Editing Cobar (section)

==History==
===Indigenous origins===

The Cobar area is part of the traditional territory of the Wongaibon people (within the [[Ngiyampaa language]] group associated with the arid plains and rocky hill country of the Central West area of NSW bordered by the Lachlan, Darling-Barwon and Bogan rivers). The name ‘Cobar’ is derived from a Ngiyampaa word – variously transcribed as ''kubbur'', ''kuparr'', ''gubarr'' or ''cuburra'' – for a water-hole and quarry where pigments of ochre, kaolin and blue and green copper minerals were mined for [[corroboree|ceremonial]] use.<ref name="CFF">{{cite web|url= http://www.celticcouncil.org.au/cornish/nsw/Towns%20A-C/COBGIL/kubbur.htm |title= Cobar Founding Fathers: Excepts from the book of this title by William Clelland |website= Celtic Council of Australia |publisher= CCA Inc. |access-date=2 April 2021 }}</ref><ref name="impact">{{cite report |author=EMM Sydney (for Peak Gold Mines Pty Ltd) |date=December 2020 |title= New Cobar Complex Project State Significant Development (SSD-10419): Statement of Heritage Impact |publisher=EMM Consulting Pty Ltd|id=J190278 RP13 |url= https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-10419%2120210212T073544.189%20GMT |access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref> Other sources claim the Aboriginal word means ‘red earth’ or ‘burnt earth’ (the ochre used for ceremonial body paint).<ref>{{cite book |last=Donaldson |first=Tamsin |chapter=Ngiyampaa |title=Macquarie Aboriginal Words |location=Sydney |publisher=Macquarie Library |page=38}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Reed |first= A.W |title=Aboriginal Place Names |location=Sydney 1967 |publisher=Reed New Holland |page=26}}</ref>

The [[Mount Grenfell]] Historic Site located north-west of Cobar is an important traditional meeting place with ceremonial significance.  Extensive [[Australian Aboriginal art|rock art]] at the site contains ochre and kaolin paintings of human and animal figures as well as [[hand stencils]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/mount-grenfell-historic-site/learn-more |title= Learn more about why this park is special |website= Mount Grenfell Historic Site |publisher= NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service |access-date=2 April 2021 }}</ref>

===Pastoralism===
To the pastoralists who had taken up runs along the Darling River during the 1850s the Cobar area was a waterless region between rivers. As pastoral stations became more established, tanks and wells were constructed to allow stock to be grazed in areas away from permanent watercourses (known as ‘back stations).  By the mid-1860s back stations such as ‘Booroomugga’ and ‘Buckwaroon’ had been established in the Cobar locality (within the Warrego Pastoral District).<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/225253193/12590297 Accepted Tenders for Runs], ''New South Wales Government Gazette'', 27 October 1865 (Issue No. 229), page 229.</ref>

[[Image:Cobar mining.jpg|thumb|left|New Cobar Open Cut Mine]]

===Copper ore===

In September 1870 three contract well-sinkers, Charles Campbell, Thomas Hartman and George Gibb, were traveling south from Bourke to the Lachlan River. They had engaged two Aboriginal men, Frank and Boney, to guide them via the permanent watering places in the dry country between the rivers. Along the way they camped beside the Kubbur waterhole. The men noted the green and blue staining at the waterhole and collected some rock samples.  On their journey further south the well-sinkers stopped at a shanty operated by Henry Kruge (near to the future site of [[Gilgunnia]]). Kruge’s wife, Sidwell, was from Cornwall and her family had emigrated to South Australia in the late-1840s and mined copper ore at Burra. She was able to identify the rock as containing copper. Sidwell Kruge's assessment was confirmed when her husband smelted some of the ore samples in his blacksmith's forge. The three men then returned to Bourke, intending to secure the ground around the Kubbur waterhole.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burgess |first=Neville |date=2006 |title=The Great Cobar |publisher= The Great Cobar Heritage Centre|location=Cobar |isbn=0646457969}}</ref><ref name="CFF"/> 
[[File:Great Cobar Copper Mining Syndicate's Refinery, Lithgow.jpg|thumb|Great Cobar Copper Mining Syndicate's Refinery, Lithgow]]
In partnership with Bourke businessman Joseph Becker, Campbell, Hartman and Gibb took up a mineral conditional purchase of 40 acres at the locality. Shortly afterwards the [[Great Cobar mine#Cobar Copper Mining Company (1871-1875)|Cobar Copper Mining Company]] was formed, and the lease of the mine was transferred to the company.<ref name="impact"/><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70615038 The Late Mr. Joseph Becker], ''Australian Town and Country Journal'' (Sydney), 27 April 1878, page 13.</ref> In May 1871 it was reported that there had been “a call for tenders for drawing in copper ore from Cobar”.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18754313 Bourke], ''Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser'', 25 May 1871, page 3.</ref> In July 1871 a meeting was held in Bourke “of gentlemen interested in the Cobar copper mine” and shares were “eagerly bought at £15 per share”.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18755609 Bourke], ''Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser'', 13 July 1871, page 4.</ref> By the following November it was reported that “the affairs of the Cobar Copper Mine Company are in a flourishing condition, shares having rushed up from £15 to £70 and £80 per share”.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245695545 Notes from Fort Bourke], ''The Herald'' (Melbourne), 30 November 1871, page 3.</ref>

