The Flickr Oranacactusworld Image Generatr

Orana Cactus World. This spikey garden has toweringly tall cactus and miniatures, established by Lester Meyer who started collecting cactus plants in 1948. He established his nurseries and cactus world in 1972.The tallest cactus are about 25 feet high (7.8 metres) creating unique and stunning landscapes.

Orana Cactus World. This spikey garden has toweringly tall cactus and miniatures, established by Lester Meyer who started collecting cactus plants in 1948. He established his nurseries and cactus world in 1972.The tallest cactus are about 25 feet high (7.8 metres) creating unique and stunning landscapes.

and the Gilgandra Cooee Heritage Centre. This rare example of a late 19th century house at 62 Miller Street was home to Bill Hitchen and his brother Dick. It was Bill Hitchen who initiated and conceptualised the Cooee March to Sydney in March/April 1915. William (Bill) Hitchin moved to Gilgandra around 1900 to install windmills. Dick established a butcher’s shop next to Bill’s house. Bill Hitchen was very civic minded and a member of the Hospital board, the Lodge etc and the Captain of the Rifle Club. He was known as Captain Bill. He enlisted in early 1915 and organised a recruitment march to Sydney. He was sent to England and fell ill on the voyage to England and died in London in September 1916. His home used to be a museum but the militaria collection and house was put up for auction in 2021 and the collection dispersed. Since then the Shire has built a grand new gallery, museum and visitor centre.
The famous Cooee March began in Gilgandra after the slaughter at Gallipoli. A group led by Captain Hitchen left the town in early October 1915 to entice more men to enlist despite the defeat of Gallipoli which dented enlistments. The Cooees held recruiting meetings in every town they reached and they were fed and housed by local townspeople. The original 35 Gilgandra enlistees had swollen to 263 men by the time they reached Sydney. Along the way they stopped at 29 towns. Their walking route took them to Dubbo, Molong, Orange, Blayney, Bathurst, Lithgow, Katoomba etc. This successful Cooee march let to others and the cooee marches in NSW delivered thousands enlistees to the armed forces in NSW and the scheme was copied in other states including SA with a March from Edithburgh which gathered 170 enlistees. Many rode a horse and took a cart but most walked. It was a 500 kms walk to Sydney on the Gilgandra Cooee March. They marched at their own cost and had no support from the State Recruiting Board of NSW. A ball was held the night before the march began and six young ladies on horseback acted as marshals to guide the procession out of Gilgandra and 3,000 spectators cheered them on their way. They were greeted and cheered in all the towns they passed through. As they neared Sydney the Minister for Defence declared that all the marchers, if they were found fit to enlist, would be paid as soldiers from the time they left Gilgandra. By the time the marchers left Katoomba they were over 200 of them. On arrival in Sydney they were greeted by the wife of the Australian Governor General Lady Munro-Ferguson. They were then marched to the Australian Imperial Force grounds and barracks at Liverpool. After four months of training they were taken in March 1916 by the S.S Star of England to Egypt. From there most ended up serving in the trenches of France. In Gilgandra a marker is located in Bridge Street from where they all started. Within months other marches began from Nowra, Wagga Wagga, Narrabri, Warwick in QLD, Inverell, and Grafton etc. Their marching song was:
They are coming from Gilgandra, our soldier men to be,
They sing along the Western Tracks who’ll come and fight with me?
On the country roads they’re coming,
Can you hear the distant drumming,
Can you hear the message humming,
Over long long miles of bushland from Gilgandra to the sea.

