57 | title = About our area: History | work = CTC@Condobolin | publisher = Western Plains Regional Development Inc.: Community Technology Centre | accessdate = 2006-05-03]

Transport

Condoblin railway station opened in 1898 [cite web | title = Condoblin railway station| url = http://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Condobolin&line=NSW:broken_hill:0 | publisher= www.nswrail.net | accessdate = 2008-04-07 ] and lies on the Broken Hill railway line. The station is served by the twice-weekly Indian Pacific train, as well as Countrylink's Broken Hill Outback Xplorer train. This train heads to Broken Hill on Mondays and to Sydney on Tuesdays.

Notable people from Condobolin

*Kevin Gilbert, poet, author, playwright, activist
* Shannon Noll, the first runner up of "Australian Idol"

References