Historical Australian Towns: Hay, NSW: The Great Stock Crossing on The Murrumbidgee

Located on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, in the western Riverina region lays the town of Hay, NSW approximately midway between Sydney and Adelaide.

Hay township originally developed as a coach stop called Lang's Crossing-place. Today Hay is the administrative centre for the surrounding agricultural district.

Wiradjuri and the Nari Nari People

The Nari-Nari people of the Lower Murrumbidgee, and the Wiradjuri people, inhabited large areas of the central-western inland of New South Wales, including the Hay region.

The Wiradjuri, the largest Aboriginal group in New South Wales, occuppied the land area bordered by the Lachlan, Macquarie and Murrumbidgee Rivers, known as "the land of the three rivers".

Aboriginal people generally identify with country and networks of kin relations, living within defined boundaries. Totems also were integral to Aboriginal identity and determined kinship lores and marriage rules. People with the same totem couldn't marry each other.

Marriage was arranged in traditional Aboriginal societies, often between a young girl and an older man (1.).

Traditionally, women used digging sticks to collect roots and other vegetable foods, and men hunted game using spears and other weapons.

Coolamons were traditionally used by Aboriginal women to carry water, fruit, nuts, and carry babies

Canoes were made from a single sheet of Red Gum or Black Box bark that was folded and tied at both ends with plant-fibre.

An area at the bank of the Murray River. In the foreground, the Aborigines are making a canoe out of the bark of the red rubber tree. On the river there is an Aboriginal family with dogs who are crossing the Murray River in a bark canoe. Gustav Mützel - Australia – William Blandowski’s Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aborginal Australia. Created: 1 January 1857

Stone artefacts and scar trees (also known as a canoe tree and shield tree) may be found in the region.

WIRADjURI INITIATION CEREMONIES

1820s

On November 3, 1829, explorer Charles Sturt left Sydney with an expedition that passed along the Murrumbidgee River on horses and drays.

Sturt's diary was published in London in 1833. The Murrumbidgee River journey from Wagga to Hay was slow: "The plains were open to the horizon. Views as boundless as the ocean. No timber but here and there a stunted gum or a gloomy cypress. Neither bird nor beast inhabited these lonely regions over which the silence of the grave seemed to reign." But there were a few Aboriginals living along the river: in fact, tribes varying in number and disposition were met throughout the whole journey. There was no real trouble. Sturt was confident on his present line he would meet the Darling River. "I had no doubt," he wrote, "that ultimately I would reach the coast."

Sturt's Marked Tree (4 km east on Mid Western Highway).

Charles Napier Sturt (28 April 1795 – 16 June 1869) was a British officer and explorer of Australia,

1830s

During the late-1830s stock was regularly overlanded to South Australia via the Lower Murrumbidgee.

Pastoral runs were established west along the Murrumbidgee River, onto the Hay plains and beyond from 1832. Shepherds, stockmen and labourers also arrived, many of them ex-convicts and ticket-of-leave men.

Severe drought of 1836.

1840s

A coach station was established in 1840.

A severe economic depression in the 1840s led to many runs being abandoned or sold.

John Tooth bought the "Wooloondool" run by 1844 and later purchased the leases for "Mungadal" and "Pevensey". After Tooth became bankrupt, "Mungadal" was sold to the Lang brothers and "Wooloondool" to James McEvoy.

1850s

One of the popular stock routes (known as "the Great North Road") was established in the mid-1850s, crossing the Murrumbidgee River at Lang's Crossing-place. This area that became the town of Hay was close to"Mungadal" run, belonging to the three Lang Brothers: Dr. Thomas, Gideon Scott and William.

"LANG'S CROSSING."IN THE DAYS BEFORE HAY. Dr. Thomas Lang, who was one of

the owners of Mungadal

Pastoral runs were taken up for wool production and to provide produce for the Victorian goldfields. Teamsters with drays, pulled by horse or bullock teams, transported supplies to the region. Cattle from Queensland were taken across the river to the developing Victoria goldfields.

Aboriginal peoples hunted wild animals, gathered plants and fished. They also burnt off the old grass to attract game like kangaroos and used stones to trap fish. Settlers, however, cleared land for farming and for towns, disrupting the lives and food sources of Aboriginal people.

Hay became a major transport hub, and paddlesteamers transported wool down to Echuca on the Murray River.

In 1857, a blacksmith, Thomas Simpson, arrived at Lang's Crossing-Place and established a smithy.

