Home Rule
New South Wales
Home Rule Hotel, c.1872. From the Holtermann Collection
Home Rule is located in New South Wales
Home Rule
Home Rule
Coordinates32°26′04″S 149°36′51″E / 32.4344867°S 149.614146°E / -32.4344867; 149.614146
Population55 (SAL 2021)[1]
Postcode(s)2850[2]
Location

Home Rule is locality in the Central West region of New South Wales. Little remains of the 19th-century gold rush era village of the same name, which lies within the locality.

Photograph taken c.1872 of shops at Home Rule. From the Holtermann Collection.

History

The area now known as Home Rule lies on the traditional lands of Wiradjuri people.[3]

Prospectors worked progressively from Gulgong (gold discovered in 1870), through Canadian Lead (gold discovered in 1871), and found gold at Home Rule, in May 1872, in deep lead deposits.[4][5]

On 9 July 1872 The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser reported that:

"The scene at Home Rule is a busy one, and very few people can form an idea of it unless they go and see for themselves. A township is in rapid formation, and streets are being made close to the golden holes. One digger refused £500 for a share in a claim on the right spot. Everyone appears sanguine. The storekeepers and publicans look remarkably pleasant, as if they anticipated rich harvests, and even John Chinaman smiles graciously on meeting you. It would almost be an impossibility to give an account of the different claims, as they extend for miles; and until the dispute as to the frontage and block system is settled, many men will prefer to be idle."[6]

The mining village at Home Rule came into existence immediately after the discovery of gold there. Home Rule had about 3,000 inhabitants when, on 15 July 1872, Charles Bayliss took a series of photographs of businesses in the village, together with those owners, staff and customers who happened to be there at the time.[4] These glass plate negative photographs form a part of the Holtermann Collection.[4]

Around 1904, there was a revival of deep lead mining in the area.[7][8]

There was a public school there, from November 1874 until December 1957. It was first called Home Rule, until December 1874, Mobellah until May 1913, then Wyaldra, before reverting to its original name of Home Rule in December 1913.[9]

Remnants of the village

The names of three streets of the old mining village, Commercial Street, Stanley Street, and Britannia Road are still applied to modern-day roads. The portion of Commercial Street that runs east-to-west corresponds to the old main street of the mining village. Britannia Road running north-to-south corresponds to the original street, where the old school building survives.[10][11]

There is a water-filled mining pit lying to the east of the eastern end of Commercial Street.[10][11]

References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Home Rule (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. 
  2. ↑ "Home Rule in Google Map". Google Map. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  3. ↑ Studies, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (28 July 2023). "Map of Indigenous Australia". aiatsis.gov.au. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 "Home Rule! (Not a call to arms)". State Library of NSW. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  5. ↑ "The Mining Record". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 6 July 1872. p. 19. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  6. ↑ "THE MUDGEE GOLD FIELDS". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. Vol. XXIX, no. 3768. New South Wales, Australia. 9 July 1872. p. 2 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "The Home Rule Gold Field". Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative. 6 July 1900. p. 12. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  8. ↑ "Gold Near Home Rule". Australian Town and Country Journal. 29 June 1904. p. 24. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  9. ↑ "Home Rule". nswgovschoolhistory.cese.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  10. 1 2 "Village of Home Rule and adjoining lands [cartographic material] : Parish - Wyaldra, County - Phillip, Land District - Mudgee, Shire - Cudgegong". Trove. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  11. 1 2 "Satellite View - Old village site at Home Rule · New South Wales 2850, Australia". Google Maps. Retrieved 5 September 2023.


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