Molong
| Molong New South Wales | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The main shopping area of Molong, Bank Street | |||||||||
  Molong | |||||||||
| Coordinates | 33°06′0″S 148°51′0″E / 33.10000°S 148.85000°E | ||||||||
| Population | 1,621 (UCL 2021)[1] | ||||||||
| Established | 1849[citation needed] | ||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 2866 | ||||||||
| Elevation | 565 m (1,854 ft) | ||||||||
| Location |
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| LGA(s) | Cabonne Shire Council | ||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Orange | ||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Calare | ||||||||
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Molong is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Cabonne Shire.
History
[edit]The name Molong comes from the Aboriginal word for 'all rocks'.[2]
William Lee of Kelso is said to have had cattle in the area by 1819. He later held property just north of present Molong, around Larras Lee. In 1826, a military and police outpost was established at Molong, on Governor Darling's orders, as a step in opening up the government stock reserve west of the Macquarie River for settlement. For its first twenty years the settlement was at a site approximately 1.5 km (0.93 mi) east of the current location. The present village of Molong was officially gazetted in March 1849.[3][4] In 1845, Copper was discovered at Copper Hill, just north of the town.[4]
The Historical Museum is housed in a former hotel (1856), built by rubble-mason James Mortal, who sold it in 1861 to John Smith of Gamboola. Smith let the building to a series of publicans and it later became the residence and surgery for a series of doctors. The Historical Society acquired it for use as a museum, in 1969, with help from the Molong Shire Council.
In November 2022 many of the town's buildings were damaged in a flood.[5]
Heritage listings
[edit]Molong has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
- Main Western railway: Molong railway station[6]
- 3 km (1.9 mi) SE of Molong Yuranigh Road: Grave of Yuranigh[7]
Geography
[edit]Molong is located on the Mitchell Highway about 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Sydney and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the city of Orange, and an elevation of 529 metres above sea level. At the 2021 census, Molong had a population of 1,621 people.[8] Charles Sturt visited Molong in 1828. Molong was the site of an early copper mine in Australia, located at Copper Hill just outside Molong.
The railway from Sydney reached Molong in 1886; it was later extended to Parkes.[9] A branch railway to Dubbo was opened in 1925 and closed in 1987.[10]
Climate
[edit]Despite Molong's elevation, it still manages to have a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) due to its northern latitude, having warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters with the odd snowfall. While mean temperatures have been recorded since 1907 at the site, extreme temperature records are found only between 1957 and 1975.
Perhaps the most extreme weather event to have affected Molong since European settlement was the snowfall on 5 July 1900, having fallen to a depth of 1 ft 3 in (38 cm) in town, with snow drifts in some areas reported to an exceptional depth of 11 ft (3.4 m).[11][12]
| Climate data for Molong (Hill St, 1907–1975, rainfall 1884–2022); 565 m AMSL; 33.09° S, 148.86° E | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 42.3 (108.1) |
40.0 (104.0) |
37.8 (100.0) |
32.8 (91.0) |
27.2 (81.0) |
23.3 (73.9) |
21.7 (71.1) |
25.7 (78.3) |
32.8 (91.0) |
33.9 (93.0) |
37.8 (100.0) |
40.3 (104.5) |
42.3 (108.1) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 31.0 (87.8) |
30.1 (86.2) |
27.5 (81.5) |
22.5 (72.5) |
17.4 (63.3) |
14.0 (57.2) |
12.9 (55.2) |
14.7 (58.5) |
18.6 (65.5) |
22.6 (72.7) |
26.4 (79.5) |
29.5 (85.1) |
22.3 (72.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 13.3 (55.9) |
13.2 (55.8) |
10.3 (50.5) |
6.0 (42.8) |
2.8 (37.0) |
0.9 (33.6) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
0.6 (33.1) |
2.4 (36.3) |
5.4 (41.7) |
8.4 (47.1) |
11.4 (52.5) |
6.2 (43.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 3.4 (38.1) |
2.2 (36.0) |
0.6 (33.1) |
−2.9 (26.8) |
−6.7 (19.9) |
−7.8 (18.0) |
−8.8 (16.2) |
−7.2 (19.0) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
1.7 (35.1) |
−8.8 (16.2) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 69.8 (2.75) |
57.0 (2.24) |
58.2 (2.29) |
51.4 (2.02) |
52.3 (2.06) |
59.9 (2.36) |
59.4 (2.34) |
61.5 (2.42) |
54.0 (2.13) |
58.4 (2.30) |
60.6 (2.39) |
64.1 (2.52) |
707.7 (27.86) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 6.6 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 5.4 | 7.3 | 9.6 | 10.4 | 9.5 | 8.2 | 7.9 | 6.8 | 6.5 | 89.6 |
| Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology[13] | |||||||||||||
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 1,503 | — |
| 1933 | 1,531 | +1.9% |
| 1947 | 1,662 | +8.6% |
| 1954 | 1,791 | +7.8% |
| 1961 | 1,655 | −7.6% |
| 1966 | 1,430 | −13.6% |
| 1971 | 1,383 | −3.3% |
| 1976 | 1,504 | +8.7% |
| 1981 | 1,374 | −8.6% |
| 1986 | 1,400 | +1.9% |
| 1991 | 1,563 | +11.6% |
| 1996 | 1,604 | +2.6% |
| 2001 | 1,560 | −2.7% |
| 2006 | 1,569 | +0.6% |
| 2011 | 1,629 | +3.8% |
| 2016 | 1,674 | +2.8% |
| 2021 | 1,621 | −3.2% |
| Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics data.[14][15] | ||
Education
[edit]- Molong Central School
- St Joseph's Catholic Schools
References
[edit]- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Molong (urban centre and locality)". Australian Census 2021.
- ^ "Molong". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
- ^ "MOLONG". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 44. New South Wales, Australia. 30 March 1849. p. 558. Retrieved 30 April 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b "Molong - Gold Trails". Gold Trails Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ Rachwani, Mostafa; Connick, Fleur (14 November 2022). "'Like an ocean': Molong devastated by deluge with more NSW towns hit with fresh flooding". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
- ^ "Molong Railway Station and yard group". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H01196. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
- ^ "Grave of Yuranigh". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H01713. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Molong (urban centre and locality)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
- ^ "Broken Hill Line". www.nswrail.net. Retrieved 20 January 2007.
- ^ "Molong - Dubbo Line". www.nswrail.net. Retrieved 20 January 2007.
- ^ "5 July 1900 Snowstorm" (PDF).
- ^ "Snow in Parkes Shire". 16 June 2017.
- ^ "Molong (Hill Street)". Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
- ^ "Statistics by Catalogue Number". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
- ^ "Search Census data". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Molong at Wikimedia Commons
- Molong on the Orange Town & Around website
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