Cookardinia
New South Wales
Entering Cookardinia
Cookardinia is located in New South Wales
Cookardinia
Cookardinia
Coordinates35°34′0″S 147°13′0″E / 35.56667°S 147.21667°E / -35.56667; 147.21667
Population283 (2001 census)[1]
Postcode(s)2650
Location
LGA(s)Greater Hume Shire Council
CountyGoulburn
State electorate(s)Albury
Federal division(s)Farrer

Cookardinia is a rural locality in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The locality is 57 kilometres (35 mi) south of the regional city of Wagga Wagga and 24 kilometres (15 mi) east of the town of Henty. Its surrounding area has an approximate population of 283 persons.[1]

The place name 'Cookardinia' is derived from the local Aboriginal word meaning "the place of the giant kingfisher", probably a reference to the Kookaburra and hence the phonetic similarity.[3]

Only several buildings remain, including the old 'Buckaringa' woolshed on the Cookardinia-Henty Road and the Memorial Hall built in 1925.

On the intersection of the Henty, Culcairn and Holbrook roads can be seen the (rapidly deteriorating) ruins of the Squatter's Arms Inn which was built in 1848. The Squatter's Arms Inn closed its doors to official trading in 1925 but then was briefly restored internally when it featured in the 1976 filming of Mad Dog Morgan, starring Dennis Hopper.[4][5]

History

Pastoral runs

In 1843 Robert Burke occupied the ‘Buckaginga’ pastoral run in the Murrumbidgee Pastoral District. At the time he was “the first settler in that part of the country, there being no other person occupying land within a circuit of 100 miles”. Six months later John Post, an ex-convict, took up the ‘Cookardinia’ run, adjoining ‘Buckaginga’ to the south. In 1847 the ‘Buckaginga’ license was sold to John Morrice. Later Morrice sold ‘Buckaginga’ to Osborne who ran the property as a sheep station.[6]

John Post lived on the ‘Cookardinia’ run with his wife and children. The property was used to raise fat cattle and for running a dairy.[6][7] From January 1852 a lease “for Pastoral purposes only” was granted to John Post and John Keane for the ‘Cookardinia’ run.[8] John Post's wife Bridget died in September 1863.

Squatters' Arms Hotel

As the district developed and nearby towns were established the ‘Cookardinia’ run happened to be located on the main road between Albury and Wagga Wagga, near the junction of branch roads to Henty and Culcairn. John Post took advantage of the position by building a roadside inn to provide accommodation and other amenities for travellers.

From the early 1860s the hotel at ‘Cookardinia’ was managed by Elizabeth Stamp. The inn was often referred to as “Mrs. Stamp’s hotel”.

In June 1863 the bushranger Dan Morgan and another man held up four young men “at Mr. Post’s station, Cookendina, near Albury”. The young men “were proceeding from Ten-mile Creek to attend some bye-races at Merritt’s Cookendina Inn”. They were robbed of three race-horses together with saddles and bridles.[9][10]

In June 1866 the Crown Prosecutor, David Forbes, and Judge Francis of the District Court, spent an uncomfortable night at the inn at Cookardinia on their way from Wagga Wagga to Albury. The two men were subjected to flea bites and “a sad deficiency of bed-clothes” during the night. As a result of the experience Edward Post (John Post's eldest son) was summoned to appear before the Albury Police Court and charged under the Publicans' Act with “not having proper accommodation” in the form of “two proper and well-supplied bedrooms” on the occasion of the visit by the “learned gentlemen”. Post was fined 40 shillings and costs.[11][12]

In 1868 a publican's license was granted to Elizabeth Stamp for the Squatters’ Arms Hotel at Cookardinia.[13] In 1869 John Post himself became the licensee of the hotel.[14]

Cookardinia village

Cookardinia Post Office opened on 1 December 1873 and closed in 1976.[15] With two interruptions, there was a school at Cookardinia, between 1877 and 1954.[16]

In late 1888 a new bridge was erected over the Cookardinia Creek near Cookardinia at the site of the old bridge. The construction was described as “a substantial one” which “will secure the safety of heavy traffic crossing”.[17]

Cookardinia Football Club

The Cookardinia Football Club was established in 1897 and played its first game against Germanton (Holbrook).[18] In 1955, the club merged with the Mangoplah Football Club.

References

  1. 1 2 Australian Bureau of Statistics (9 March 2006). "1161205 (Census Collection District)". 2001 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 30 June 2007.
  2. ↑ Travelmate Archived 24 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ "Cookardinia". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Travel - Henty". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 February 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2007.
  5. ↑ Mad Dog Morgan Movie (1976)
  6. 1 2 Goulburn Assizes, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 April 1857, page 2.
  7. ↑ License to Depasture on Crown Lands beyond the limits of Settlement, No. 1077, 5 December 1845: John Post, Cookerdinia station (Murrumbidgee district).
  8. ↑ Pastoral Leases, New South Wales Government Gazette, 5 December 1854 (Issue No. 148), page 2498.
  9. ↑ Intercolonial News, The Argus (Melbourne), 26 June 1863, page 6. A "bye-race" is a race held separate to official races, an informal privately-organised race.
  10. ↑ Morgan’s Crimes, Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Chronicle, 15 April 1865, page 3.
  11. ↑ Important to Publicans, Empire (Sydney), 11 July 1866, page 4.
  12. ↑ Pleasant Bed-fellows, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 July 1866, page 5.
  13. ↑ Return of Publicans’ Licenses, New South Wales Government Gazette, 26 August 1868 (Issue No. 208 Supplement), page 2871.
  14. ↑ Return of Publicans’ Licenses, New South Wales Government Gazette, 24 August 1869 (Issue No. 180 Supplement), page 2131.
  15. ↑ Phoenix Auctions History. "Post Office List". Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  16. ↑ "Cookardinia". nswgovschoolhistory.cese.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  17. ↑ Cookardinia, Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 13 July 1888, page 16; Cookardinia, Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 23 November 1888, page 16.
  18. ↑ Cookardinia, Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 1 October 1897, page 17; Correspondence (Fred Yoxon), Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 8 October 1897, page 24.

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