Canowindra


A pleasant country town with a population of approximately 2,000, it was here that bushranger Ben Hall and his gang commandeered the whole town in 1863.

Where Is It?: 58 km south-east of Orange.

Heritage features: Urban conservation area, includes Royal Hotel, Nursing Home; Junction Hotel; Victoria Hotel; Bank of NSW; CBC Bank; The "Age of Fishes" Mossils Museum.

The Royal Hotel is on the site of another inn owned by Robinson and the plaque on the wall indicates present day understanding that this was the inn where Ben Hall's gang had their spree. Other notable buildings include the nursing home, the Junction Hotel, Finn's Building, the Victoria Hotel, the former Bank of NSW and the former CBC Bank. The Trading Post, a homewares shop, won the inland tourism award for 2006.


Ballooning: Canowindra is also popularly known as the Balloon Capital of Australia. One of the largest ballooning festivals in Australia used to take place here every April. This was called Marti's Fiesta, which brought together people from local, national and international locations in a celebration of Central West hospitality and goodwill. This event coincides with food and wine events which bring in the greater Cabonne and surrounding districts during the April period each year.

Brief history: After crude beginnings on the south of the Belubula River, it was realised that a township on the north side would do better and in 1846, the same year Governor Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy visited the area, the first buildings were erected there. The town developed steadily as it was adjacent to one of the few crossings of the river and in a piecemeal style with odd blocks of land and no formal street plan, hence the winding nature of the main street, Gaskill Street. Nearby copper and gold mines at Belmore (now Moorbel) also contributed.



Fossils: Canowindra is the site of one of the world's great fossil discoveries from the late Devonian epoch. A chance discovery by a road worker in 1956 uncovered a rich find of 360 million year old fish fossils, dating from the Devonian period in the Paleozoic era. The "Canowindra slab" was removed to the Australian Museum, Sydney. The fish had been buried when trapped in a pool of water that dried up, stranding a number of fish.


Specimens can be viewed in the specially established Age of Fishes Museum, with scientific support and funding from the Australian Museum. The Canowindra site has now been listed as part of Australia's National Heritage because of its international scientific importance.

Origin of name: Of Aboriginal origin, from a Wiradhuri term for home, it was originally pronouced as it is spelt, and not as it is today (Ca-noun-dra) .

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