Moulamein, New South Wales

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Moulamein New South Wales
The Tattersalls Hotel and General store at Moulamein
Population:	423 (2001 census)
Postcode:	2733
Elevation:	74 m
Location:	68 km from Swan Hill 105 km from Denilquin
LGA:	Council of the Shire of Wakool
State District:	Murray-Darling
Federal Division:	Farrer

Moulamein is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, in the Wakool Shire. In 2001 it had a population of 423. Moulamein is the oldest town in the Riverina.^[1]

The town is located between Balranald, Hay, Deniliquin and Swan Hill, at the junction of the the Edward River and Billabong Creek. The name Moulamein is derived from the Aboriginal word meaning "the meeting of the waters".^[2]

The climate of this area is semi-arid, and the area is rich in birdlife such as waterfowl, wedge-tailed Eagles and emus. This area also has quite a lot of kangaroos.

[edit] History

Further accounts of Moulamein’s history make unsourced statements such as: “settled as early as 1830 Moulamein is the oldest town in the Riverina”. However it seems unlikely the township was established as early as 1830 considering that this was about the time of Charles Sturt’s exploration along the Murrumbidgee River just to the north of this region.

In about 1842 Augustus Morris came to the Riverina seeking grazing land in association with the entrepreneur and speculator Benjamin Boyd. Morris took up pastoral runs on the Edward River and explored the country surrounding the site of present-day Moulamein.^[3] Morris was apparently the first European to describe the confluence of the Edward River and Billabong Creek as “The Moulamein”.

The old wharf at Moulamein on the Edward River. Riverboats carted wool and other products to and from Moulamein until the coming of the railway in 1923.

Existing records of the Moulamein Court of Petty Sessions begin in 1847.^[4] In June 1848 a contract was let for a court-house and lock-up to be built at Moulamein (to be finished within six weeks). A post-office was established there at about the same time and the Clerk of Petty Sessions at Moulamein, Cornelius de Witt Jebb, applied for the position of postmaster. Moulamein's court-house pre-dated the one at Albury, so prisoners were brought there to be tried from far-flung regions of the Riverina. Richard Edward Wright established the Moulamein Inn at the location in 1848 and was granted a license for the hotel in February 1849. In November 1849 approval was granted for Moulamein to be laid out as a township. It was surveyed by Thomas Townsend 1851 and its township status gazetted on 9 September that year. Moulamein's first court-house was demolished in 1860.^[5]

During the period 1864 to 1866 George Ashcroft held the license of the Traveller’s Rest Hotel at Moulamein.^[6]

In 1866 it was reported that Moulamein had a population of 100 persons. At that time the township had two hotels, a post-office and "some stores". A tender was accepted for a school to be built at Moulamein in June 1866.^[7]

[edit] References

^ Geographical Names Board of NSW
^ Geographical Names Board of NSW
^ Buxton, Gordon L., The Riverina 1861-1891: An Australian Regional Study, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1967.
^ Bench book, 2 August 1847 to 1 March 1895, CGS 3170, Courts of Petty Sessions (Moulamein), State Records of New South Wales.
^ 'The Western Riverina: A History of Its Development' by James Jervis (Royal Australian Historical Society Journal and Proceedings Vol. XXXVIII 1952), pp. 239-40.
^ Listing of hotel licensees, New South Wales Government Gazettes
^ The Western Riverina: A History of Its Development by James Jervis (Royal Australian Historical Society Journal and Proceedings Vol. XXXVIII 1952), pp. 240 (citing Pastoral Times, 23 June 1866).