Gloucester (New South Wales)

Gloucester is a city in the east of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is located about 100 km north of Newcastle and about 60 km west of Taree, on the eastern edge of the Great Dividing Range. It is the administrative center of the Gloucester Shire Local Government Area. At the 2006 census, the town had 2,445 inhabitants at the Gloucester River.

History and Economics

The area around Gloucester was traveled (AA Company) for the first time in 1826 by Robert Dawson, chief agent of the Australian Agricultural Company. In the 1830s could be down there the first settlers. 1855, the settlement Gloucester was founded and initially served sheep farmers. But soon it became clear that this country was not ideal for sheep farming. The economy of Gloucester are now tourism, timber, cattle and coal mining. The timber industry was decisive in the area since the late 19th century and still is today, along with the cattle and dairy industry is an important industry.

In 1876 they found gold in Copeland, a small village northwest of Gloucester. So Copeland was because of gold and red cedar ( Toona australis ) to a sizeable town with about 3,000 inhabitants. Since the end of the gold rush its population but has been drastically reduced to a few hundred inhabitants.

The Australian Agricultural Company had received mining rights for an area of 2,000 km ² between the Manning River and the Karuah River awarded, which also included the area of Gloucester. In the years 1856/1857, the company employed a surveyor to survey a railway line from Port Stephens to Stroud and Gloucester for further nördlich.über Manning River. Once it became clear that the construction of this railway line due to geographical circumstances was too difficult, they gave to the coal mining before he had even begun.

1995 but began Gloucester Coal (formerly Stratford Coal ) with the coal mining in Stratford, a village 12 kilometers south of Gloucester. Since then, the company has spread its mining activities throughout the district, and apparently the rights of AA Company acquired.

Traffic

The Bucketts Way Gloucester connects with the Pacific Highway north of Raymond Terrace and Taree. In the city the Thunderbolts Way branches off from the buckets Way, and connectivity across the Great Dividing Range, after Nowendoc, Walcha and Armidale.

The North Coast Railway Line passes through Gloucester.

Leisure and Media

For most of the 20th century there were two cinemas in the main street, ' Church Street '':, ' The Star '' ( closed 1968) and the ' Majestic Theatre '' ( since the early 1920s to 1980). The building of the Majestic Theatre still stands today and serves as a shopping center.

The weekly newspaper of the district called The Gloucester Gloucester Advocate.