free fruit...

It's not uncommon to find freebies in Temora...esp outside shops in the main street...
Today, free fruit was available outside a cafe... pic.twitter.com/N8vmqYFE60

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 1, 2023

map out your future...

Love the ever-changing, interesting signs outside shops in main street, Temora, NSW.
Today, I found this one outside Nel's Fabric Place - a quote from Jon Bon Jovi...
' Map out your future
but do it in pencil'... pic.twitter.com/nlMVgRfb5h

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 1, 2023

more main street Temora...

It's rare to be able to say that a town's main street is both pretty and fascinating...especially in the winter months...

But that, I find, is Temora...

Temora has travelled a long way since beginning as a pastoral station in 1847 but was not officially named as a town until it had become a hotspot for gold miners in 1880.

(Temora was originally named Watsonforde after the Colonial Treasurer James Watson, but public pressure changed the name to Temora)...

I am constantly finding new points of interest and marvelling at the attention to maintenance of streets, walkways and buildings...

I am still cautiously adjusting to the angled parking...front end to curb...

Driving into the parking spot is fine...It's the backing into traffic I find a little unnerving...

But the through traffic is slow and drivers seem to carefully watch for reversing parked cars...

My fears seem to be unfounded...

Adore the variety of old buildings...

The Commonwealth Bank was built in 1918 and initially opened as the Government Savings Bank...

The current Granleese & Company building has been a solicitor's office since 2005...

It was originally a branch of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney and opened in 1904...

The current Westpac building was originally the Bank of NSW and built in 1891...

Temora Post Office was built in 1904...

It originally included a post office, residence and rear telephone exchange, now a museum...

The John Meagher & Co building - general merchants...

(I don't understand this building at all)...

An earlier post of mine (HERE) identified the John Meagher & Co building as being the 2 storey building of the current Paleface Arcade, across the road)...

The current, large Diamonds and Dust shop resides in this heritage building...

The Mee Ling store was one of the first shops in Temora...It was originally named Man Sing...

More details HERE

Inside the current shop, this heritage is acknowledged with large, informative banners/posters...

The Shamrock Hotel was built in 1882...

The Federal Hotel, built in 1912, occupied the site of the 1901 fire-ravaged Grenfell Hotel...

So while the date on the facade identifies as being built in 1912, it may have been in use before that date...

More details of the hotel's chequered history HERE...

When I read through the history, I was intrigued by 'the ghost stories'...

A little girl ghost named Belle Belle wanders the upper level of the premises...

Any connection with the metal gates (locking off the access from the main street to the rear of the premises) which are believed to be from the Old Temora Cemetery???...

History appears to be strangely silent on this one...

But I'll keep eyes and ears open...

There are a few buildings I can't identify...

This is one of them...It currently stands empty...

And there is always something quirky to be found in the country town main street...

Love this one...

P.S. Freeman's Journal (Sydney) Sat 16 Oct 1880 Page 16 - Temora has fifty hotels, twenty-two grog shanties, half-a-dozen billiard rooms, and only one church...

little moments matter...

PASSING THOUGHT: Just walked in main street Temora. Saw young boy+Mum chatting to 2 policemen. Boy wanted to know about being in the police force. On return walk, still chatting. Saw an old lady barely able to walk...quietly singing.
Little moments matter.
Love country Temora.

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) July 1, 2022

Ariah Park (1) - Coolamon Street...

In my last post on signs, based on Monday's drive, I deliberately left out one sign till this post - which simply focuses on the quaint 1920's village of Ariah Park in the Temora Shire region of the Riverina...

This sign must be unique...

The 'wowser and bowser' reference is possibly best explained (most amusing) by Motorbike Nation HERE...

The wide main street's median strip is lined with peppercorn trees planted in 1916...

Now a closer view of what Ariah Park is all about...

The above photo represents one view of Coolamon Street, the main street...peppercorn trees + angled, small driveways where cars can park on the median strip - left and bottom right...

NOTE: The street is empty because most shops appear to be closed on Mondays...

But still I enjoyed wandering so freely...

More views of the main street + a closer view of one of the peppercorn tree trunks...

The above 2 photos demonstrate how cars use the median strip's single-vehicle driveways under the peppercorn trees...

At one end of the median strip (nearest the railway and facing the railway) is this bronze statue...

Ariah Park is the birthplace of bulk wheat handling. 

Prior to that, wheat was packaged in bags and carried on the shoulders of men...

At the other end of the median strip is this statue...originally a memorial to men and women in WWI, but more plaques have been added with the names of those involved in WWII and the Vietnam War...

Interestingly, the soldier figure faces toward the town's centre...

new voices...

bedfellows
one silent cast
meets new voices#haiku

📷Hoskins Street, Temora pic.twitter.com/MVbRRzcr4s

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) June 25, 2022

more signs and buildings in main street Temora...

Something new...

Adore this little coffee nook in the wall in main street Temora...

Early morning coffee is a popular past-time here... 

Something old...

The John Meagher & Co Building is heritage-listed...

It was built as a general merchants store in 1892 (in the opening era of the Gold Rush) 

and it was the first brick store in Temora...

A large banquet was held in the upstairs part of the building to celebrate the opening of the building...

(John Meagher's first store was at Bathurst and then larger stores were later established at Temora, West Wyalong, Barmedman, Forbes, Cootamundra, Parkes and Yass.)

John Meagher was a larger-than-life figure in the 19th century...

He was not only a very successful storekeeper but a well-known politician...

More details HERE and  HERE...

Something borrowed?

When I first moved to Temora a couple of months ago, I was surprised to see no recycling bins...

There was just one large garbage bin collected weekly...

But at the back of IGA Temora is this very well-used recycling centre...

and I went for a drive to Stockinbingal...Part 1- main street...

 

Stockinbingal is a village on the Burley Griffin Road just outside the Temora shire in the Cootamundra-Gundagai shire...It was proclaimed a village in 1886 and has barely changed...

In the 2011 census, the village had a population of 244 people)...

Fascinating personal history stories of Stockinbingal are HERE

On my weekend stay in Cootamundra, I passed through the village...It seemed like a ghost town that intrigued me...I was determined to return and explore the village more closely...

Today was the day...

First, I headed to the train station - as it was across the road from my parked car...

The station seems a little battered - only used now by passing grain/freight trains - but the old spirit is not broken...

Originally, when the station opened in 1893, it was used as a passenger railway station but closed to regular passenger services in 1983...

More details on the station's chequered history HERE

In the distance, you can just see one of the grain silos near the station...

Across the road from the station, I found a most unusual kind of general store...

It even included cavoodle puppies for sale...

No one was there, but it was open...

In fact, it was the only place I found open...

As I was to find out in my wanders, other businesses were open...once upon a time...

It looks open...but no...All display effect...

Many historic places featured history signs outside...

Here is a series of them...

Interesting design above the front area...

All the above buildings were in the main street opposite the railway station...

I found more interesting features of Stockinbingal down a side street...(See my next post - Part 2)

At this stage, I have seen a few parked cars, but I've seen no one walking around...