After our little detour to the RAAF Museum we pointed the ute toward Narrandra and another free camp at Brewery Flat Reserve which is situated next to what was the Oakbank Brewery. The indusry flourished in its hay day between the 1890's and the mid 1920's. The brewery emplyed 100 men and produced Stout, Bottled and Draught Beer and Cordial. In 1924 the brewery was sold to Tooths for a reported 200,000 pounds. The brewery was shut down but the cordial factory continued until 1986.
The red brick tower of the brewery is a distinctive Narrandra land mark that stands ninety feet high beside the Murrumbidgee River.
We woke the next morning to this thick pea souper almost lost the van. We stayed at Brewery Flat for only one night as the washing was piling up, so we moved to Narrandra Showground for two nights where water and power were available.
Captain Charles Sturt is credited with being the first European to observe the area that later became Narrandra, he passed through in 1829. It is said that explorer Charles Throsby was in the area eight years earlier in 1821. The first recorded mention as a pastoral station was in 1848 and was 31,000 hectares in size.
In 2013 Narrandra celebrated its 150 years sesquicentenry with "Back to Narrandra" in October. The then Governor of NSW, Marie Bashir, who was born in Narrandra opened the celebrations at a luncheon. Other notable people from Narrandra are Daniel Christan an ODI and T20 International Cricketer, Cliff Lions NRL Player who played for the Manly Sea Eagles, NSW and Australia, Zac Williams ARL Player for the GWS Giants and John O'Brian poet and author who was actually Patrick Hartigan, Catholic Priest.
We set up camp at the Showground and got the washing out of the way and went for a stroll around the grounds. We came across this unique if not a bit odd looking building that was the original Industrial Hall but could find no information on how old it was. We also met some of the locals enjoying themselves on the Showground Oval.
We had been told by some one we now can't remember about the water tower at the lookout. This turned out to be more interesting than we thought as the original water tower was still there as well as the new one that had the beginnings of a mural painting on it. The original one dates back to 1890 and was added on to some time later and had a search light attached to the top we think some time during the Second World War.
The red brick tower of the brewery is a distinctive Narrandra land mark that stands ninety feet high beside the Murrumbidgee River.
We woke the next morning to this thick pea souper almost lost the van. We stayed at Brewery Flat for only one night as the washing was piling up, so we moved to Narrandra Showground for two nights where water and power were available.
Captain Charles Sturt is credited with being the first European to observe the area that later became Narrandra, he passed through in 1829. It is said that explorer Charles Throsby was in the area eight years earlier in 1821. The first recorded mention as a pastoral station was in 1848 and was 31,000 hectares in size.
In 2013 Narrandra celebrated its 150 years sesquicentenry with "Back to Narrandra" in October. The then Governor of NSW, Marie Bashir, who was born in Narrandra opened the celebrations at a luncheon. Other notable people from Narrandra are Daniel Christan an ODI and T20 International Cricketer, Cliff Lions NRL Player who played for the Manly Sea Eagles, NSW and Australia, Zac Williams ARL Player for the GWS Giants and John O'Brian poet and author who was actually Patrick Hartigan, Catholic Priest.
We set up camp at the Showground and got the washing out of the way and went for a stroll around the grounds. We came across this unique if not a bit odd looking building that was the original Industrial Hall but could find no information on how old it was. We also met some of the locals enjoying themselves on the Showground Oval.
We had been told by some one we now can't remember about the water tower at the lookout. This turned out to be more interesting than we thought as the original water tower was still there as well as the new one that had the beginnings of a mural painting on it. The original one dates back to 1890 and was added on to some time later and had a search light attached to the top we think some time during the Second World War.
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