Marrangaroo, New South Wales

Marrangaroo is a small town in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia in the City of Lithgow.

Overview

Marrangaroo is located a few kilometres or 5 minutes west of Lithgow. It is accessible from the Great Western Highway, and has no rail station and little bus services. Jones Bros Bus Company run buses between Lithgow and Bathurst, which makes limited stops at Marrangaroo on the Great Western Highway. A main feature of Marrangaroo was the Trout Farm which was opposite the Lithgow Correctional Centre. At the 2006 census, Marrangaroo had a population of 869.^[1]

Military

Marrangaroo Army Camp situated at the end of Reserve road used to be a major Ammunition Depot from 1941 to the late 80's. It is now used for demolitions and various training by all three services. During the second world war it housed one of Australia's best kept secrets; Chemical Warfare. Marrangaroo was the administration headquarters for all of NSW RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) Chemical Weapon Stores which were kept in Tunnels and sidings at Marrangaroo (old tunnel and siding near correctional centre), Glenbrook tunnel in the Blue Mountains, Clarence Tunnel (now part of the zig zag railway) and Picton tunnel in Sydney's south. A new book called "Chemical Warfare in Australia" by Geoff Plunkett describes the people and places [2].

Empty 250lb bombs

During an interview with Plunkett in 2005, Chemical Warfare Armourer, Geoff Burn mentioned he had been involved in the burial of 250 lb phosgene bombs near the headquarter's entrance in 1943. He was subsequently recalled from Cairns (Queensland) in 1944 to identify the site but was unsure as to whether the bombs had been extracted. They hadn't. After Geoff Burn marked the site on an aerial map a ground search revealed they were still there. The legacy of these weapons remains with several hundred empty (so far) chemical munition containers being found buried at Marrangaroo Army Camp from February 2009 to May 2008. Remediation works are continuing.[3][4].

A remediation project is due to start in November 2008 with a secondary task (main one is to remove heavy metal contamination) to remove any more buried chemical munitions. The revelation of Marrangaroo's history has sparked much recent interest [5][6][7][8][9][10].

For more information on the decontamination see http://www.defence.gov.au/id/marrangaroo/default.htm

The Lithgow Golf Club (aka. Eskroy Park) is a picturesque 18 hole course with the clubhouse originally built by Charles Hoskins as the family residence.

Transport

A railway station opened at Maragnaroo on the Main Western line in 1878 and closed in 1974. Little trace of it remains.^[2] Also, it has been suggested as the western terminus for the proposed Bells Line Expressway ^[3]

Marrangaroo station c. 1950s.

Preceding station		NSW Main lines		Following station
Wallerawang towards Bourke		Main Western Line		Bowenfels towards Sydney

References

1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Marrangaroo (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/LocationSearch?collection=Census&period=2006&areacode=SSC17983&producttype=QuickStats&breadcrumb=PL&action=401. Retrieved 27 October 2009. 
2. ^ Marranagroo station. NSWrail.net, accessed 8 August 2009.
3. ^ [1] Bells Line of Road corridor, New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority

Coordinates: 33°26′S 150°07′E / 33.433°S 150.117°E / -33.433; 150.117