Location
Tumut is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the banks of the Tumut River.
Tumut sits on the north-west foothills of the Snowy Mountains and is referred to as the gateway to the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The former Tumut Shire was administered from offices located in the town. Tumut is approximately 410 kilometres south-west of Sydney and 525 kilometres north-east of Melbourne. (wikipedia)
History
Tumut is home to a number of historic buildings, including an Anglican church designed by Edmund Blacket and a Courthouse designed by James Barnet. Many of the pubs in the town have been in use from the mid to late 1800s.
Early settlers established a large number of European deciduous trees throughout the area. The stand of Poplars, Elm and Willow, amongst others, create a well renowned display of colour over autumn. Tumut celebrates this with the yearly Festival of the Falling Leaf.
Prior to European settlement, Tumut and surrounding areas were part of the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri, Ngarigo and Ngunnawal aboriginal peoples. The area’s rivers may have been the boundaries or connection-points of these three language groups. During summertime, the high country was a meeting place for tribes, with Bogong moths being an abundant food source in the warmer months.
Tumut Post Office opened 1 January 1849. A public hospital opened in the town in 1900. After many years of lobbying by the local community, construction of the railway line from Gundagai began in 1901, reaching Tumut by 1903 with the first train arriving on 2 December that year. A further extension was built to Batlow and Kunama from a junction at Gilmore, a few kilometres southwest of Tumut. Train services were progressively reduced in the early 1980s before the final trains to Cootamundra ran in January 1984 before being suspended when flood damage to the line was deemed not economical to repair.
Tumut was one of the ten areas short-listed in 1908 as a site for the Australian Capital Territory. An earlier vote following inspections of potential sites in 1902 saw the new Federal House of Representatives vote in favour of Tumut as the location for the capital, however the Senate favoured Bombala so no consensus was reached.
The town’s rugby league team competed in the Riverina Maher Cup competition, beginning as a fixture between teams from Gundagai and Tumut under rugby union rules in 1920, before switching to league rules in 1921. (wikipedia)
Places of Interest
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