Around 90 people attended the Canowindra Historical Society’s “History in the Club” at the Canowindra Services Club last Thursday, to support local author Mim Loomes’ launch of her revised and enlarged book “Nyrang Creek Revisited : A glimpse at the past”. The book takes a look back in the past to what used to be a thriving town at Nyrang Creek, which was settled in 1862 during the gold rush years when the towns of Forbes and Eugowra began to thrive.
The launch followed a bus tour earlier in the day throughout the Nyrang Creek area, where Mim pointed out the sites of the earlier settlement that Nyrang Creek once was, such as the cemetery, church, community hall, school, tavern, sawmill, railway station, and the many owners over the years of properties in the area.
It was a surprise to many to learn how extensive the Nyrang Creek settlement area was – as far as Nanami Lane to the west, Fish Fossil Drive to the south, Long’s Corner Road to the north, and the current waste and recycling centre in the east. Nyrang Creek developed as a settlement 10 km from Canowindra on the road surveyed from Eugowra in 1862 after Forbes came into being in the gold rush days. The creek there made it a logical stopping place in the horse era, for coaches and teamsters, while the fertile lands, ideal for farming, were attractive to free settlers.
Nyrang Creek claims a few firsts in the growing of lucerne, prairie grass, and wine grapes, by its enterprising settlers. “Nyrang Creek Revisited” is available at Virginia Cullane Books, The Age of Fishes Museum, and the Historical Museum. It is an excellent read for anyone looking for
a carefully researched book on pioneer families of the area, and wonderful insights into family life, social customs, and farming practices of a bygone era.