Walcha

History

The area was occupied by the Dhanggati (or Dunghutti) People for at least 6000 years prior to European settlement. The tablelands had places for ceremonies and trade of goods, and there are traces of bora grounds near Walcha. In the colder months, tribes retreated to the gorge country to the east, where fish and animals were plentiful. In 1818, John Oxley was the first European person to explore the area and the falls which were later to be named Apsley Falls. Hamilton Collins Sempill was the first settler in the New England area when he took up the 'Wolka' run in 1832, establishing slab huts where 'Langford' now stands. Other early runs around the district were Bergen-op-Zoom (1834), Ohio (1836), Europambela (c.1836), Surveyor's Creek (1836), Emu Creek (c.1837), Ingalba (1837), Orandumbie (1837), Tiara (1837) and Winterbourne (1837). A severe depression from 1841 to 1843, and low demand for wool created hardship for many of these early settlers. In 1848 Walcha run is recorded as being and in the lease of David Lanarch. During 1854 Walcha was sold to Rundle and Dangar who held the mortgage for Jamison and Connal. Later John Fletcher acquired Walcha and moved from Branga Plains to Oorundumby. After being sold in 1905, Oorundumby was resumed for soldier settlement in 1947 and subdivided into 22 holdings. Not long after Sempill's arrival, in 1834, John McLean took up a run he called Bergen op Zoom, reportedly named in tribute to relatives Allen and Francis McLean, who had assisted the Dutch in the defence of that town against the French in the War of the Sixth Coalition. When McLean died in 1851, his family sold Bergen Op Zoom to Shropshire-born artist Edward Baker-Boulton, who with his brothers already owned extensive runs in the Wellington district. Baker-Boulton…

Most-observed species

• Bell's Sawshelled Turtle

  Myuchelys bellii (Gray, 1844) · Testudines
  297
• Blackberry

  Rubus fruticosus L. · Magnoliopsida
  249
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  213
• Perforate St John's-wort

  Hypericum perforatum L. · Magnoliopsida
  141
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  117
• Pied Currawong

  Strepera graculina (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  115
• White-throated Treecreeper

  Cormobates leucophaea (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  109
• Yellow-faced Honeyeater

  Caligavis chrysops (Latham, 1801) · Aves
  108