By 1857 Captain Francis Cadell had begun to lobby the Government of New South Wales for the establishment of a Post Office at Lang's Crossing-place. Cadell was a major pioneer in opening up Murray River trading in 1853 with the paddle steamers.

Francis William Cadell (9 February 1822 – 1879) was a European explorer of Australia

Henry Leonard arrived at Lang's Crossing-place and constructed a new punt just upstream of "the main crossing place" by February 1858. Leonard also opened the Murrumbidgee Punt Hotel on 30 October 1858.

In March 1858, Alexander Dunbar stated that he occupied a tent at Lang's Crossing-place (Cadell's store). Captain Cadell also suggested Dundas as post master to the Postmaster general, but was rejected.

Surveyor Adams arrived in 1858 and located the proposed township on the eastern side of the river-bend, north of Leonard's and Simpson's buildings. Laying out the township was completed by Edward Twynam.

Wagga Wagga Express and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser (NSW : 1858 - 1859; 1866; 1872 - 1874), Saturday 15 October 1859

The first Telegraph Office at Deniliquin in 1859 allowed faster and easier communication.

A town was gazetted in 1859 and named after Sir John Hay, a local pastoralist and Member of Parliament.

A weekly mail delivery between Condobolin and Hay began from 1 April 1859.

Messrs Randell and Scott built an iron store in 1859, which became part of the Hay Cash Store Company.

Wagga Wagga Express and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser (NSW : 1858 - 1859; 1866; 1872 - 1874), Saturday 21 May 1859

By August 1859, Dr William Leahy Echlin, had settled at Lang's Crossing. Dr Echlin, the first Medical Practitioner at Hay, died on 27 October 1861.

1860s

From 1861, the Free Selection Acts brought thousands of new settlers into the region putting further stress on land needed for Aboriginal hunting and food sources.

One Tree Hotel, built 1862, 38 km north on the road to Booligal, featured in "Banjo" Paterson's poem 'Hay, Hell and Booligal".

New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900), Friday 11 September 1863

In August 1864 the Punt Hotel at Hay was purchased by Edward Ray.

The Australian Joint Stock (AJS) Bank was the first bank established in Hay in 1864.

In April 1864, a telegraph station was opened in Hay.

The NSW Land Selection Acts of the 1860s and 1870s , allowed those with limited means to acquire land.

The first Anglican minister to regularly visit Hay was Rev R T Earl, who arrived in 1866. He visited the farms and stations to offer religious services.

1870s

Swing bridge over the Murrumbidgee River - Hay, NSW, c1870, SLNSW

Hay police lock-up, located in Lachlan Street on the site of the present Hay Post Office, was proclaimed a Public Gaol on 1 December 1870.

Hay became a municipality in 1872.

Australia was connected to the rest of the world for the first time in 1872, by the Overland Telegraph, that ran some 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) from Adelaide through to Darwin.

The Riverine Grazier was first published in 1873.

The bridge over the Murrumbidgee opened in 1874.

Lachlan Street from Bank - Tattersall's Hotel - Hay, NSW, c 1870, SLNSW

Australian joint Stock Bank, Hay, NSW, 1870s, SLNSW

Lachlan Street showing Blewett's store, Bank, Court House and Telegraph Office - Hay, NSW. 1870 SLNSW

Former Murray & Co. Store, HAY, NSW. William Murray began as a tailor in Hay in 1870, working out of rented premises. In 1874 he had this building erected for his Clothing Emporium

Hay, NSW, c1875, SLNSW

Lachlan Street - Hay, NSW, 1875 SLNSW

Bullock team in Lachlan Street - Hay, NSW - 1875

The Hay Football Club was formed in 1876.

Sunbeam Coach. Cobb & Co. coach factory operated in Hay, from 1877 until 1896.

In the 1870s, the writer Joseph Furphy, who later wrote under the name Tom Collins, best known for his novel Such Is Life (1903), lived around Hay.

1880s

Hay Gaol. Dated: 08/01/1880. Museums of History NSW - State Archives Collection

Hay Post Office was constructed in 1882.
The Hay Railway Station opened on 4 July 1882.

The Warangesda Aboriginal Mission operated between 1880 and 1926. Rev. John Gribble was concerned about the exploitation of Aboriginal women, in the area, and founded the mission settlement to give Aboriginal people a permanent home.

