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New South Wales (Northern NSW) |
| Kempsey | |
| Established in 1836 when Enoch Rudder started a punt service across the Macleay River the town situated in the fertile Macleay valley which is mainly covered with dairy farms. The first white men in the area were timber cutters and lumber is still a main industry of this area. | |
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The town lies along the coastline, 49km north from Port Macquarie and 65 km south of Nambucca Heads. The town has some magic spots. Kempsey, a large service town on the Macleay River, is home to a prominent Aboriginal population: the Dunghutti people. The first white settlers moved into the area five years after the explorer John Oxley entered the Macleay River area in 1818. Between 1830 and 1850 the Dunghutti put up resistance to the settlers, and several Aboriginal massacres resulted. By the 1850s resistance was so widespread that native police were called in to stop the fighting. In the following decade Aboriginal reserves were established, and a degree of self-determination existed from the 1890s when several Aboriginal farms were set up, but the people were pushed off the farms after World War I. The Dunghutti were still holding traditional ceremonies as late as the 1940s. Their ability to demonstrate continuous links with their land led in 1996 to a successful claim for Native Title for a portion of land at CRESCENT HEAD, 21km northeast from Kempsey along a good sealed road, although they will hold title only temporarily. There are some wonderful waterfront campsites here: Crescent Head Tourist Park, which also has some very pleasant verandah-fronted wooden chalets ($31–$94); and Delicate Nobby Camping Ground (tel 02/6566 0144), which is in extensive but secluded bushland, ten minutes’ drive from the township. Meandering back and then away from the Pacific Highway, you come to the coastal Hat Head National Park and the small town of SOUTH WEST ROCKS, perched on a picturesque headland. Three kilometres east on Trial Bay, the Arakoon State Recreation Area has as its centrepiece Trial Bay Gaol (daily 9am–5pm; $3). Classified as a public works prison in which prisoners could learn a trade, the jail was considered progressive when it was established in 1886. Built from local granite, it’s certainly an impressive construction – the massive outer walls surround an extensive complex of buildings and are supported by high buttresses with four watchtowers. The prison was closed in 1903, but reopened during World War I when it was used as an internment camp for over five hundred internees – including some Buddhist monks from Ceylon, though most of those held here were German. Events |
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