TUMUT, NSW.

AUSTRALIA

BEAUTIFUL TUMUT. Gateway to Blowering - Talbingo and the Snowy Mtns

The branch line which runs east from Cootamundra terminates at Tumut, which Is delightfully situated on the banks of tho Tumut River. Descending from the high mountains eastward of Tumut the river runs rapidly until It eventually reaches the steadier waters of the Murrumbidgee. Near the town it's banks are encompassed. In the drooping willows which provide many a shady nook for boating parties. Besides boating and swimming, there is ample sport with trout in the river. Coaches run regularly to tho Yarrangobilly Caves, via Talbingo Mountains, which in winter often wears a mantle of snow. There are many up-to-date hotels in the town. - (Ref- The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954) Tuesday 26 September 1911.)

Talbingo - about 1924

The Day family - last owners of Talbingo Station never thought that this would be the scene !!!!

Historic village now a modern town

It is hard to write about Talbingo (which I knew very well as a child) without feeling that here, of all the places in the Snowy Mountains, is the one town which should have been protected from the ravages of Snowy Mountains Scheme. It was a tiny township full of fascinating history which extended far beyond its boundaries. It was the town where Miles Franklin, of My Brilliant Career fame, was born. The local Talbingo Hotel, apart from its wonderful bar sketch by Rufus Morris (the cartoonist famous for his work on the 'It's moments like these you need Minties'), was known for its trout fishing and its wildness which once extended to a man riding his horse into the main bar and shooting a hole in the roof with a shotgun. Ken Murray, at the time the successful publisher of Man and House and Garden magazines, built himself an eyrie on the top of a hill behind the town - it can still be seen from the lookout at Tumut Ponds Dam. And it was the beginning of one of the worst roads ever built in this country - a winding track which made its way via Yarrangobilly, Rules Point and Kiandra to Adaminaby and Cooma.

It was, by any measure, a beautiful place where the Talbingo and the Jounama creeks made their way through rugged country and the autumn colours of the willows and poplars beside the creeks were a joy to behold. Few people who experienced the area in childhood ever forgot it. Miles Franklin, in Childhood in Brindabella writes of Talbingo: 'No other spot has ever replaced the hold on my affections or imagination of my birthplace, nor are any other incidents so clearly and tenderly etched in my memory as those connected with it.' Elsewhere she wrote of the 'ferny gullies, to the sweet, and rush of many mountain waters'. Much of the magic of the area has been captured in Jack Bridle's excellent book Talbingo.

Today Talbingo is a neat little township located on the foreshores of the Jounama Pond (it's really a dam) which lies at the bottom of the Tumut 3 Power Station. It is 462 km from Sydney, 42 km from Tumut and 412 metres above sea level. Like Khancoban to the south it nestles under the Snowy Mountains which rise immediately behind the town. The new town was originally one of the many camps established by the Snowy Mountains Authority but, being outside the Kosciusko National Park, it has not been subject to the restrictions which have been imposed on settlements like Jindabyne and Cabramurra. The houses in the township are now mostly privately owned and there are a number of privately owned businesses.

The town's past history is now drowned under the Jounama Dam. This is dramatically demonstrated by the sign on the way into town which reads 'Original Lampe Homestead - Birthplace of Miles Franklin in October 1879 - 500 metres'. Don't go looking for the homestead. The arrow which accompanies the '500 metres' indicates that what is left of the homestead is now under the waters of the Jounama Pond. In the same vicinity also lies the remnants of Talbingo Station.

It is worth recalling that Franklin's mother, who at the time was living in Brindabella some 100 km away, made the journey by horse and sulky to her parent's home, Lampe Homestead, to give birth.

The ex–convict William Bridle had arrived in 1848.

In 1866 Bridle sold out to Lampe who was Miles Franklin's grandfather. Lampe's property was known as Talbingo Station. It remained the centre of the community until the site was finally drowned by the filling of the Jounama Dam in 1968.

So what does the modern town have to offer? In Bridle Street there is a cairn and park commemorating the fact that Talbingo was the birth place of Miles Franklin.

Modern Talbingo is a town where the architectural style is very much 'SMA Construction Town circa 1960'.

Oakland on Long Run

The highest town in Australia, Kiandra, was visited recently by Mr. S. Plush, of Nuriootpa, who with five others and a large load of luggage, drove an Oakland car 2,160 miles through Berri, Mildura, Euston, Hay, Junee, and Talbingo to Koscuiosko, N.S.W., and back, in order to see the Blue Mountains. Floods in several towns on the way necessitated ploughing the car through mud for miles at a time. Although bogged several times, the car pulled but under its own power, and negotiated with ease a difficult patch of sand. At Talbingo (N.S.W.), a seven mile climb was made in second gear, and after visiting the Yarrangobilly Caves the party travelled on to Kiandra. So cold was the atmosphere here that hot water had to be put in to start the car, and the brake bands were frozen to the drums. From Kosciusko the party went high up in the mountains, until a snowdrift made further progress an impossibility. The return trip was made through Boomboola and Bairnsdale to Melbourne, thence through Mortlake, Hamilton, Mount Gam bier, Kingston, and Strathalbyn, to Adelaide. - (Ref - The Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912-1954) Saturday 4 July 1925).