The name for the mission combined "Warang" the Wiradjuri word for "camp" and "esda", the last part of the scriptural "Bethesda" (Hebrew meaning "house of mercy").

In 1882 the railway line was extended to Hay from Narrandera, connecting Hay to Sydney. About this time, the paddle steamers began to lose their importance.

The Hay Fire Brigade was established in 1886.

Linton House Hostel for Boys was built in 1888.

Hay was developing as an important centre for the Riverina.

1890s

The new gaol in Church Street opened in late 1880, and the old Lachlan Street gaol became a “Watch-house or Lock-up only”.

MURRUMBIDGEE BLACKS.— SOME OF THE CORROBOREE PARTY. Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 24 April 1897

Hay Post Office, Hay, NSW, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 20 May 1899

Supreme Court, Hay, NSW, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 20 May 1899

Bishop's Lodge, Hay, NSW, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 20 May 1899 (Bishop's Lodge Historic House, an iron house and outbuildings designed and built in 1888 by Bishop Sydney Linton and architect, John Sulman. The residence for the Anglican Bishop of the Riverina)

LANDS AND SURVEY OFFICE, HAY, NSW, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 20 May 1899

1900s

Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954), Friday 5 October 1900,

Boer War Memorial, Hay, NSW. Commemorating the district volunteers who lost their lives in Sth Africa, unveiled in 6 May 1903Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 13 May 1903

A CORNER IN THE MACHINERY SECTION. Mr. H. B. Maclure's first-prize collection of agricultural implements and machinery at the Hay Show.Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 29 July 1908

Interior of Rogers and Clyde's Pharmacy in Hay, N.S.W. - 1908, Aussie Mobs

Athenaeum Hall, Hay, N.S.W. - very early 1900s, Aussie Mobs

Street in Hay, N.S.W. - very early 1900s, Aussie Mobs

Superior Public School in Hay, N.S.W. - 1908, Aussie Mobs

From 1909 onwards, the Aborigines Protection Act aimed to abolish reserves and fringe-camps and incorporate Aboriginal people into white society. However, this caused stress and dislocation of communities.

The Ringer Store, Hay, NSW - circa 1910, Aussie~mobs (demolished in the early 1970s)

Group of stockmen on horses with revolvers - Hay, NSW, c1913, SLNSW

Aboriginal girls were trained for domestic service at Warangesda Aboriginal Mission and it also served as a welfare depot for younger children from other reserves and stations.

Aborigines of the Waradgery Tribe. THESE photographs were taken by Mr. David G. Stead, N.S.W. Government. A Fisheries Expert, on a recent visit to the Murrumbidgee River. Mr. Stead supplies the following note relating thereto:—The Waradgery or Wiradjuriwere an exceedingly large and powerful tribe, inhabiting principally the greater part of the Murrumbidgee country, and part of the Lachlan, with the plains between, and part of those to the south. At present there is an interesting remnant of the tribe to be seen at the aborigines' station known as Warangesda, a short distance out of Darlington Point, on the southern bank of the Murrumbidgee River (a few miles from Willbriggie railway station, on the Hay line). Many of the Waradgery were of fine physique, and the man Murray (properly 'Murree,' a native family name, meaning red kangaroo), whose photograph is shown, is a splendidly propor-
tioned fellow, with the bearing of a gentleman. THE ladies shown required a good deal of pressing before they could be prevailed upon to face the camera, but the gentlemen (except the little one), like good Australians, were not so bashful. As in so many of the Australian aborigines, these natives, especially the women, are remarkable for their naturally pleasant and gentle voices. Waradgery shire, adjacent to the town of Hay, takes its name from this tribe, as does the fine Waradgery Club at Hay. Two important divisions of the Waradgery people lived in the vicinity of Narrandera and Cootamundra.
Narrandera, by the way, is 'Narrung-derai,' or Jew-lizard; while Cootamundra (Koota-moondra) is the River-Tortoise, or Freshwater Turtle. Wagga-Wagga (Waaga-waaga, plenty crowd) is also in this tribal district. The great tribes sur-rounding the Waradgery included the Ita-Ita, Baraba-Baraba (Burra-bura-ba),Nungawal, Kamilaroi ('Gummilroy'), Wonghibon, and Bargunji (Barkinji).Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 18 February 1914

TYPICAL WARADGERY (WIRADJURI) PEOPLE AT WARANGESDA. (Warangesda Mission was established at Darlington Point by the Reverend JB Gribble in 1880) Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 18 February 1914

THE ABORIGINES AT WARANGESDA STATION. The older man (Murree) is a splendid example
of the men of the great Waradgery tribe.Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 18 February 1914

WWI

During the First World War, 641 men enlisted from Hay and the surrounding district, one of the highest per capita enlistment rates in Australia.

