Tarro, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place
type = suburb
name = Tarro
city = Newcastle
state = nsw


imagesize =
caption =
pop = 1558
pop_footnotes = Census 2006 AUS|id=SSC18981|name=Tarro (State Suburb)|accessdate=2008-04-09|quick=on]
density = 1948
density_footnotes = ref|density|Note1
est =
postcode = 2322
coordinates = coord|32|48|32.3|S|151|39|21.9|E|type:town_region:AU-NSW|display=inline,title
elevation =
elevation_footnotes=
area = 5.3
area_footnotes = ref|area|Note2
timezone = AEST
utc = +10
timezone-dst = AEDT
utc-dst = +11
propval = $245,500
dist1 = 20
dir1 = NW
location1 = Newcastle
dist2 = 14
dir2 = ESE
location2 = Maitland
lga = City of Newcastle
region = Hunter
county = Northumberland
parish = Alnwick
stategov = Cessnock
fedgov = Newcastle
fedgov2 = Paterson
near-n = Woodberry
near-ne = Tomago
near-e = Tomago
near-se = Hexham
near-s = Black Hill
near-sw = Black Hill
near-w = Beresfield
near-nw = Woodberry, Beresfield

Tarro is a north-western suburb of the City of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

Tarro (and parts of nearby Beresfield) was originally known as Upper Hexham, 'lower' Hexham being an older settlement located about Convert|5|km|mi|0 to the east on the Hunter River.

The name 'Tarro' reportedly means 'stone' in an Aboriginal language. [http://www1.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/library/placea.cfm?FIRST=t]

At the 2006 census, Tarro had a population of 1,558, almost all of which is concentrated in the south-western corner of the suburb. [DoL suburb image|name=Tarro|codename=same|accessdate=2008-05-14]

Geography

Tarro and the adjacent suburbs of Beresfield, Woodberry and Thorton are situated on low ridges rising out of the surrounding floodplain (and wetlands) of the Hunter River.

Early on Tarro compromised a number of scattered farms which made use of the surrounding wetlands. Housing was otherwise strung out along Maitland Road (then the New Englan Highway, now Anderson Drive) between the railway station in the east to what was to become Beresfield in the west. After World War II, Tarro became increasingly suburban. The area bounded by Eastern, Western and Southern Avenues was subdivided. This was followed by land between Christie Road and Maitland Road, then in the late 1960s-1970s land between Western Avenue and Christie Road and then behind the Tarro Hotel.

Indigenous past

The area where Tarro is located originally was part of the territory of the Pambalong clan of the Awabakal people. The land of the Pambalong stretched from Newcastle West, extended along the southern bank of the Hunter River, west through Hexham (Tarro) to Buttai and across to the foothills of Keeba-Keeba (Mount Sugarloaf) to the northern tip of Lake Macquarie and back to Newcastle West. The country of the Pambalong was known as Barrahineban [http://weblearn.newcastle.edu.au/school/aboriginal-studies/about/thepambalongorbigswamppeoplebarahineban.html] .

Railway

Tarro has a railway station (opened in 1857 with the Newcastle-Maitland railway, the first section of the Main North line from Sydney to the New England region)cite web
title = Main North Line
publisher=www.nswrail.net
url = http://www.nswrail.net/lines/show.php?name=NSW:main_north
accessdate = 2006-11-22 ] on CityRail's Hunter line. It is also on the New England Highway.

Tarro station is one of the oldest in Australia, being the original eastern terminus for the Hunter Valley Railway before it was extended to Newcastle.

The railway station was originally known as Hexham when it opened in 1857. In 1871 the name was changed to Hexham Township and then Tarro, presumably to distinguish it from the newly opened station at 'lower' Hexham [http://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Tarro&line=NSW:main_north:0]

The railway station was once quite large with a timber and glazed station master's office and signal room as well as brick ticket offices and waiting rooms on the Maitland-bound platform and a smaller timber ticket office and waiting room on the Newcastle-bound platform [http://investigator.records.nsw.gov.au/asp/photosearch/photo.asp?17420_a014_a014000783] . After suffering vandalism in the 1970s, these buildings were demolished and replaced by simple weathersheds.