In December 1871 a correspondent visited “the new Cobar copper mine” in company with Captain Lean, the newly-appointed mining manager. The mine had been in operation for the previous four months. It was situated “on a Pine ridge, and throughout the whole length of the ridge (about half-a-mile) indications of ore are apparent”. The ore was varied, “consisting of blue and red carbonate, red and black oxide, and is of very high quality”. The writer was of the opinion the Cobar mine “promises to be one of the richest copper mines Australia has yet produced”.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28415354 New Copper Mine], ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 13 December 1871, page 6.</ref>

The South Cobar Mining Company built a furnace at Cobar and in May 1875 commenced smelting operations. Soon afterwards two additional furnaces and a refinery were built.  In December 1875 the Cobar Copper Mining Company amalgamated with the South Cobar Mining Company to form the [[Great Cobar mine#Great Cobar Copper-Mining Company (1876 - 1889)|Great Cobar Copper Mining Company Ltd]].<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/43002311 Mining Intelligence], ''South Australian Register'' (Adelaide), 18 May 1876, page 7.</ref> It and subsequent companies operated a number of light railways<ref>Shoebridge, J.W. ''The Railways of The Great Cobar'', [[Australian Railway History|Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin]], September 1969 pp. 189-218</ref> carrying ore and similar material, as well as timber for mine supports. Cobar and many mining outskirts accommodated the miners who travelled to the area in the late 1880s. The overwhelming majority of these were of [[Cornish Australian]] stock at the time.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgoFxfSTfYAC&q=australia+first+fleet+cornwall&pg=PA227|title=The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, Its People and Their Origins|first1=James|last1=Jupp|first2=Director Centre for Immigration and Multicultural Studies James|last2=Jupp|date=1 October 2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521807890|access-date=15 September 2018|via=Google Books|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028123143/https://books.google.com/books?id=wgoFxfSTfYAC&pg=PA227&lpg=PA227&dq=australia+first+fleet+cornwall&source=bl&ots=pQ8ZsDZmGb&sig=TfiFNvZO2PtZBgpAQUgjeTEuoqw&hl=en&ei=-YAHTYaRHsKYhQfXyLnuBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=australia+first+fleet+cornwall&f=false|archive-date=28 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Gold ===
Although Cobar is best known as a copper mining area, it has also been a significant goldfield. The first significant gold producing mine at Cobar was the Chesney Mine. The [[Wrightville|New Occidental Mine]] is regarded as having been the most productive gold mine in New South Wales. Gold was also produced by refining the copper smelted from copper ores, this was first done in the [[Great Cobar mine#Electrolytic refining at Lithgow|Great Cobar electrolytic copper refinery]] at [[Lithgow, New South Wales|Lithgow]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=February 2007|title=PRIMEFACT (No. 555) - Cobar's mining history|url=http://www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/109192/cobars-mining-history.pdf|url-status=live|publisher=N.S.W. Department of Primary Industry|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140623081920/http://www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/109192/cobars-mining-history.pdf |archive-date=23 June 2014 }}</ref>