World War I soldiers recruiting march. First volunteers in Lachlan Street facing the Post Office - Hay, NSW, c. 1916, by Horace J. Weymouth (Frank Butterworth, Bill Connor, W. McNamara, Jack Easton, Arnold Markey, Ebb Cooper, Les Howard, Colin Ashley, Percy Ledwidge, Oscar Sylvander, W. McFarland, Bill Whitle, Victor Cox, J. Phillips, "Bricky" Carter)

Steamer on the Murrumbidgee River NSW. c1915. Printed post card from A. O. Best in Hay

The Paddle Steamer "Wagga Wagga", for over 40 years, plyed the Murrumbidgee River and was the last operational paddle steamer until abandoned on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River at Narrandera in 1918.

1920s

Harry Logus built the Paragon Cafe on the corner of Alma and Lachlan Streets.

Paragon Cafe was located on the corner of Alma and Lachlan Streets, Hay, NSW

Hay Court House, NSW. Dated: No date. Museums of History NSW - State Archives Collection

CourtHouse, Hay, NSW, Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 30 May 1924

Lachlan Street, Hay. NSW c.1925

Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 9 May 1925

THE HAY MOTOR and ENGINEERI NG CO'S GARAGE AND SHOW ROOMS, HAY, NSW, Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954), Friday 28 September 1928

1930s

Rugby league was first played in Hay during 1931.

Les Brown had the Majestic Theatre built 1931-2. Now a hardware store.

Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954), Friday 13 November 1931

The Harrison Family have operated a store on this site, Hay, NSW, since 1882. Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954), Friday 13 November 1931

Hay Fire Brigade, NSW, The names of the members of the Brigade shown in the photograph are:
Sitting: W. Carnochan, G. Sadler, A. Campbell and J. H. Reid.
Back Row: J. Hanlon (on reel), J. Donaldson, W. Clifford, J. Marshall (captain), Alex. Henry, T. A. Massie, and M. Reid. Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954), Tuesday 12 February 1935

First Motor Fire Engine in Hay, NSW, c1935, SLNSW

Staff of McClures Department Store, Hay, NSW, c. 1935-1936, State Library of New South Wales

Down on the right bank of the Murrumbidgee, between the bridges, a cairn informed us that Captain Charles Sturt had passed that way on November 30, 1829. Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 10 August 1938

Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954), Friday 6 January 1939

1940s and WWII

During WW II, Hay Gaol operated as a prisoner-of-war camp (POW). Three high-security camps were constructed there in 1940. The first to arrive were more than two thousand refugees from Nazi Germany and Austria, most of whom were Jewish.

On 10 July 1940, 2,542 detainees left Liverpool, UK, classified as "enemy aliens", aboard the Dunera, described as a overcrowded Hell-hole. After arriving in Australia, the detainees were transported by train to Hay. While interned in Australia, the internees established and administered their own township with Hay currency.

The 1985 Australian mini series The Dunera Boys represents these events. (included German Jewish refugees who had escaped from Nazi occupied territories and 200 Italian Prisoners of War, and 250 Nazis).

A large number of Japanese POWs were transferred to Hay after the Cowra breakout in February 1941.

Land Army Girl assists with jetting at Uardry Stud, Hay, N.S.W. Queensland Country Life (Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Thursday 30 December 1943

HAY, NSW. 1944-01-20. THE RIVER PADDLE STEAMER, "MURRUMBIDGEE" AND A BARGE MOORED AT THE 16TH GARRISON BATTALION PRISONER OF WAR (POW) DETENTION CAMP ON THE MURRUMBIDGEE RIVER. AWM

HAY, NSW. 1944-01-17. MEMBERS OF THE 16TH GARRISON BATTALION HOLDING A CONFERENCE OVER THE FITTING OF A NEW 10 INCH PUMPING UNIT ON THE RIVER BANK. N104534 PRIVATE J. E. PIFKE (1); N100584 WARRANT OFFICER CLASS 1 J. W. GRIBBLE, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN ENGINEERS (RAE) (2); N206035 SAPPER HUNGERFORD (3); N271059 CORPORAL T. R. SANDERS (4). AWM

