Showing posts with label Dalgety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dalgety. Show all posts

"On The banks of the Snowy River"

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Just a little Aussie history lesson...

One of the places I wanted to visit during my recent holiday In the Snowy Mountain area was Dalgety; mostly I wanted to wander through an antiques shed called "The Old Tin Shed" unfortunatley the only day of the week it closed was Wednesdays... yes I visited on Wednesday.




This little town with a population of around 70 was previously known as Buckley's Crossing ; was once a major stock crossing
when bullock trains were an important mode of transport. It is the only town left on the Snowy River.






Before the bridge was built in 1888 a punt was used to carry stock and travellers across the river.



In 1902 Dalgety was gazetted as a site for our National Capital, Canberra. There is a story going around that the reason it wasn't suitable was because politicians after swimming in the river decided it was too cold . The real reason however, was because it was too close to the Victorian border and the fishing wharfs at Bombala. They wanted the capital to be half way between New South Wales and Victoria. Which is where it is now.

It was disappointing we did not get to browse about the Tin Shed but we spend many hours walking around the historic buildings.

The earliest building is Dalgety House built in 184o.