Molong

Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Australian place Molong is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Cabonne Shire.

History

The name Molong comes from the Aboriginal word for 'all rocks'.<ref>Template:NSW GNR</ref>

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 Template:Convert east of the current location. The present village of Molong was officially gazetted in March 1849.<ref name=Gazette>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Molonghist1>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1845, Copper was discovered at Copper Hill, just north of the town.<ref name=Molonghist1/>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Heritage listings

Molong has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Main Western railway: Molong railway station<ref name=nswshr-1196>Template:Cite NSW SHR</ref>
• Template:Convert SE of Molong Yuranigh Road: Grave of Yuranigh<ref name=nswshr-1713>Template:Cite NSW SHR</ref>

Geography

Molong is located on the Mitchell Highway about Template:Convert west of Sydney and about Template:Convert from the city of Orange, and an elevation of 529 metres above sea level. At the Template:CensusAU, Molong had a population of 1,621 people.<ref>Template:Census 2021 AUS</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A branch railway to Dubbo was opened in 1925 and closed in 1987.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Climate

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 Template:Convert in town, with snow drifts in some areas reported to an exceptional depth of Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Weather box

Education

• Molong Central School
• St Joseph's Catholic Schools

External links

• Molong on the Orange Town & Around website