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| Tibooburra NSW |
Located 340 kilometres north of Broken Hill, Tibooburra is the essence of an outback town. Established around 1845 at the height of the gold rush, Tibooburra provides many services for the people of the 'Corner, as well as the many thousands of visitors who pass this way each year.
In the1880s Tibooburra was the shanty-town up the track from Milparinka… At least that seems to have been the attitude of the “Milparinkaoneans” as they were called on one occasion. The town's population in 2001 is quite probably the highest it has ever been.
But Tibooburra had an attraction or two that Milparinka could never have. First – there was gold to be found in the streets of the town itself, not at some place sixteen miles away such as Mount Browne. Second – it did not have the District Courthouse or “the establishment” - although it did have a much smaller courthouse. That is not to say “Tib” was without police – they most certainly were there, as is demonstrated by a browse through the Police Charge and Summons Book for the town. But they had a different attitude. As did the whole populace of Tibooburra it seems. They were more inclined just to get on and do something, rather than follow the "correct" process. They were more tolerant in many ways too. A couple of examples will do… While Milparinka was arguing about where to build a hospital, Tibooburra went ahead and built one… While the Milparinka Progress Committee was making rules about where the Afghans could put their camels, at Tibooburra they were pastured in the Police Paddock… Well, that's not quite true - but the Police Paddock wasn't fenced, so the camels just happened to - sort of - wander in there and have a feed.
There is a lot of information about Tibooburra, and the people who lived there. And at least two good books have been written about the town. They do not, however, seem to have much about the history of Tibooburra, or plans of the school house, the story of Tibooburra Cottage Hospital, the autopsy conducted by his bitter rival after the death of Dr.Willis. Nor do they have gems from the Tibooburra Telegraph – like: “Get that dead poisoned dog lying nearly opposite Mr.H.Downe's private residence removed, you whose duty it is to see to. The smell arising from the carcase gives Otto of Roses a long start and a beating." At 110°F we suspect it would self-levitate, but you make up your own mind. And we don’t think any of them write about the Chinese pastrycooks and market gardeners, the Afghans, the freed American slave who used to play at Saturday night dances in the Albert Hall. Nor do they describe the decoration of that hall on a Saturday night, Fred Cornthwaite’s Christmas gift tables, or the building of the Two Storey Hotel. We think these things explain Tibooburra.
Tibooburra had a much stronger will to survive. They people of "Tib" were miners, entrepreneurs, or whatever. They certainly didn’t wait for “The Government” to make a decision for them, even if the decisions they were made were a bit controversial.
As any visitor to the far west can see today – Tibooburra survived where Milparinka is more or less just a pile of stone ruins. Which is another thing – Tibooburra built some stone buildings, but many of them were simple corrugated iron structures. Tibooburra had few pretensions, while Milparinka was ‘the administrative centre’.
The Family Hotel
The Family Hotel dates from 1881 - almost from the beginnings of the gold rush to Tibooburra. The original tent township was down the track, at Thomson's Dam. The first hotels were most likely corrugated iron shacks and calico tents. The next ones were a little further north, where Tibooburra stands today, and the first of those was just north of the Two Storey Hotel. The Family Hotel dates from that period too. It has seen a few internal changes over the years, but the outside has not changed very much at all.
The Albert Hall
The Albert Hall is probably the best surviving example of why Tibooburra is still with us, long after Milparinka has faded away. The Albert Hall is not all that grand - in fact it is relatively small - but it was built by the people of Tibooburra - with contributions from the owners of the pub next door, who also owned the land upon which it is built. The Albert Hall belonged to the community and was used by them for all manner of things - including Saturday night dances, which are well-remembered even by myself. The community at Tibooburra supported those dances because they were a community affair - the money raised went to build their hospital, or to improve the water supply. At Milparinka dances were often organised as a private affair, in a private house or a privately-owned room, such as that built by Alfred Bigmore. At Tibooburra everyone was welcome. Which is just as well - because they turned up anyway, and you had to welcome them as long as they paid their money.
The Two Storey Hotel (formely Tibooburra Hotel)
The Two Storey Hotel is where the high and mighty stayed when they came to Tibooburra. It was also where the school-teachers, doctors and the occasional politician stayed while they worked in or visited this very remote township. Many things happened here - some not so pleasant, some quite amusing. But the Two Storey Hotel has a lot of history attached to it, even if it is not, by quite a few years, the oldest establishment in town.
