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Walcha ( ) is a town at the south-eastern edge of the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. The town serves as the seat of Walcha Shire. Walcha is located 425 kilometres by road from Sydney at the intersection of the Oxley Highway and Thunderbolts Way. The Apsley River passes through the town to tumble over the Apsley Falls before joining the Macleay River further on. Originally the river caused flooding in the town prior to a levee bank being constructed and saving the town from more floods. At the , Walcha had a population of 1,482 people.〔 The Main North railway line is located some distance away, at a separate village called Walcha Road which serves as the railhead. This is served by the daily NSW TrainLink Xplorer service between Sydney and Armidale. The railway line was built at Walcha Road, because it was the closest point they could get to the town, due to the steep climb over the Great Dividing Range. ==History== The area is thought to have been occupied by the Danggadi〔() Walcha's Early History〕 Aborigines prior to European settlement. In 1818, John Oxley became the first white person to discover the area and the falls which were later to be named Apsley Falls. Hamilton Collins Sempill was the first settler in the New England area when he took up the 'Wolka' run in 1832, establishing slab huts where 'Langford' now stands. Other early runs around the district were Bergen-op-Zoom (1834), Ohio (1836), Europambela (c.1836), Surveyor’s Creek (1836), Emu Creek (c.1837), Ingalba (1837), Orandumbie (1837), Tiara (1837) and Winterbourne (1837). A severe depression from 1841 to 1843, and low demand for wool created hardship for many of these early settlers. In 1848 Walcha run is recorded as being and in the lease of David Lanarch. During 1854 Walcha was sold to Rundle and Dangar who held the mortgage for Jamison and Connal.〔Donald, J.Kay, Exploring the North Coast and New England, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1978, ISBN 0-86417-121-8〕 Later John Fletcher acquired Walcha and moved from Branga Plains to Oorundumby. After being sold in 1905, Oorundumby was resumed for soldier settlement in 1947 and subdivided into 22 holdings. A ‘wool’ road to Port Macquarie (the Oxley Highway) was under construction in 1842 for the transportation of wool from New England to the coast. Walcha Post Office opened on 1 July 1850. The mail arrived from Macdonald River (now Bendemeer). Walcha was gazetted as a village site in 1852, when town allotments were sold, with annual sales following. At that time there was a blacksmith's shop, a general store and a flour mill. A Roman Catholic chapel was erected in 1854, a police station and the first Presbyterian church was built in 1857 and the Walcha National School in 1859. In 1861 the population was recorded at 355 and the Anglican church was built in 1862 of stone taken from the demolished homestead, 'Villa Walcha', erected on the Wolka run in the 1840s. The old church has fine stained-glass windows which bear tribute to some of the town's pioneers. The population dropped in the 1860s but the town soon began to grow for two reasons: firstly, red cedar getters were active in the area's rainforests by about 1870. Gold was discovered near Walcha in the 1870s at Glen Morrison, Tia, The Cells River and Nowendoc. Antimony, copper, graphite, manganese, silver and high quality slate was also mined in the district. On 5 April 1878 Walcha was proclaimed a town, when it was gazetted, the boundaries defined and a courthouse was built. A rail link to Sydney and Uralla opened at Walcha Road in 1882. The town became a municipality in 1889. On 19 March 1890 the Walcha Pastoral & Agricultural Association was formed. This annual show has excellent exhibits of livestock, produce, vegetables, flowers, wool and handicrafts. Walcha Cottage Hospital founded in 1890 and was situated on the southern hill in South Street. The Shire of Apsley was constituted by proclamation on 7 March 1906. It is in the counties of Vernon, Hawes, and Inglis and comprises about 60 parishes. The area is . The Shire of Walcha was constituted by the Union of the Municipality and the Shire of Apsley as from on 1 June 1955. Other district villages are: Niangala, Nowendoc and part of Woolbrook with settlements at Brackendale, Glen Morrison, Ingalba, Tia and Yarrowitch. History was made at Walcha in 1950 when a Tiger Moth was the first aircraft used to spread superphosphate by air in Australia. The ‘super’ was dropped on ''Mirani'' and other landholders soon followed suit to greatly increase the livestock carrying capacity of the district. In 1992 the Walcha Telecottage was established to become the first telecentre established in Australia. The Telecottage is a not for profit community with the latest information communication facilities, in order to activate interactions between the local communities and to create employment opportunities. This Telecottage carries out not only the fundamental types of work such as job training, remote education, secretarial service and data analysis, but also Internet access service for individuals and small companies. Walcha Telecottage produces a weekly community newsletter, the Apsley Advocate, which is free and delivered to over 1,600 commercial and private addresses.〔(Andrew Hunter ) Retrieved on 23 January 2009〕 During 2008 Walcha recorded one of the state's highest rises in property values at 20 per cent over the last 5 years, according to a report from Australian Property Monitors.〔Walcha News, Walcha Property Amongst the Best in NSW, 15 May 2008〕 The local buildings and objects of natural, indigenous and historic significance listed on the Register of the National Estate includes the following:〔(Australian Heritage Places ) Retrieved on 23 November 2008〕 * Apsley Gorge National Park (1977 boundary), Oxley Highway * Betts Farm, Irish Town, Thunderbolts Way * Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, now known as the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (Hastings-Macleay Group) * Europambela Homestead including outbuildings, grounds and Cemetery, Moona Plains Road * Langford Homestead, Garden and Cemetery, Nowendoc Road * Ohio Homestead, Ohio Road * Rowleys Creek Gulf Nature Reserve * St Andrews Anglican Church (former), South Street * St Andrews Rectory (former) including garden and trees, Fitzroy Street * St Pauls Presbyterian Church and Fletcher Memorial Hall, Hill Street * The Hole Creek Nature Reserve (1977 boundary), Winterbourne Road * Walcha Courthouse, Apsley Street 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Walcha, New South Wales」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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