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The
Kattang Aboriginal people originally
occupied the Gloucester area. European
explorers arrived in the 1820s and
named it after the English countryside
it resembled.
A
sheep and dairy outstation was
established to export wool and
agricultural products to England. Most
of the town was built during the early
part of the 20th century, after the
railway line arrived in 1913.
Olive
Trees (Frontoio)
Gloucester,
known as the gateway to the Barrington
Tops, is a charming country town
nestled in a valley under a range of
impressive monolith hills called The
Bucketts. It is situated on the
Gloucester River 96 metres above
sea-level and is located 271 km
north-east of Sydney on the Bucketts
Way which heads northwards off the
Pacific Highway 18 km from Raymond
Terrace, passing through Stroud and, at
Gloucester, veering east to rejoin the
highway at Nabiac. To the east of town
is the Mograni Range and just to the
north of town, the Gloucester, Avon and
Barrington Rivers meet. Gloucester has
a population of around 2600. It is the
principal town of a cattle-raising,
dairying and mixed farming district.
Local industry includes, a coal mine,
an important cattle market and a
tourist industry based on the area's
fine natural attractions.
Prior
to European settlement, the area was
inhabited by the Kattang Aborigines.
The first European known to have passed
through the area was the explorer Henry
Dangar in 1826. Hot on his heels was
Robert Dawson, the first manager of the
Australian Agricultural Company (AAC)
which had been formed in England in
1824 with the object of raising fine
wool and agricultural products for
importation to England. The AAC had
been granted one million acres on the
northern side of Port Stephens and,
impressed by the 'romantic scenery' of
the river valley, Dawson established an
outstation which he named 'Gloucester'
after the English town as the landscape
reminded him of the terrain in
Gloucestershire. The Gloucester and
Avon valleys were soon full of AAC
sheep and a dairy was established on
the estate c.1831 for the supply of AAC
employees.
In
1851 churchman John Dunmore Lang
observed that 'Gloucester is one of the
best sites for an inland town, I have
ever seen in the colony. A range of
picturesque mountains, called by the
aborigines, the Buccans, of about 1200
feet in height, bounds the horizon to
the westward. Along the base of these
mountains, the River Gloucester wends
its way to the northward, leaving a
large extent of alluvial land on its
right bank, which the Company has
cleared and brought into cultivation;
the site of the buildings that form the
station, including a house of
accommodation for travellers, being on
a rising ground to the eastward of the
alluvial flats. It is altogether a
beautiful spot in the
wilderness'.
Drought
killed off many sheep in the early
1840s. The end of transportation in the
1840s and the goldrushes of the 1850s
caused labour shortages for the company
which imported Chinese hands. In
addition, the sheep flocks suffered as
Dawson had chosen inappropriate
terrain, attempts to grow grain proved
disappointing, the paddock fences were
in a parlous state and half the cattle
and horses were astray, lost or stolen.
By the 1870s the Gloucester estate was
overrun with brumbies and 1500 were
shot.
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In
the late 1850s the AAC sold or removed
all the sheep and reduced its
landholdings in the area. Attention
turned primarily to cattle with the
Gloucester estate proving home to a
large and excellent herd. Coal, iron
ore and limestone deposits were
discovered by the AAC but plans for
their exploitation never came to
fruition.
In
1856 Arthur Hodgson, the general
superintendent of the AAC, observed
that 'the town of Gloucester is laid
out with great judgment. The road from
New England passes through a part of
it. There is a house of accommodation
about one mile from the township'.
Although Gloucester was the head
station, the term 'town' is probably
misleading as there were few buildings.
In 1861 the only structures were a
slab-and-bark hut occupied by the
resident constable, a wooden hotel with
a shingle roof, an Anglican church
(built in 1860 at the expense of the
AAC) and a blacksmith's shed. Elsewhere
on the estate there were cattle yards,
which held up to 4000 head, an
overseer's house, and a brick residence
for the usage of the general manager
who moved to Gloucester from Stroud in
1860. A store and two houses were added
to Gloucester in the 1860s with another
two residences, a post office, an hotel
and a police station being added in the
1870s.
Black
Walnut Trees
In
the 1850s and 1860s there were still
many Aborigines in the area. They
camped and held corroborees on the
future townsite and helped the early
settlers at harvest time. Once each
year they gathered at Gloucester before
proceeding to Stroud where they were
issued with a blanket
apiece.
Notorious
bushranger, 'Captain Thunderbolt' (Fred
Ward) hid out at Gloucester Tops in the
mid-1860s. When the police discovered
his hideout in 1866 he escaped, though
his wife, his two children and another
woman were taken to Gloucester and on
to Maitland where the women were
released. The two children were sent to
a government institution.
Alluvial
gold was discovered to the west of
Gloucester, at present-day Copeland, in
1872, but it was kept secret until 1876
when a rush started. Subterranean
mining commenced in 1877 and, at the
height of the rush (1877-80), there
were some 3000 people in the area
working 51 reefs which yielded 566 kg
of gold. Half of that amount was
uncovered in 1879 alone.
In
1903 the AAC sold its property to the
Gloucester Estate Syndicate which
cleared the land, drew up the town
subdivision and sold allotments. In
1905 two hotels were built, a school of
arts was completed, the 'Gloucester
Advocate' went into print and
construction began of other businesses
and residences. At that time cattle and
timber were the focus of local industry
although dairying was on the rise. In
1906 the Barrington Butter factory
opened and the Gloucester Shire Council
held its first meeting. A Presbyterian
Church was built in 1907 and the
courthouse was erected in 1908. A
cordial factory operated from 1910-1918
and the railway arrived in 1913,
enhancing the town's role as a service
centre to the surrounding area and
precipitating a period of
development.
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