Rock Flat, New South Wales

Rock Flat
New South Wales
Monaro Highway crossing of Rock Flat Creek at Rock Flat.
Rock Flat is located in New South Wales
Rock Flat
Rock Flat
Location in New South Wales
Map
Coordinates36°20′49.2″S 149°12′36.5″E / 36.347000°S 149.210139°E / -36.347000; 149.210139
Population77 (2016 census)[1]
Postcode(s)2630
Location
LGA(s)Snowy Monaro Regional Council
RegionSouthern Tablelands
CountyBeresford
ParishGladstone
State electorate(s)Monaro
Federal division(s)Eden-Monaro
Localities around Rock Flat:
Pine Valley Cooma Carlaminda
Myalla Rock Flat Dangelong
Springfield Nimmitabel Nimmitabel

Rock Flat is a rural locality in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of Cooma, on either side of the Monaro Highway.

The area now known as Rock Flat lies on the traditional lands of Ngarigo people.[2]

Near the Monaro Highway crossing of Rock Flat Creek,[3] there is a mineral spring that comes to the surface, on the bank of the creek. The spring water issues from near the base of a small rocky mount composed of highly inclined beds of quartzite and the surface of the flat in the vicinity of the spring is tufaceous limestone that has been deposited there by the spring water. The flow rate of the spring is about 245-litres per hour. The spring water has a pleasant taste and is carbonated.[4][5] The water contains carbonates of calcium, sodium, and magnesium.[6]

Further information: Rock Flat Creek § Mineral spring

It is likely that this spring is the one referred to as Richard Bourke's Spring by the explorer Dr J. Lhotsky in 1834. Lhotsky had thought highly enough of the spring water to bring bottled samples of it with him on his return journey.[7] The spring was still in its natural state in the 1880s.[5] It was used by local settlers to make bread and damper (presumably making use of minerals that are present in the spring water).[8] Early attempts to bottle the water seem to have failed.[9] The first successful attempts, to exploit the spring commercially, seem to date from around 1900.[10] The spring water was bottled and sold under the name 'Koomah Spa', from that year.[11][12][13] It was bottled by the company, E. Rowlands Pty Ltd,[14] using a crown cork, then relatively newly invented, to seal the bottle. The company sent a consignment of its bottled water to Osterley House, in England, and subsequently quoted its owner, Lord Jersey, as saying, "No mineral water comes up to it and it has travelled excellently".[6]

By the late 1930s, the spring was all but forgotten.[15][16] The spring remained accessible to the public into the 1970s, but is on private property and public access is no longer permitted.[3]

A small deposit of fire clay in the locality has been mined in the past.[17]

Rock Flat became a favoured camping spot for teams on the road south from Cooma. A village of Rock Flat was planned, around 1886, near the site of the spring, but there is no sign of it now except that one of its streets, Cooma Street, still appears on modern day maps.[18][19] There was a railway station, also known as Rock Flat, that lay within the locality, on the now disused Bombala railway line; it opened in 1912 and closed in 1974. There are some remnants at the railway station site.[20] Rock Flat had a school from 1884 to 1918,[21] and a post office from 1890 to 1978.[22]

  1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Rock Flat". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 27 January 2022. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (10 January 2021). "Map of Indigenous Australia". aiatsis.gov.au. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b Man, Tim the Yowie (9 January 2021). "Region's secret water spring that was 'amongst the world's finest'". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Mining Industries on the Monaro MINERAL SPRINGS". www.monaropioneers.com. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Our Natural Highways". Australian Town and Country Journal. 21 June 1884. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  6. ^ a b "KOOMAH SPA". Freeman's Journal. 20 October 1906. p. 27. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  7. ^ "AUSTRALIAN ALPS EXPEDITION". Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842). 15 April 1834. p. 3. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  8. ^ "BAKING YOUR OWN". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 19 June 1943. p. 7. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Southern Pencillings". Australian Town and Country Journal. 4 August 1883. p. 25. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  10. ^ "A NEW SPA". Daily Telegraph. 14 February 1900. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  11. ^ "Advertising". North Queensland Register. 10 December 1900. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  12. ^ "KOOMAH SPA". Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942). 19 December 1907. p. 21. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  13. ^ "KOOMAH SPA". Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1930). 23 August 1908. p. 24. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  14. ^ "E. Rowlands Proprietary, Limited". Australian Town and Country Journal. 25 November 1908. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Australian Mineral Springs". Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938). 29 December 1937. p. 3. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  16. ^ "STRANGE BUT TRUE". Smith's Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1919 - 1950). 8 July 1939. p. 20. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Rock Flat Clay Pit, Cooma, Beresford Co., New South Wales, Australia". Mindat.
  18. ^ "Village of Rock Flat and adjoining lands [cartographic material] : Parish - Gladstone, County - Beresford, Land District - Goulburn, Shire - Monaro". Trove. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  19. ^ "Cooma St". Google maps. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  20. ^ "Rock Flat Station". www.nswrail.net. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  21. ^ "Rock Flat". nswgovschoolhistory.cese.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  22. ^ "View Post Office Details - Rock Flat". www.phoenixauctions.com.au. Retrieved 1 February 2022.