Travel to Singleton in Australia. Singleton population is 21.000. Is a town in the Hunter Valley region of the Australian state of New South Wales. Major industries include coal mining, power generation, dairy farming, and viticulture. The Singleton area is rich in both aboriginal and white history. The fledgling colony of NSW discovered the area around 1820 and it was originally named St Patricks Plains. The Singleton Information Centre should be your first port of call. Singleton is a one and a quarter hour drive from Newcastle on the New England Highway. Singleton is almost exactly 200km North of Sydney by road via the F3 freeway and link roads through Cessnock & Branxton. Brisbane is about under 900km to the North via the New England Highway.The Putty Road, a picturesque route through Wollemi National Park, connects Singleton to Sydney’s western suburbs.A little further off the beaten track is the Wollombi Road which follows sections of the original Great North Road into the region, now also know as the Convict Trail , this links to Sydney and the Central Coast via areas such as Peats Ridge, St Albans and Wiseman’s Ferry. Parts of the route are unsealed.* Prior to the arrival of Europeans the area around Singleton was occupied by the Wanaruah people.
* An expedition to find a route to the Hunter Valley as led by William Parr in 1817.
* In 1818 Benjamin Singleton, who had been on Parr’s expedition, led a private expedition to the area.
* A third expedition by John Howe in 1819 headed north from Windsor to the land west of Singleton.
* John Howe returned in 1820 to explore the Hunter River and continued east along the river to a site just east of present-day Singleton. It being nearly St Patrick’s Day Howe named the area St Patrick’s Plains and it subsequently became known as Patrick’s Plains.
* Benjamin Singleton occupied land in the district by 1821 and was appointed district constable in 1823.
* In 1822 Mary Singleton became the first white woman in the district when she joined her husband.
* In 1823 John Singleton was born, becoming the first white child in the area.
* By 1823 Benjamin Singleton started an agistment enterprise on the banks of the river at what became known as Singleton’s Ford (where the New England Highway now crosses the Hunter).
* The area was officially opened up for settlement in 1823 and large pastoral estates, aristocratic in tone, were granted to men of substantial capital who utilised convict labour to improve their properties.
* When Singleton established the Barley Mow Inn on the Hunter River in 1827 a settlement began to emerge.
* By 1829 Singleton had established a flour mill and developed a post office at the Barley Mow.
* The first church to be built in the town was Presbyterian. It was consecrated in 1838.
* The Anglican and Catholic churches were erected in the 1840s.
* By 1841, when Singleton built the first courthouse, there were 431 recorded residents in the township and 2,659 in the police district of Patrick’s Plains. The Post Office was renamed Singleton.
* By 1853 there were ten licensed inns.
* By 1860 the first mine opened at Rix Creek, 5 km north of the town.
* When the railway arrived in 1863 Singleton’s economy boomed. It became the main commercial centre in the Hunter Valley.
* The railway station was built in 1863.
* A dual carriage railway and road traffic bridge was built in 1866.
* In 1866 Singleton was incorporated as a municipality.
* The first Singleton Agricultural Show was held in 1868. That year saw the construction of the local Court House.
* The town’s first official post office was built in 1878.
* By 1881 the town’s streets were lit by gas.
* By the late 19th century there were 16 mines operating in the district.
* The Singleton army camp was established in 1941.
* The Liddell Power Station started operation in 1965.
* Singleton was declared a shire in 1976.
* By 1996 coal mining operations in the shire employed 4000 people and produced 46 million tonnes of coal.
Airport: SIX Singleton Airport Cities in Australia
Country: Australia
Comment (0)