JAP WAR PRISONERS GO HOME (from Hay, NSW). Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), Sunday 3 March 1946

Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 10 January 1947

Lachlan Street, Hay, NSW, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 20 August 1947

Left: CWA members. Front row includes Mesdames C. A. Cameron (pres.), E. R. Watson (sec ), G. Harrison (treas.), and J. M. Spence (first president and life member). Hay, NSW, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 20 August 1947

Hospital staff, including Matron R. P. Wilson, Mr R. Eager (Sec.), and Mrs J.
Thompson (assist, sec.). Hay, NSW, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 20 August 1947

Postal staff, Hay, NSW, Hospital staff, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 20 August 1947

War Memorial High School. Hay, NSW, Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Wednesday 20 August 1947

1950s

An Aboriginal canoe tree was found on the Murrumbidgee at Hay, Mr Gibson's property.

Television for Hay, NSW, Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954), Friday 2 June 1950

YOUNG FOLK AT HAY. John Best (left, front row, of Gre Gre Hay; Jill Officer, Trangie; Christine Wilkinson, Hay; Bob Watson, Wodonga, Vic- ia: Michael Tooth, Deniliquin; (top row, left) Elizabeth Allen, "Carinya," Cooma; Bob Wilkinson, Hay; and Franc Falkiner, Boonoke, Conargo.Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Saturday 15 April 1950

1960s

From 1961 to 1974, the Hay Gaol became The Hay Institution for Girls, a maximum security institution for girls between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. Read here and Exposed to Moral Danger

Postcard of Lachlan St, Hay, NSW

1980s

The last passenger train to Hay ran in 1983.

Hay railway Station closed on 18 November 1989.

The Paragon Cafe was owned by the Haldezos' family.

1990s

THE DUNERA Boys Return After 50 Years: More than 170 former internees (mostly Jewish) from around Australia and as faraway as North America, Britain, France, West Germany, Austria and Argentina retuned to Hay in September 1990.

2HayFM began broadcasting in 1992.

2019

In December 2019, an 88,000-hectare property, Gayini (Nimmie Caira), Hay, NSW, came under the ownership of the Nari Nari Tribal Council.

2020s

Harrison & Sons IGA, HAY, NSW, 2020

2022: Hay welcomes the cast and crew for the filming of the "Mad Max" prequel "Furiosa".

2022: Rainbow on the Plains pride festival at Hay.

2022: Rainbow on the Plains pride festival at Hay, NSW

Around Hay

Highway Inn, Lachlan Street, Hay, NSW, was built in 1940

The Hay Fire Brigade, Hay, NSW, was established in 1886 before coming under the auspice of the Board of Fire Commissioners NSW in 1910. In 1917-18 a new Station was constructed by the Board on a site in Lachlan Street that the Brigade had occupied for a number of years previously

The Witcombe Fountain. A gift from the then Mayor, Alderman John Witcombe in 1883, situated on the corner of Lachlan and Moppett St, Hay, NSW

A display of a Cobb & Co. Coach, typical of those used to carry mail and passengers from Deniliquin to Wilcannia from 1886 to 1901, Hay, NSW

Sunbeam Coach. Cobb & Co. operated its coach factory in Hay, from 1877 until 1896, Coach pavilion, Hay, NSW

The Terminus Hotel, Hay, NSW, was licensed from 1882 until 1940, across from the Hay Railway Station. Falling into ruin

Classical style bank of New South Wales building now a Westpac. It was built in 1877, Hay, NSW

Japp’s Pharmacy was built in 1913 as a saddlery and tailor. It has been a pharmacy since the early 1930s, Hay, NSW

The Commercial Hotel was once the site of the Bush Inn, established by William Sabine about 1865. From the mid-1870s, the Bush Inn changed name to the Commercial Hotel, Hay, NSW

Hay Gaol, NSW, was established in 1878. As well as a gaol, it has been a maternity hospital, locked-hospital for the insane, for prisoners of war during the Second World War (Japanese and Italian)and a maximum security institute for girls under the Child Welfare Department. Ceased to operate on 30th June 1974. Now serve a museum

At Hay Museum, NSW

Hay, NSW, railway station opened on 4 July 1882 and closed on 18 November 1989

Hay, NSW, Lands Office, built by Mr. McDonald in 1896. Shire Office, Hay, NSW, built in 1877 to be Hay’s second courthouse, which then became the Athenaeum building in1885