At one time there were loading ramps to the west of the railway station and roadbridge which were used to load coal inthe 1940s from a small mine, Kent Colliery, at Beresfield. Some evidence of these ramps still remains.

Churches

Around 1840 the Bishop of Australia, Bishop Broughton, bought five acres of land on Maitland Road from Mr Edward Sparke, proprietor of the Wheatsheaf Inn at Hexham for church buildings and an addtional acre a kilometre further west for a cemetery [Orchard, Gail, "God's Acre: Religion Comes to the Bend in the River", p.10] . A church, named St Stephens, was opened in Tarro around 1849. This rustic structure, was replaced by a more elegant wooden building in 1905. There was also a parsonage. This church was later joined by Sunday school hall in the 1960s. Next door was tennis court, which was later replaced by a youth cetre in the early 1970s. Around 1980 St Stephens was sold and removed. The site of the church is now the site of the Tarro Interchange with the New England Highway.

Tarro's old pioneer cemetery [http://www1.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/library/cemetery_search.cfm] is on Quarter Sessions Road with burials dating from the mid nineteenth century.

The foundation stone for Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church (42 Anderson Drive) [http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/07_subnav_01_2.cfm?itemid=2170922] was laid on 4 December,1922.

Schools

The first school in Tarro was held in the home of the Anglican Reverend Bolton in 1844. Around 1860, a school house was opened, opposite St Stephens' Church, on the northern side of Maitland Road [Orchard, Gail, "God's Acre: Religion Comes to the Bend in the River", p.14] .

A Government operated public school opened in Upper Hexham in 1881. This eventually became Beresfield Public School. The original schoolhouse is now in the grounds of Beresfield Public School (181 Anderson Drive). The schoolhouse is now heritage listed [http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/07_subnav_01_2.cfm?itemid=2170920] .

A second public primary school was built in Tarro proper, opening in 1961.

Tarro also has a Catholic primary school, adjoining Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

The nearest public secondary school is Francis Greenway High School at Beresfield. The high school is named after convict architect Francis Greenway who was graned land in the Tarro area around 1820 [http://www.lighthouse.net.au/Lights/Bulletin/0006/Bulletin%20Jun%2000.htm] .

Post

Tarro's first post office was named Upper Hexham and was located at the railway station. Around 1918 the post office moved to Woodberry Road, and later to 13 Maitland Road (now Anderson Drive). The post office housed the manual telephone switchboard until automatic switching was introduced in 1957. The post office closed on 30 July 1993 and Tarro is now served by Beresfield Post Office.

Other facilities

Tarro has a newsagency-general store, butcher's shop, take-away food store, petrol station, hotel and motel. There is also a fire station, community hall, Telstra telephone exchange, pumping station and depot belonging to the Hunter Valley Water Board, electricity sub-station and a number of small churches. The pumping station is heritage listed [http://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/07_subnav_01_2.cfm?itemid=2170276] . Tarro Park sports ground, largely reclaimed from wetlands, has several soccer fields, a playground and bird ponds.

Tarro previously had a police station. This closed and Tarro is now served by Beresfield police station.

War memorial

Following World War I, Tarro and the nearby community of Woodberry, established a memorial to veterans. The memorial was unveiled by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Nicholson, Member for Maitland, on behalf of Woodberry and Tarro residents about 1920. The memorial lists 14 veterans, including five killed in action. The memorial was relocated & rededicated by D J Shearman in December 1974. The memorial can now be seen at the Fred Harvey Oval, Lawson Avenue, Woodberry. [http://www.warmemorialsnsw.asn.au/Details.cfm?MemNo=16]

Image gallery

Notes

# Most of Tarro is unpopulated with almost all of the population residing in the south-western corner of the suburb. The population density figure provided is the average density of the part of the suburb where most of the population lives, not the average for the whole area which is considerably lower at 299.6 persons per square kilometre. This lower figure does not accurately represent the population density in the suburb.
# Area calculation is based on NSW GNB maps.

References