J.B.RIDLE - ? acres and C.A. DUNN - ? acres and W.J. MOOREHEAD - ? acres and J. RAMSBOTHAM - ? acres and Estate of the late W.J. & Mrs M.J & Mr B.M.) - 583 acres and T.B. GUY - 4 acres and Mrs H PETHER - 13 acres and E.W & H SMITH - 2 acres and Mrs E.M BROWN - 3 acres and A. DAY - 99 acres and Mrs A.N. BUSH - 4 acres and C.A. HUDSON - 5 acres and Mrs S ROBERTS - 1 acres and Mrs A.M. DOYLE - 22 acres and E.W. SIMMONDS - 2 acres and M.G. BUSH - 82 acres.

This report is submitted in good faith. All endeavours have been made to make all entries authentic and correct. For any corrections and additional valuable information, maps and photos you may have please contact John

BRIDLE.-September 22, at Tumut. William Hendy Bridle, beloved father of Ethel, Tessie, and Madge Fix this text Bridle, and Beatrice Franklin. - (Ref- The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954) Wednesday 24 September 1919).

THE NEW DIGGINGS AT THE SNOWY RIVER. The Goulburn Chronicle of Wednesday says:

The discovery of gold lately made at Gibson's Plain, near the source of the Snowy River, is beginning to attract considerable attention and from intelligence that has reached us from various sources, we are inclined to believe that in this instance a really payable gold field has been struck.

At the same time we should be the last to advise persons from a distance to repair their until the quality ot the field be placed beyond doubt. There are plenty of persons within easy distance to give the place a fair trial. Towards the close of last week, according to a letter received yesterday, there were already about 700 persons on the spot and numbers were hastening from various points in the surrounding districts.

The character of the new discovery cannot therefore long remain doubtful, and in the meantime those farther removed from the scene of operations would do well to await the result. We are informed that Gibson's Plain, the locality of the new field, extends for about fourteen miles and is not far from the source of tho Snowy River. It is about sixty miles from Cooma, and about fifty miles from Tumut but the route from Tumut is impracticable for drays. Gibson's Plain can be reached from Queanbeyan by a bridle road in fifty-five miles, but the Murrumbidgee has to be crossed twice. The best route is by way of Cooma.

The new goldfield, we are informed, can be approached by drays only within twelve miles; the remaning distance goods have to be conveyed by pack horses but probably a route may, he opened for drays. A number of drays laden with tools and supplies, have already started from Cooma and Queanbeyan, one storekeeper in the latter place having despatched no less than twelve.

The price of flour at the diggings at the last accounts was £60 a ton, and it had advanced in Cooma from £30 to £40. They were asking in Queanbeyan on Saturday twelve shillings a bushel for wheat. There is little fear, however, but that there will soon be abundance of supplies on the diggings.

There are already three slaughter-houses erected. One important fact in connexion with the new gold-field is, that in ordinary seasons it is expected it will only be workable from November to May, say seven mouths in the year; the remaining five months the place is covered with snow to a depth variously stated at from four or five to twenty feet.

It is supposed to be an extension of the line of gold-fields comprising the Buckland, the Ovens, Tumberumba, and Adelong, and forms a portion of that tract of country on the Australian Alps which was pronounced to be auriferous by the Rev W B Clarke, the geologist. The test of a gold-field, however, in the eyes of the public, will of course be the amount of gold produced; and until some considerable quantity finds its way to the Mint, the reputation of Gibson's Plain as a payable gold-field will not rest on a solid foundation. We may state that Mr Maurice Harnett, who resides near Cooma, passed through Goulburn on Saturday last, with sixteen ounces of gold from the new field, which is intended for assay at the Mint. The gold is nuggetty, bright and clean. We hear that the first party at work on the field have obtained four lbs weight, and that two men, one of whom is named Russell, obtained in part of two days no less than four ounces. The sinking at present is from three to six feet; the diggers at the last accounts were sluicing in the river and tributary creeks, and no shafts had yet been sunk.

We understand that an official report from the nearest magistrate, Mr W Graham, went down on Saturday night with a view to the proclamation of the new gold-field, which will no doubt take place at once. Since writing the above we have seen a letter received in Goulburn from Tumut, under date 22nd instant.

The writer says that the diggers are leaving Adelong Reef in hundreds for the new gold-field at Gibson's Plain. Even the Port Curtis rush did not make such a stir. The new diggings, he says may be reached on horseback from Tumut in about fifty miles, and many are going that way, but drays cannot take that route as they, cannot cross the Talbingo hill. Drays are going by way of Tumberumba and Meragle, though the distance by that route is about 120 miles. Some Adelong people have visited the new field, and returned, reporting it is very good. - (Ref- The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954) Saturday 28 January 1860)

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SÖUTH WALES. i EccmtsiASTicai. JuntsmcTioK.:

In the Intestate Eatate- ot JAMES NEWMAN, late of Talbingo, deceased. CREDITORS are to forward to mo (through the Post Office if they think fit), at my Office, Chancery-square, Supreme Court Branch, Sydney, tbolr claims for proof, verified by affidavit, on or before the Btlt day of January next, or they will bc excluded: from all benefit from Ibis Estate. Creditors may, however, if they prefer it, forward In the same way their claim to my Agent, H. S. HAWKINS, of 'Tumut, ao aa to be received from him by me, for proof, by the time above named. THEO. POWELL, . Curator of Intestate Estates. 8th December, 1890. - (Ref- The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954) Tuesday 9 December 1890).