A service town for an agricultural region known for its sheep and wheat. Temora has one of the state's largest inland grain storage terminals. The town is also a centre for harness racing with numerous trotting studs throughout the district.
Where is it?: 422 km west of Sydney; 53 km north of Junee; 65 km south of West Wyalong; 80 km west of Harden; 292 m above sea-level.
Aviation is well represented with the Temora Aero Club located at Temora Airport. The Aero Club caters for GA, RAA and Gliding flying and instruction. Skydive Temora also operates at the airport providing Tandem Skydives as well as solo and advanced skydiving training courses. The town is also the location for the Temora Aviation Museum.
Temora Aviation Museum: one of Australia's finest regional museums, it displays 16 military aircraft of historical significance to Australia, including Australia's only two flying Spitfires. Aircraft Showcase Days are held on the first and third Saturday of every month. Visitors will witness the aircraft being towed from the hangar and watch the pre-flight inspection, servicing and refuelling as it takes place in front of them, before the aircraft takes flight.
Temora Rural Museum: a comprehensive complex located in a 2-km landscaped area on the edge of town. Exhibits include a replica of the Mother Shipton nugget (7.3 kg) found at the Paragon Open-Cut Goldmine; an extensive range of working agricultural machinery, including 30 vintage tractors dating back to 1915; a rock and mineral collection. The complex also features a number of reconstructed or replicated buildings, including a telephone exchange building that now houses a communications museum building; a small church; an ambulance station; a country dance hall; a slab cottage that was Sir Donald Bradman's first home. The cottage was originally located 20 km to the north of Yeo Yeo, on the family farm where the Bradman family lived until he was two-and-a-half, when in 1911 they moved to Bowral.
There is also a two-storey replica of an old flour mill with working machinery, including the ten-tonne, 156 hp twin cylinder diesel engine which has been restored. Ph. (02) 6977 2289.
Natural features: Lake Centenary; Berrin Barran Nature Reserve; Ingalba Nature Reserve (14km west).
Heritage features: former Mother Shipton mine; Westpac Bank (1907); ANZ Bank (originally the Union Bank); Post Office (1901); Royal Hotel (c.1915); Westminster Hotel (1882); Shamrock Hotel (1882); Courthouse (1902); St Paul's Anglican Church (1906); Temora Shire Council offices; St Andrew's Presbyterian Church (1933); The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church (1906-07); St Joseph's Hall (1913); St Mary's Presbytery; Temora Primary School (1883); Railway Hotel (1893).
Weddin Mountains National Park is a small patch of remnant vegetation which ecaped clearing due to its ruggedness. Its striking crescent of cliffs and ridged gullies were an ideal haunt for bushrangers. Ben Hall, who plundered the Forbes-Grenfell area in the 1850s, used the Weddin Mountains as a refuge. He holed up in a cave on the north-west side of the park with his gang, which included Johnnie Gilbert and Frank Gardiner. It is rumoured Ben Hall buried a treasure here that has not yet been located.
Origin of name: In 1880, the townsite was laid out and proclaimed as Watsonforde, after the colonial treasurer, James Watson. However, it was soon renamed after the original sheep station at the request of locals and of Watson himself. Temora is believed to be of Aboriginal origin.
Brief history: the Temora run was established on land occupied by the Wiradjuri peoples. Gold was discovered in 1869, sparking a goldrush. In 1880, the townsite was laid out. In the first few years the town was home to some 20,000 residents, mostly miners, and the area was producing half of the state's gold. The surface gold soon ran out, however open cut gold mining continued until 1996.
New selectors, mainly Germans from South Australia, arrived when the big pastoral stations were subdivided for use as wheat farms in the 1880s. The railway arrived in 1893 from Cootamundra, at which time the town's first wheat silos were established. Temora Aerodrome was established in 1941 as a training school for the Royal Australian Air Force.
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