COORANBONG, NEW SOUTH WALES

'Cooranbong' is a town and rural suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, and is located west of the town of Morisset off the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway.
The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning "water over rock", perhaps giving reference to Dora Creek which runs through the town.

Contents

History

Present day

Demographics

External links

History

The township was first settled by Lieutenant Percy Simpson, who received a land grant from the government and was assigned six convicts who cleared the land, grazed cattle and built a homestead near Dora Creek. Although Simpson only stayed there for two years, one of his convicts, Moses Carroll, became a stockman in the area, eventually becoming the area's police constable. The Robertson Land Act of 1861 allowed the town to grow, encouraging the construction of a Catholic church and later, police station and courthouse (1873), a post office (1881) and an Anglican church. Timber became the backbone of the economy and during the 1880s the population reached 700.
When the railway was built from Sydney to Newcastle, the line passed around 5 km east of the town centre. The station and associated settlement were originally labelled as Cooranbong but later became known as Morisset. This was devastating to the local economy and the population dropped to 206 people by 1891. This economic depression continued until the Seventh-day Adventist Church bought on the northern bank of Dora Creek where they built Avondale College (1897) and Sanitarium Health Food Company (1909).

Present day

Avondale is a Seventh-day Adventist owned estate opposite the Cooranbong shops. The estate is home to Avondale College, a Seventh-day Adventist tertiary education institution, the Sanitarium Health Food Company, Avondale College Church, Avondale Memorial Church, a dairy farm and Avondale Retirement Village. A number of Avondale College students and staff also live on the estate.

Demographics

At the ABS 2006 census, 4,477 people lived in the Cooranbong area. The median age of Cooranbong residents was 40 years, compared with 42 years in the surrounding region. By far the highest religious affiliation was Seventh-day Adventist at 36.1%, compared to 5.6% in the region and 0.88% in the Newcastle Statistical District. This was followed by Anglican, no religion, Catholic and Uniting. The median weekly individual income was $349, which was lower than the regional average.

External links

★ History of Cooranbong

★ Travel - Cooranbong (SMH)

★ Cooranbong Community School