Gilgandra. Population 600.
This region of NSW along the Castlereagh River was part of the lands of Wiradjuri people whose words for long waterhole were used by a pastoralists after 1836 to name their run. The first run was taken up in December 1836. Another important run in the district was Berida run which was taken up in the 1840s and named Berida in 1862 by Edward Flood the illegitimate son of an Irish convict born in NSW in 1805. Flood made his fortune as a Sydney builder in the 1840s and then turned to pastoralism. His Berida run occupied 160,000 acres but by 1871 he held 31 runs in NSW and he was partner in 18 runs in QLD. The station office of his run in now in the Gilgandra Rural Museum as is part of the Bullagreen shearers’’ quarters. This was remote country and a town did not emerged until 1866. In that year the Bushman’s Arms Hotel opened and the following year the first Post Office opened but no town actually existed. It was 1884 when the Courthouse was built and the first bridge across the Castlereagh River was erected. (The current Courthouse in wooden Arts and Crafts style at 10 Myrtle Street was erected more recently in 1915.) The first government school opened in 1884 and a protestant Union Church was built in 1897 – now replaced by the Masonic Temple. Gilgandra was only officially proclaimed a town in 1888 with the railway from Dubbo reaching here just a decade later in 1899 and it was extended to Coonamble in 1902. At that time the old railway station was built. Then the town began to grow. A flour mill was erected in 1909 and wood cutting for railway sleepers became important local industry. The flour mill closed in 1974 and was destroyed by fire in 1997. Apart from stores and rural industries churches s were very important in the early years. In 1903 the Anglican monks from the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd moved to Gilgandra. They ran 44 Anglican services at schools and centres in the region as well as their Anglican school in their residence. Brother John Feetham who joined them in 1907 paid for several churches in WA and founded many schools during his term as Bishop of North Queensland from 1913 until his death in 1947. In 1972 he was sanctified as the first Australian Anglican saint. The first Anglican Church opened in 1903 but it was not well built or big enough. After World War One the Anglicans of Gilgandra were awarded a prize for the best war service record and help given outside of England but within the British Empire. In 1915 250 men volunteered out of a total population of 2,500 for the armed forces. £1,200 was given by the church in Bournemouth to Gilgandra. This was put towards the erection of a new architect designed Anglican Church. It opened in 1922 at a total cost of £4,200. There is a collection of windmills in Rotary Park near the Castlereagh River. They were used for stock and human water supplies from the early years.

Some buildings of historical note in Gilgandra.
70 Warren Road. Tattersalls Hotel. Edwardian style built in 1911.
66 Warren Rd. This Federation style butcher’s shop was operating by 1917.
Opposite 66 Warren Road. The Federation style Post Office built in 1911.
11 Wrigley Street. The Masonic Temple. The Lodge was formed in 1911 using the former weatherboard Union Church. It burn down in the 1920s and was replaced with a red brick classical style temple.
44 Miller Street. The former Western Monarch Theatre. Built in Art Deco style in 1934 to show movies. It has a fine façade. The cinema closed in 1984 and it is now the Christian Outreach Centre.
73 Miller Street. The Royal Hotel. Built in 1903 on the site of the original Bushman’s Arms Hotel of 1866.
10 Myrtle St. The heritage listed wooden and stone Courthouse. Built in 1915.
42 Myrtle Street. St Stephens Presbyterian Church. The red brick Gothic church with buttresses was built in 1912.
54 Myrtle St. Anglican Church of St Ambrose.