===Cobar township===

In March 1881 the settlement at Cobar was described as “large and scattered, as mining towns generally are, composed chiefly of huts and cottages, which lie about in all directions and cover an extensive area of ground”. The population was estimated to number 2,500 consisting “principally of miners and their families”.  The township was “divided into three portions”, described as “the Government Township, the Private Township (or that upon the land taken up by or belonging to the company working the mine), and Cornish Town”, with “the mine and its appurtenances in the centre”. Most of the houses, places of business and public buildings were located in the Private Township.  In the surveyed Government Township there were “very few houses indeed”.  Cornish Town was described as “pretty thickly populated”.  The “want of water” was described as “the great drawback to the comfort of the inhabitants of Cobar” and on a number of occasions “the people have been upon the verge of a water famine”. Government-constructed tanks relying on rainfall was the principal means of household supply and the watering of stock, supplemented by “small tanks sunk in the ground” beside many of the houses.<ref name="Industries">[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13485295 The Industries of the Colony: XXXII. – Cobar and Its Copper Mine], ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 10 March 1881, page 7.</ref>

A description of Cobar published in April 1888 noted that “the houses generally are substantially built; many of them being of brick”, with a number of “weather-board and iron buildings and some adobe or clay houses” scattered throughout the town. The courthouse was described as “a handsome brick structure in Barton-street” with a gaol next to it.  The township had nine hotels, “the principal ones being the Cobar and the Commercial”, and two banks, “the Commercial and the Joint Stock”. The writer was of the opinion that “Cobar owes its existence as a town largely to the Great Cobar Copper Mine, although the pastoral properties have also contributed in a great measure to make it a fairly prosperous inland settlement”.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71096861/5096392 In the Cobar District], ''Australian Town and Country Journal'', 28 April 1888, page 30.</ref>

Several fine heritage buildings from the late 1880s/early 1900s settlement are still in existence, including the Great Western Hotel (1898), claimed  to have the longest verandah (at 91 metres) in [[New South Wales]],<ref>{{Cite NSW HD|1350061|Great Western Hotel|access-date=14 April 2019}}</ref> the [[Cobar Post Office]] (1885), the Cobar Court House (1887) and Court House Hotel (1895) in Barton Street, as well as the Cobar Heritage and Visitor Information Centre, located in the former Mines Office (1910). On Hillston Road southeast out of town is Fort Bourke Hill, which affords a view of the town, as well as the historic Towser's Huts, a series of stone miners' cottages dating back as early as the 1890s, possibly even the 1870s, and built by an Italian miner by the name of Antonio Tozzi.

