Jerrawa

Jerrawa
New South Wales
Community hall and Anglican church at Jerrawa.
Jerrawa is located in New South Wales
Jerrawa
Jerrawa
Location in New South Wales
Coordinates34°46′46″S 149°04′27″E / 34.77944°S 149.07417°E / -34.77944; 149.07417
Population106 (SAL 2021)[1]
Postcode(s)2582
Elevation594 m (1,949 ft)
Location
LGA(s)Upper Lachlan Shire
RegionSouthern Tablelands
CountyKing
ParishJerrawa
State electorate(s)Goulburn
Federal division(s)Hume
Localities around Jerrawa:
Broadway Broadway Dalton
Bango Jerrawa Oolong
Manton Lade Vale Lade Vale

Jerrawa (/dʒɛrəwə/) is a locality in the Upper Lachlan Shire, New South Wales, Australia.[2][3] It lies on the north side of the Hume Highway about 30 km to the east of Yass and was served by Jerrawa railway station on the Main Southern line between Sydney and Melbourne between 1876 and 1975.[4] At the 2016 census, it had a population of 73.[5]

The area now known as Jerrawa lies on the traditional lands of the Gandangara or the Ngunnawal peoples.[6][7] These two groups spoke a closely related, if not identical, language. The name Jerrawa is said to be a settler rendering of an aboriginal language word for 'iguana',[8][9] probably referring to the goanna.

The railway station and siding were situated at a location where the railway line gradient was flat, after rising from the bridge over Jerrawa Creek and then rising again to the west.[10] A small settlement, including an Anglican church (Christ Church), a hall, and a school, developed on the southern side of the railway line, near the railway station.[11][12][13][14] Some of the houses in the settlement were for railway employees. It seems that the settlement was never proclaimed as a village.

The school operated from 1877 to 1963.[15][16] Jerrawa had a store that also served as its post office.[17] There was no Methodist church at Jerrawa but its inhabitants used the isolated Greendale church and cemetery, which was already in existence from 1862 and predated the settlement at Jerrawa.[18]

In August 1938, Jerrawa was in the path of a violent whirlwind that left a trail of damage a mile and a half long and 500 yards wide, damaging some of the settlement's buildings, in less than a minute.[19]

The presence of an iron ore deposit at Jerrawa had been known since around 1879.[20] During the Second World War, with a shortage of coastal shipping, local sources or iron ore were mined to feed the steelworks at Port Kembla.[21] One of these wartime ore mines was at Jerrawa.[22][23][24]

Jerrawa's hall is falling into disrepair.[14] Jerrawa has a showground and holds an annual agricultural show, around Easter time, referred to as 'the Little Easter Show.'[25][26] The old store still exists but is now a private residence.[17] All that remains of the old railway station is its sign, which has been re-erected beside the railway line.[4]

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Jerrawa (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ "Jerrawa". Geographical Names Board. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Jerrawa". OpenStreetMap. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Jerrawa Station". Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  5. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Jerrawa". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 3 August 2017. Edit this at Wikidata
  6. ^ "Tindale Tribes - Gandangara". archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Portion of map of Aboriginal traditional lands". 24 September 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  8. ^ "NSW Railway Station Names and Origins". www.nswrail.net. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Names of railway stations in New South Wales : with their meaning and origin". trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  10. ^ "TS 0002 TI - INFRASTRUCTURE ENGINEERING MANUAL, Curve and Gradient Diagrams (Version 2)" (PDF). Rail Access Corporation. July 1999. p. S00 - 15.
  11. ^ "Parish of Jerrawa, County of King [cartographic material] : Land Districts of Gunning and Yass, Gunning & Goodradigbee Shires, Eastern Division N.S.W." Trove. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  12. ^ "Jerrawa - Satellite View". Google Maps. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  13. ^ "Jerrawa". www.weekendnotes.com. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  14. ^ a b McJannett, Ray (18 September 2018). "In Jerrawa: The hall that once rocked". Yass Tribune. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Jerrawa". nswgovschoolhistory.cese.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  16. ^ "Jerrawa Public School". www.records.nsw.gov.au. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  17. ^ a b "Old store and Post Office - Jerrawa". Mapio.net. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  18. ^ "Greendale Cemetery". www.gundaroo.info. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  19. ^ "WHIRLWIND STRIKES JERRAWA". Yass Tribune-Courier (NSW : 1929 - 1954). 29 August 1938. p. 2. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  20. ^ "GOULBURN". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 29 November 1879. p. 5. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  21. ^ "N.S.W. MINERAL WEALTH IN WAR-TIME". Smith's Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1919 - 1950). 15 November 1941. p. 20. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  22. ^ "MINING REVIVAL". Yass Tribune-Courier (NSW : 1929 - 1954). 1 May 1941. p. 6. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  23. ^ "JERRAWA". Yass Tribune-Courier (NSW : 1929 - 1954). 5 May 1941. p. 2. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  24. ^ "IRON ORE". Yass Tribune-Courier (NSW : 1929 - 1954). 12 January 1942. p. 1. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  25. ^ "Jerrawa Show - Agshows NSW - Your Country Show Movement". www.agshowsnsw.org.au. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  26. ^ "ABN Lookup". abr.business.gov.au. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2021.