Scenic Drives & Rides

Excerpts from an article in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2004 on Coolah. 20 years later and things haven’t changed much!

“Coolah

Service town located on no major route and consequently dependent on the economic prosperity of the surrounding rural area.

Coolah is the principal town of the Coolah Shire. It is situated by the Coolaburragundy River, 89 km north-east of Mudgee and 352 km from Sydney. It functions as a service centre to the surrounding district which is given over to the production of wheat, cattle, mixed farming, timber, fat lambs and wool.

Prior to white settlement the area the Coolah valley was occupied by the Kamilaroi and Wiradjuri peoples. In 1823 explorer Allan Cunningham became the first known European in the district when he came across Pandora’s Pass, the route over the Warrumbungle Range on to the Liverpool Plains. The district was surveyed in 1832 and squatters soon followed, in search of fresh pastures.

The Black Stump Wine Saloon was established about 10 km north of Coolah at a junction where the road split, heading north-east to Gunnedah and north-west to Coonabarabran. The pub was apparently named after the nearby Black Stump Run and Black Stump Creek. As if to strengthen the claim it is said the Aboriginal name for the area means ‘place where the fire went out and left a black stump’. For these reasons locals argue that the Coolah area lies at the origin of the Australian saying ‘beyond the black stump’, meaning beyond the limits of civilisation, though it has other contenders .

The townsite of Coolah was first occupied in the 1840s. By 1848 there was a slab blacksmith’s and a slab hotel. Local sandstone was used to construct more substantial buildings in the 1870s.

The railway did not arrive until 1910. Before that time, travellers en route to Sydney had to journey by a horse-drawn vehicle to Mudgee, by Cobb & Co coach to Penrith and then by rail to the city.

Things to see:

Coolah Crafts
The craft shop has all manner of crafts and home-made condiments. It is open from 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. daily at 37 Binnia St.

McMaster Park
McMaster Park, at the corner of Binnia and Booyamurra Sts, has a pleasant garden and lawn area, a tourist guide map. barbecues, play facilities and an early 20th-century bullock wagon.

Coolah Tops National Park
NSW’s most recently declared national park, Coolah Tops, is situated on a plateau 30 km east of Coolah where the Liverpool Range, the Warrumbungle Range and the Great Dividing Range meet. Long occupied by the Kamilaroi Aborigines, who have left numerous traces of their presence, Allan Cunningham became the first known European in the area in 1823.

The park is essentially eucalypt forest atop basalt soils. Wildlife is abundant. One of the most prevalent species is the greater glider, a one-metre-long possum which can glide for up to 100 metres.

The Forest Road (unsealed) runs right through the park. It is not to be used by any vehicles in wet weather. At the park entrance is an information board. Another 3 km brings you to a 1-km side road on the right that leads to a carpark and picnic site from where there is a 1.5-km walking track which leads to the spectacular Norfolk Falls and on to the Bald Hill Creek Falls where there is a no-facilities bush camping area.

Continue a short distance along The Forest Rd to Pinnacle Rd which heads off to the left. You will soon come to a short track on the left that leads to Cox Creek Falls Camping Area. About another 700 m along Pinnacle Rd, to the right, is the park’s main campsite known as The Barracks where there is an information bay and toilet-barbecue-picnic facilities. Another 3 km along Pinnacle Rd a short side road on the left leads to a carpark from whence there is a short walk to Rocky Creek Falls where there are day facilities and some fine lookout points along the escarpment where Rocky Creek tumbles over the cliff.

As you continue north along Pinnacle Rd you will pass, on the right-hand side of the road, the signposted departure points for the Racecourse Walking Track (6 km) and, about another kilometre north, the Bundella Walking Track (7 km). The latter leads past a lookout area. The two eventually join.

At the end of Pinnacle Rd there is a short walking track to the Pinnacle Lookout, a steep basalt outcrop with fine views to the north and west to the Warrumbungles. A rough walking track heads south from the lookout to the basalt caves (the largest being 70-m deep).

The park has a stand of the largest known snow gums in existence. They can be found on the right-hand side of The Forest Rd as you head east, about 22 km from Pinnacle Rd. A walk through the stand is being organised and will soon be signposted from The Forest Rd.

About 24 km east of Pinnacle Rd, on the left-hand side of The Forest Rd, is Breeza Lookout which proffers extensive views out over the Liverpool Plains. There is a small picnic area and an information bay. If you are fit there is a short but steep track from here to Shepherds Peak protruding from the northern escarpment.

At the end of The Forest Rd, Jemmys Creek Trail (4WD only) heads south where it joins the Merriwa-Cassilis Rd.

To get there head out of town on the road to Cassilis. After 2 km turn left on to the Coolah Creek Rd. After about 19 km there is a turnoff on the right to Coolah Tops National Park .

Cunningham Memorial and Pandora’s Pass
If you ignore the turnoff to the national park and stick to the left it will take you, after 3 km, to a lovely picnic site on the northern side of Coolah Creek where you will find the Allan Cunningham Memorial.

In 1823 Cunningham became the first known European in the district when he followed this route to Pandora’s Pass which took him over the Warrumbungle Range where he gazed down upon the Liverpool Plains. The grazing potential of the plains did not go unnoticed by the explorer and they quickly attracted squatters in search of pastures.

If you continue north for 4 km it leads to Pandora’s Pass (815 m above sea-level). There are excellent views back over the Coolah Valley and north over the Liverpool Plains.

The Black Stump Rest Area
There are several towns in Australia which lay some claim to being at the origin of the saying ‘beyond the black stump’, meaning beyond the limits of civilisation. The Black Stump Wine Saloon was established about 10 km north of Coolah at a junction where the road split, heading north-east to Gunnedah and north-west to Coonabarabran. The pub was apparently named after the nearby Black Stump Run and Black Stump Creek. As if to strengthen the claim it is said the Aboriginal name for the area means ‘place where the fire went out and left a black stump’.

A rest area has been established by the road at the approximate site of the old saloon. There is, of course, a black stump to mark the spot.

King Togee’s Grave

For those with a keen interest in Aboriginal history, the grave of King Togee is to be found 29 km west of Coolah on the left-hand side of the Neilrex Rd, just past the ‘Langdon’ homestead. There is little to see other than a weather-worn sandstone headstone surrounded by four white posts with a sign overhead reading: ‘TOGEE KING OF THE BUTHEROE TRIBE’. King Togee was friendly with the early settlers but was speared to death by a young man named Cuttabush who later became the king of a Coonabarabran sub-tribe.

Fossicking for Fossils
To access the Narangerie Leaf Fossil Bed head south-west on the Dunedoo Rd for 18 km then turn right on to the Narangerie Rd. The soft white rock of the roadside gravel pit is 3 km along this road to the right.

Fishing
Rainbow trout can be found in the upper reaches of the Coolaburragundy River during the trout season (first October weekend to Easter). Yellowbelly, carp and catfish are caught in the lower reaches.”

Original article at https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/coolah-20040208-gdkq0c.html

Category: Scenic Drives & Rides

Coolah Tops Lava Tube

Coolah of 2004

Things to see:

A visitor’s impression of Coolah