Tarcutta, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Tarcutta
state = New South Wales

---

caption = National Truck Driver Memorial at Tarcutta
lga = City of Wagga Wagga
postcode = 2652
est =
pop = 441(Census 2006)
elevation=
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
county = Wynyard
stategov = Wagga Wagga
fedgov = Riverina
dist1 = 438
location1= Sydney

Tarcutta is a small town located 438km south-west of Sydney on the Hume Highway in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed as a village on 28 October 1890. As of 2006, the town and surrounding farms have a population of 441 people.Census 2006 AUS|id=SSC18973|name=Tarcutta(State Suburb)|accessdate=2007-09-17|quick=on] It serves a local farming community relying for its prosperity mainly on sheep and cattle, and the interstate truckies who use the town as a change-over point in the trade between the state capital cities of Sydney and Melbourne.

Trucking industry

Tarcutta is half way between Sydney and Melbourne on the Hume Highway, and has long been popular in the trucking industry as a stopping and changeover point for drivers.

The local park houses the National Truck Drivers' Memorial to the truck drivers who have died on the infamous local stretch of the Hume Highway, as well as around the country. The country singer, Slim Dusty, endorsed the memorial with a plaque.

The local café, which has sustained generations of truckies, has also been the source of inspiration for some of Australia's recent modern poets, Les Murray and Bruce Dawe. Murray wrote "The Burning Truck" while visiting the café in 1961 and Dawe immortalised the eatery in a couple of lines in his poem "Under Way".

There had been extensive political arguing since 1999 between Federal and State Governments over funding and where to site a proposed Tarcutta truck changeover facility. It was finally decided to place it off the main street and the project which was completed early 2007 was jointly funded at a cost of $6.5m. [cite web
title = Tarcutta Truck and Trailer Interchange Facility
work = Australian Government
publisher = Australian Government - DOTARS
date = 14 May 2007
url = http://www.auslink.gov.au/projects/ProjectDetails.aspx?Project_id=NAN001
accessdate = 2007-06-16] Truck drivers are required to stop for 30 minutes every five hours.

Tarcutta's other claims to fame

Tarcutta is also the birthplace of former Grand Slam champion tennis player Tony Roche.

Tarcutta is also located on the now disused Tumbarumba Branch railway line from Wagga Wagga. Much of the line was abandoned after it was damaged by floods in 1974. The rest was closed in 1987.

Located nearby is the 432 ha Tarcutta Hills Reserve, owned and managed by Bush Heritage Australia. This reserve provides an important remnant of white box woodland with a relatively untouched grassy understory: a last refuge for endangered birds like the Swift Parrot, the beautiful Squirrel Glider and as many as 11 other threatened wildlife species. The site is listed on the Register of the National Estate.

Tarcutta bypass

In the next 5 years Tarcutta will be bypassed - Currently in the "final" planning stages. The Tarcutta bypass is going to be west of the village - Linking-up to the dual carriageways 3 km to the north of the village and 3 km south of the village. If the bypass will be to the west of the village, then it might possibly be completed in 2011, since there are not many hills (compared to the east of the village).Fact|date=February 2008 (100% of the Hume Highway will be full dual carriageway including bypasses of all towns by 2012)

See also

* Tumbarumba railway line, New South Wales

External links

* [http://www.nswrail.net/lines/tumbarumba/tarcutta.html Tarcutta Railway Station]
* [http://www.esf.org.au/tarcatta.html Tarcutta Hills Reserve]
* [http://www.tarcuttamemorial.com/ National Truck Drivers' Memorial]

References