Hitchen House and the Gilgandra Cooee Heritage Centre. This rare example of a late 19th century house at 62 Miller Street was home to Bill Hitchen and his brother Dick. It was Bill Hitchen who initiated and conceptualised the Cooee March to Sydney in March/April 1915. William (Bill) Hitchin moved to Gilgandra around 1900 to install windmills. Dick established a butcher’s shop next to Bill’s house. Bill Hitchen was very civic minded and a member of the Hospital board, the Lodge etc and the Captain of the Rifle Club. He was known as Captain Bill. He enlisted in early 1915 and organised a recruitment march to Sydney. He was sent to England and fell ill on the voyage to England and died in London in September 1916. His home used to be a museum but the militaria collection and house was put up for auction in 2021 and the collection dispersed. Since then the Shire has built a grand new gallery, museum and visitor centre.
The famous Cooee March began in Gilgandra after the slaughter at Gallipoli. A group led by Captain Hitchen left the town in early October 1915 to entice more men to enlist despite the defeat of Gallipoli which dented enlistments. The Cooees held recruiting meetings in every town they reached and they were fed and housed by local townspeople. The original 35 Gilgandra enlistees had swollen to 263 men by the time they reached Sydney. Along the way they stopped at 29 towns. The walking route took them to Dubbo, Molong, Orange, Blayney, Bathurst, Lithgow, Katoomba etc. This successful Cooee march let to others and the cooee marches in NSW delivered thousands enlistees to the armed forces in NSW and the scheme was copied in other states including SA with a March from Edithburgh which gathered 170 enlistees. Many rode a horse and took a cart but most walked. It was a 500 kms walk to Sydney on the Gilgandra Cooee March. They marched at their own cost and had no support from the State Recruiting Board of NSW. A ball was held the night before the march began and six young ladies on horseback acted as marshals to guide the procession out of Gilgandra and 3,000 spectators cheered them on their way. They were greeted and cheered in all the towns they passed through. As they neared Sydney the Minister for Defence declared that all the markers, if they were found fit to enlist, would be paid as soldiers from the time they left Gilgandra. By the time the marchers left Katoomba they were over 200 of them. On arrival in Sydney they were greeted by the wife of the Australian Governor General Lady Munro-Ferguson. They were then marched to the Australian Imperial Force grounds and barracks at Liverpool. After four months of training they were taken in March 1916 by the S.S Star of England to Egypt. From there most ended up serving in the trenches of France. In Gilgandra a marker is located in Bridge Street from where they all started. Within months other marches began in Nowra, Wagga Wagga, Narrabri, Warwick in QLD, Inverell, Grafton etc. Their marching song was:
They are coming from Gilgandra, our soldier men to be, They sing along the Western Tracks who’ll come and fight with me? On the country roads they’re coming, Can you hear the distant drumming, Can you hear the message humming, Over long long miles of bushland from Gilgandra to the sea.
Orana Cactus World. This spikey garden has toweringly tall cactus and miniatures, established by Lester Meyer who started collecting cactus plants in 1948. He established his nurseries and cactus world in 1972.The tallest cactus are about 25 feet high (7.8 metres) creating unique and stunning landscapes.

Gilgandra. Population 600.
This region of NSW along the Castlereagh River was part of the lands of Wiradjuri people whose words for long waterhole were used by a pastoralists after 1836 to name their run. The first run was taken up in December 1836. Another important run in the district was Berida run which was taken up in the 1840s and named Berida in 1862 by Edward Flood the illegitimate son of an Irish convict born in NSW in 1805. Flood made his fortune as a Sydney builder in the 1840s and then turned to pastoralism. His Berida run occupied 160,000 acres but by 1871 he held 31 runs in NSW and he was partner in 18 runs in QLD. The station office of his run in now in the Gilgandra Rural Museum as is part of the Bullagreen shearers’’ quarters. This was remote country and a town did not emerged until 1866. In that year the Bushman’s Arms Hotel opened and the following year the first Post Office opened but no town actually existed. It was 1884 when the Courthouse was built and the first bridge across the Castlereagh River was erected. (The current Courthouse in wooden Arts and Crafts style at 10 Myrtle Street was erected more recently in 1915.) The first government school opened in 1884 and a protestant Union Church was built in 1897 – now replaced by the Masonic Temple. Gilgandra was only officially proclaimed a town in 1888 with the railway from Dubbo reaching here just a decade later in 1899 and it was extended to Coonamble in 1902. At that time the old railway station was built. Then the town began to grow. A flour mill was erected in 1909 and wood cutting for railway sleepers became important local industry. The flour mill closed in 1974 and was destroyed by fire in 1997. Apart from stores and rural industries churches s were very important in the early years. In 1903 the Anglican monks from the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd moved to Gilgandra. They ran 44 Anglican services at schools and centres in the region as well as their Anglican school in their residence. Brother John Feetham who joined them in 1907 paid for several churches in WA and founded many schools during his term as Bishop of North Queensland from 1913 until his death in 1947. In 1972 he was sanctified as the first Australian Anglican saint. The first Anglican Church opened in 1903 but it was not well built or big enough. After World War One the Anglicans of Gilgandra were awarded a prize for the best war service record and help given outside of England but within the British Empire. In 1915 250 men volunteered out of a total population of 2,500 for the armed forces. £1,200 was given by the church in Bournemouth to Gilgandra. This was put towards the erection of a new architect designed Anglican Church. It opened in 1922 at a total cost of £4,200. There is a collection of windmills in Rotary Park near the Castlereagh River. They were used for stock and human water supplies from the early years.