Site of Fred Cornthwaite's Store
Fred Cornthwaite was the storekeeper to contend with. He was a determined competitor with his rivals across the street and down the track at Milparinka, and made very sure that no-one got a jump on him. Every Christmas he would have one-shilling tables, selling gift lines. He wasn't the first to have them but no-one got the better of him. Every summer he would have new clothing lines. But so did everyone else. He advertised profusely, and gave back to his community in the way of donations and prizes for various fund-raising events. Others did not spend so much, but he was not alone in helping his community. His store became a huge ramshackle place, constructed of local timbers, stone and corrugated iron. When he sold out some time around 1930 his store lived on, until one day when it burned to the ground. But by then it had outlived its' utility and was simply too big for the shrinking community it served.
Tibooburra Hospital
The Tibooburra Cottage Hospital was born in 1892. It almost did not happen - and would never have done so if the community had waited for "the Government" to get their act together. True to form, the people of Tibooburra just built it and then worried about the details later. The original building is still there tucked in amongst the newer ones which date from the 1930s and the late 1950s. But it was not the first Tibooburra Hospital structure - that honour belongs to another building which was situated a little way away, on an open space that has a sign announcing it was the site of the first school. True - but it is also the site of the first hospital. This is also the hospital where most of my family were born including myself.
Tibooburra Courthouse>/b>
Perhaps there is some significance in the fact that the Tibooburra Courthouse is now part of the National Parks and Wildlife Service establishment here. After all, they are both "the Government". This building has seen some interesting discussions and court cases. There was a protest meeting here a hundred or so years ago which goes a long way to explaining just how business survives in places like Tibooburra and there were some interesting Coroner's courts held in the building around the same time. This structure was also the licensing court, the place where you went to obtain a hawker's license or a miner's right, and the centre for all those other things which help to fund the machinery of government.
A.C.Daum's Store
A.C.Daum built his Albert Cash Stores in July 1890, with a private residence attached. Although he sold a huge range of items, it was as much a produce store than anything else - selling things like potatoes, onions, flour corn, horse feed. In the early days he also supplied a number of hawkers, many of whom operated out of Tibooburra into South-Western Queensland. When the need for hawkers faded with the advent of the motor car and lorry, his business faded, as did A.C.Daum himself. Again there is much more to tell about the structure.
Tommy Hoong's Store
Guess what - Tommy Hoong was from China!!! And he was called Tommy the Chinaman... What a surprise... But before him, the owner was Lee Kim, baker and confectioner. Maybe he was Kim the Chinaman - we don't yet know what nickname he caught. Then came "Whitey", who gets the blame for lots of things he didn't do.
Apart from bread and cakes, Tommy the Chinaman sold fruit, and especially vegetables, grown by his countrymen at a location not far out of town. You would be right in saying that, like many outback stores, it was a "mixed business", but with an emphasis upon bread and cakes, vegetables and fruit.
Outside of his store there used to be a willow tree - I think it was a peppercorn tree, but most people say it was a willow. People say that "Whitey" chopped it down - which maybe he did, some time after 1994. We know a tree was there then, because it was right beside the petrol pump - and had received a few bumps from taller vehicles as they pulled up for fuel. It had a limb at just the right height to collect the roof of a truck or van. But the willow/peppercorn/whatever tree that was there in 1994 was not the original - it blew down one day - sometime after Tommy was gone and old Alf Redpath was it's caretaker. The story we have, which dates from the 1960s, is that Alf went into the Family Hotel and held a two-day wake... and that the willow tree later produced an offspring which sprouted up outside the courthouse.
I don't intend to get into a major confrontation over the pedigree of the tree which was there in 1994 - it has been "The Willow Tree" for so long that it is a local legend. And like all good legends, it is worth keeping alive. And to my knowledge no-one has yet tried to prove much one way or the other. Of course there are still ways to do so.
I consider Tibooburra to be the "Birthplace" of our heritage in Australia with the majority of the family originating in the district.
My father, Allan, was born at Dead Horse Gully just outside of Tibooburra and was the owner of Binerah Downs station, located in what is now the Sturt National Park.
Family members born in Tibooburra are:
Brian (1947) Judy (1949) Rodney (1951) Heather (1952) Pam (1954) Larry (1955)
A view of the Township at ground level.
An aerial view of the Township.
The sculpture of Charles Sturt's whaleboat in the Pioneer Park
You can find more interesting reading on the history of Tibooburra at www.outbacknsw.com.au
| Names of Deaths Registered at Tibooburra 1880-1920 |
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[ Tibooburra A-E ]
[ Tibooburra F-N ] [ Tibooburra O-Z ]
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