Location
Grafton is a city in the Northern Rivers region of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is located on the Clarence River, approximately 500 kilometres north-northeast of the state capital Sydney. The closest major cities, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, are located across the border in South-East Queensland. (wikipedia)
History
Before European settlement, the Clarence River marked the border between the Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr peoples, and so descendants of both language groups can now be found in the Grafton region.
Grafton, like many other settlements in the area, was first opened up to white settlement by the cedar-getters. An escaped convict, Richard Craig, discovered the district in 1831. With the wealth of ‘red gold’ cedar just waiting for exploitation, he was given a pardon and one hundred pounds to bring a party of cedar-getters on the cutter ‘Prince George’ to the region. Word of such wealth to be had did not take long to spread and one of the arrivals was pioneer John Small on the ‘Susan’ in 1838, and he first occupied land on Woodford Island. ‘The Settlement’ (as the embryonic Grafton was then imaginatively named) was established shortly after.
In 1851, Governor FitzRoy officially named the town “Grafton”, after his grandfather, the Duke of Grafton, a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Grafton was proclaimed a city in 1885.
The Grafton Bridge, connecting the main townsite with South Grafton, opened in 1932. It completed the standard-gauge rail connection between Sydney and Brisbane, and also forming a vital link for the Pacific Highway. Previously the only way to travel from Grafton to South Grafton was via ferry. (wikipedia)
Places of Interest
No Data Uploaded