Some buildings of historical note in Gilgandra.
70 Warren Road. Tattersalls Hotel. Edwardian style built in 1911.
66 Warren Rd. This Federation style butcher’s shop was operating by 1917.
Opposite 66 Warren Road. The Federation style Post Office built in 1911.
11 Wrigley Street. The Masonic Temple. The Lodge was formed in 1911 using the former weatherboard Union Church. It burn down in the 1920s and was replaced with a red brick classical style temple.
44 Miller Street. The former Western Monarch Theatre. Built in Art Deco style in 1934 to show movies. It has a fine façade. The cinema closed in 1984 and it is now the Christian Outreach Centre.
73 Miller Street. The Royal Hotel. Built in 1903 on the site of the original Bushman’s Arms Hotel of 1866.
10 Myrtle St. The heritage listed wooden and stone Courthouse. Built in 1915.
42 Myrtle Street. St Stephens Presbyterian Church. The red brick Gothic church with buttresses was built in 1912.
54 Myrtle St. Anglican Church of St Ambrose.

Hitchen House and the Gilgandra Cooee Heritage Centre. This rare example of a late 19th century house at 62 Miller Street was home to Bill Hitchen and his brother Dick. It was Bill Hitchen who initiated and conceptualised the Cooee March to Sydney in March/April 1915. William (Bill) Hitchin moved to Gilgandra around 1900 to install windmills. Dick established a butcher’s shop next to Bill’s house. Bill Hitchen was very civic minded and a member of the Hospital board, the Lodge etc and the Captain of the Rifle Club. He was known as Captain Bill. He enlisted in early 1915 and organised a recruitment march to Sydney. He was sent to England and fell ill on the voyage to England and died in London in September 1916. His home used to be a museum but the militaria collection and house was put up for auction in 2021 and the collection dispersed. Since then the Shire has built a grand new gallery, museum and visitor centre.
The famous Cooee March began in Gilgandra after the slaughter at Gallipoli. A group led by Captain Hitchen left the town in early October 1915 to entice more men to enlist despite the defeat of Gallipoli which dented enlistments. The Cooees held recruiting meetings in every town they reached and they were fed and housed by local townspeople. The original 35 Gilgandra enlistees had swollen to 263 men by the time they reached Sydney. Along the way they stopped at 29 towns. The walking route took them to Dubbo, Molong, Orange, Blayney, Bathurst, Lithgow, Katoomba etc. This successful Cooee march let to others and the cooee marches in NSW delivered thousands enlistees to the armed forces in NSW and the scheme was copied in other states including SA with a March from Edithburgh which gathered 170 enlistees. Many rode a horse and took a cart but most walked. It was a 500 kms walk to Sydney on the Gilgandra Cooee March. They marched at their own cost and had no support from the State Recruiting Board of NSW. A ball was held the night before the march began and six young ladies on horseback acted as marshals to guide the procession out of Gilgandra and 3,000 spectators cheered them on their way. They were greeted and cheered in all the towns they passed through. As they neared Sydney the Minister for Defence declared that all the markers, if they were found fit to enlist, would be paid as soldiers from the time they left Gilgandra. By the time the marchers left Katoomba they were over 200 of them. On arrival in Sydney they were greeted by the wife of the Australian Governor General Lady Munro-Ferguson. They were then marched to the Australian Imperial Force grounds and barracks at Liverpool. After four months of training they were taken in March 1916 by the S.S Star of England to Egypt. From there most ended up serving in the trenches of France. In Gilgandra a marker is located in Bridge Street from where they all started. Within months other marches began in Nowra, Wagga Wagga, Narrabri, Warwick in QLD, Inverell, Grafton etc. Their marching song was:
They are coming from Gilgandra, our soldier men to be, They sing along the Western Tracks who’ll come and fight with me? On the country roads they’re coming, Can you hear the distant drumming, Can you hear the message humming, Over long long miles of bushland from Gilgandra to the sea.
Orana Cactus World. This spikey garden has toweringly tall cactus and miniatures, established by Lester Meyer who started collecting cactus plants in 1948. He established his nurseries and cactus world in 1972.The tallest cactus are about 25 feet high (7.8 metres) creating unique and stunning landscapes.