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| Goulburn Tourism Guide and Travel Deals |
New South Wales Tourism |
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Goulburn, population 21 300, 200 kilometres, 125 miles southwest of Sydney, is the largest city on the Southern Tablelands and also Australias first inland city in Gundungurra country. The town is marked by a giant replica merino sheep, which signifies the importance of the wool industry, or for Goulburn as the fine wool capital of the world. Nineteenth century buildings mix with the more modern and are a reminder of Goulburns pastoral heritage.
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In 1818 the exploratory party of Hamilton Hume and James Meehan crossed the Plains and named them after Henry Goulburn, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies.
The following year Governor Macquarie ordered the construction of the Great South Road from Picton to the Goulburn Plains. He travelled to the Plains in 1820 and noted the good water supply, timbered hills and general suitability of the area for grazing and crops.
Settlers soon followed. The Goulburn Plains were used for stock raising and wheat growing. Wheat production slowly faded out in the 1860s but Goulburn's reputation as a producer and exporter of fine merino wool had been established since the early 1830s.
A town plan was drawn up in 1828 but Governor Bourke thought it too flood-prone. The new site was gazetted in 1833 and the original site is now part of Goulburn North.
The Great South Road was re-routed in the 1830s and Goulburn was placed in its route for the first time, rendering Goulburn a major stopover and regional centre.
The first school and church opened in 1839 and the Goulburn Herald, one of Australia's first country newspapers, was established in 1848. It was later incorporated into the Goulburn Post, which is still published.
The settlement began to expand after 1850 due to a number of causes - the pastoral industry had expanded, gold was discovered at Braidwood and the railway was opened in 1869.
An obvious attraction is 'The Big Merino', a replica sheep 15 m high and 21 m long. It is the focal point of a complex, which displays the area's wool industry with sales of crafts and other produce made from wool.
James Barnet built the former two-storey police station in 1888. The town's second courthouse was built of stuccoed brick and stone in 1849. The town's third courthouse is far grander reflecting the town's importance in the late 19th century. It too was designed by James Barnet and features a copper dome, colonnaded facade and richly decorated interior. It is surrounded by attractive gardens and enclosed by an iron pike fence. The keystone over the central arch depicts Queen Victoria. To the rear is the old morgue.
Rocky Hill War Memorial, a stocky 20-m tower in Memorial Drive, was built by public donation in 1923 to honour locals who fought and died in World War I. It is floodlit at night by a rotating beacon and can be seen from any approach to the city. Rocky Hill itself is a good vantage point offering views over Goulburn.
| St Peter and St Pauls Catholic Cathedral | |
St Peter and St Paul's Roman Catholic Cathedral, a Gothic Revival structure was built of bluestone with sandstone tracery, slender moulded columns, a marble sanctuary and an 1890 organ. It was erected around the original 1843 church, which was then demolished and taken out through the doors.
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Goulburn New South Wales Australia, travel and tourism information provided by DISCOVER AUSTRALIA HOLIDAYS.
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