At its peak, Cobar had a population of 10,000. It also became the regional centre for nearby mining villages, such as [[Elouera, New South Wales|Elouera]], [[Illewong]], [[Wrightville]], [[Dapville, New South Wales|Dapville]], and The Peak, and some further away such as [[Canbelego]], [[Mount Drysdale, New South Wales|Mount Drysdale]], [[Nymagee]] and [[Shuttleton, New South Wales|Shuttleton]]. However, mining operations in the area had virtually ceased by the early 1920s. In March 1919, the vast [[Great Cobar mine]], Cobar's main employer, closed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1919-03-19 |title=COBAR THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION. |pages=17 |work=[[The Sydney Mail|Sydney Mail]] |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article159656796 |access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref> The Chesney Mine had used the Great Cobar's smelters, and it too closed in March 1919.<ref name=":27">{{Cite journal |last=McKillop |first=Bob |date=October 2004 |title=Mining Railways of Cobar - 7. Other Mines, 1871-1922 |url=http://media.lrrsa.org.au/code179/Light_Railways_179.pdf |journal=Light Railways |publisher=Light Railway Research Society of Australia Inc. |issue=179 |pages=4, 5, 6}}</ref> Then came the unexpected closure, due to an underground fire, of the C.S.A. Mine, located to the north of the Cobar township, at Elouera, in March 1920.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1920-07-16 |title=FIRE IN C.S.A. MINE. |pages=9 |work=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15898051 |access-date=2023-01-16}}</ref> The Gladstone Mine, at Wrightville closed, around May 1920, because it was reliant upon the copper smelters at the [[CSA Mine]], which closed at that time.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1920-04-22 |title=N.S.W. MINING NEWS. |pages=20 |work=[[The Australian Worker|Australian Worker]] |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146174775 |access-date=2023-01-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1920-08-27 |title=Mining News. |pages=2 |work=Western Age |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136903134 |access-date=2023-01-17}}</ref> The Occidental gold mine, at Wrightville, closed in July 1921.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1921-07-29 |title=The Occidental Gold Mine. |pages=3 |work=Western Age |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137166648 |access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1921-08-18 |title=NEW SOUTH WALES MINING NEWS. |pages=14 |work=[[The Australian Worker|Australian Worker]] |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145774553 |access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1921-09-05 |title=OCCIDENTAL CONSOLIDATED, N.L. |pages=11 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15961536 |access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref> Last, in September 1921, hard rock mining ceased at the [[Mount Boppy Gold Mine]], further away at Canbelego,<ref name=":21">{{Cite news |date=1921-09-06 |title=TOWNSHIP DOOMED |work=[[Daily Telegraph (Sydney)]] |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article239703553 |access-date=2023-08-31}}</ref> and the remaining surface operations closed during 1922. In less than four years, all the major mines in the Cobar region had closed. The town was saved by the reopening of the old Occidental gold mine, in 1933, thereafter known as the [[Wrightville#Revival, terminal decline, and disappearance (1933-1970)|New Occidental mine]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=1935-08-08 |title=COBAR GOLD MINE REOPENED |pages=15 |work=[[Courier-Mail]] |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36768989 |access-date=2023-01-23}}</ref> and the Chesney Mine in 1937.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1937-05-18 |title=New Occidental's Chesney Mine |pages=4 |work=[[The Sun (Sydney)|Sun]] |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229410110 |access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref> These mines both closed in 1952.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1952-10-13 |title=NEW OCCIDENTAL MINE AT COBAR TO CLOSE |pages=1 |work=[[Barrier Daily Truth]] |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141446347 |access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1953-09-29 |title=New Occidental Loss |pages=7 |work=[[Kalgoorlie Miner]]|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article256941677 |access-date=2023-01-04}}</ref>

By the 1930s the town's population had dropped to little over 1,000, only to rise again and stabilise at around 3,500 through the 1970s and early 1980s. Copper mining was intermittent until 1965 when full-time operations resumed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csamine.com.au/about-us/|title=About Us - CSA|website=www.csamine.com.au|access-date=15 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330055024/http://www.csamine.com.au/about-us/|archive-date=30 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1980s, [[gold]], [[silver]], [[lead]] and [[zinc]] were discovered in the area, which led to a further population increase. The town's current positive economic development is due to the affluence of the mining boom. Three important mining belts are operational in the Cobar area: the Cobar belt, the [[Canbelego]] belt and the [[Girilambone]] belt. Visits to mine sites may be arranged through the Cobar Heritage and Visitor Information Centre overlooking the [[open-pit mining|open cut mine]]. The ''Festival of the Miners' Ghost'', held during the last weekend in October, is a festival celebrating the spirits of the old miners.

The area of Cobar also includes the now empty sites of the former villages of [[Wrightville|Wrightville and Dapville]],<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=Map of the village of Dapville [cartographic material] : Parish of Cobar, County of Robinson, the Land District of Cobar, NSW 1902 |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-233311138 |access-date=2023-01-09 |website=Trove |language=en}}</ref> and the informal settlement of Cornish Town.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Appendix L - New Cobar Complex Project State Significant Development (SSD-10419) |url=https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-10419%2120210212T073544.189%20GMT |pages=27, 28, 29}}</ref> Further away, but at locations now within the area of Cobar, are the empty sites of two other former mining settlements, [[Illewong]] and Elouera.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=R.S |date=1908 |title=Map of the town of Elouera : Parish of Kaloogleguy, County of Robinson, Land District of Cobar, Western Division N.S.W. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34791705 |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=trove.nla.gov.au |publisher=Department of Lands, Sydney, N.S.W.}}</ref> There was also a village site at The Peak, proclaimed in 1897.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1897-01-09 |title=Government Gazette Proclamations and Legislation |pages=127 |work=New South Wales Government Gazette |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224338015 |access-date=2023-01-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1971-07-30 |title=CANCELLATION OF THE DESIGN OF THE VILLAGE OF THE PEAK, PARISH OF COBAR, COUNTY OF ROBINSON, SHIRE OF COBAR |pages=2826 |work=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article220133597 |access-date=2023-01-19}}</ref>