History of the
O’Connell Valley
Welcome to Wiradjuri Land, people of the Guagaa (goanna totem)
The first inhabitants of O’Connell were the Wiradjuri people. The Bathurst Wiradjuri was the most easterly grouping of the Wiradjuri Nation.
The Wiradjuri lived in extended family groups of around 30 people, moving with the seasons and the food across their traditional lands for fishing, hunting and gathering. They travelled for trade and to perform ceremonies to honour their ancestors, their dreaming and their relationship with the land.
Wiradjuri Culture
An important dreaming story is the origin of the platypus near Flat Rock on the Fish River at O’Connell. Evan’s Crown (Gumblang), to the east of O’Connell and close to Flat Rock, was an important meeting place for ceremony for the Wiradjuri and surrounding tribes. Large gatherings of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people would camp there for weeks and months.
A distinctive feature of Wiradjuri culture was the incised trees (dendroglyphs) which marked their burial grounds. A dendroglyph from Bosworth Rd, O’Connell can be seen in the Bathurst Museum.
White Settlement
Following the crossing of the Blue Mountains by Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson in 1813, Governor Macquarie engaged George Evans to further investigate the country west of their expedition’s end point. On December 6th he found clear land for about a mile and named it O’Connell Plains, in honour of Lieutenant Colonel Maurice O’Connell, Commanding Officer of the 73rd Regiment and Lieutenant Governor of NSW. He named the river the Fish River because of the number of fish in it.
On the morning of December 6th, he wrote
“…I came across a fine plain of rich Land, the handsomest country I ever saw… this place is worth speaking of as good and beautiful…
On Saturday January 26th 1861, being the Anniversary of the Founding of the Colony, a Public Luncheon was given by the committee of the O’Connell School. The location was described thus;
“O’Connell Plains is not of large extent but from some points of view they have almost every feature of the beautiful landscape. The winding river here forms a considerable stream; its banks are spotted with thriving little farms, and here and there a homestead of higher pretensions.”
The first land grants west of the Blue Mountains were made in the O’Connell district and farming continues in the area. Increasing numbers of people have chosen to settle in the valley and pursue small farm enterprises.
Since 1974 the village has been classified by the National Trust as the ‘O’Connell Urban Conservation Area’. It is also listed on the Register of the National Estate.
In the 1820’s it became an important staging post on the main western road to Bathurst.
As you pass through the village you travel through the ANZAC Memorial Avenue (opened 1926) alongside the Fish River and past the O’Connell Hotel and Bakery (1865). Also in the area is the original butcher shop, St Francis Catholic Church and Convent (1866), The St Thomas Church group of buildings (National Trust Register), Thomas Hassall’s barn (1834) and O’Connell Public School (1876).