Tuesday 2 May 2006

Ochre Arch History Part 3 – Developments & Events

In this article I briefly outline some of the events and developments which significantly impacted those living in the Pinnacle area:
1860’s Pinnacle was the site of a police Barracks in the hunt for bushrangers Gardiner, Omeally and Hall.
1880s Early in the decade there was an influx of settlers from Victoria and they took up all land available for selection on “Bogolong run” in what is known as the Piney Range area. The word ‘Bogolong’ means “bulldog-ant” in Aboriginal language.
1882 EHK Crawford commenced erecting the Pinnacle homestead (75,000 bricks!)
1888-9 4 reasonably local Hotels were in operation:
* Selectors Return Hotel at Piney Range - Elizabeth Butler proprietor
* Nags Head Hotel at Nags Head Bridge - William T Burrett proprietor
* Welcome Hotel at Wheoga - August Brenner proprietor
* Cricketers Hotel at Bogolong - John Bolton proprietor
1889 Part resumption of “Pinnacle run” (Refer OA History Part 2) – to the 4 Good brothers
1908-09 First telephone connection - to the new Grenfell exchange
1912 Pinnacle station, then 21,000 acres, was further ‘cut up and sold’ for Closer Settlement. Messrs Murray and Warren from South Australia bought the 6000 acre (approximately) homestead block at £6-10 per acre. The rest of the property was disposed of in smaller areas.
1916 5,811 acres of Pinnacle were resumed for Soldier Settlement, making it the first (along with Baerami and Manus estates) property ever resumed for this purpose. In October 1917 it was reported that 9 soldiers were successful in the ballot, with the larger homestead block of 1,267 acres going to Victor Crommelin.
1918 The Forbes-Stockinbingall rail line was officially opened in, giving settlers a closer outlet to rail at Garema and Wirrinya for their produce. The settlement had got underway properly - the first, and biggest of its kind in NSW. There were 6 gangs of fencers, four clearing gangs, and six tank sinkers working in the area in August 1918 and some new houses had been erected and bridges installed.
1919 By February the settlers had arranged for contractor Downey to build Pinnacle Hall - opened in March.
Link to Ochre Arch History Part 1
Link to Ochre Arch History Part 2
Link to Ochre Arch History Part 4
Link to Ochre Arch History Part 5
I invite / welcome comments on when the following took place:
* Connection of mains power – Today the charge per km of installing poles etc is around $35,000 per km.
* Local roads being made accessible in all weather
* Upgrade of telephones away from party lines

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