On the Convict Trail: Wollombi

This unassuming hamlet in the heart of the Hunter's wine country was once a thriving junction town on the state's main arterial: The Great North Road.

Once a Thriving Town

Along the old back road that winds between the jagged hills that mark the western edge of our Hunter Wine Country, is the tiny hamlet of Wollombi, population 188.

It's hard to imagine today, but Wollombi was once a thriving village on NSW's main arterial: The Great North Road. Coaches and bullock trains plied the convict built road carrying mail, goods and people from Sydney to the Hunter and beyond.

With travellers averaging 10 kilometres a day, the Great North Road was peppered with towns and inns. Many have disappeared now, or completely changed their character, but Wollombi has that frozen in time feel about it and even some family names that have never moved away.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Wollombi was home to the Awabakal, Wanaruah and Darkinjung people. Being at the junction of three countries, the area was an important place for ceremonies and the name "Wollombi" fittingly means "meeting place".

The town was also a junction for European travellers. It was at Wollombi that the colonial-era highway split: east to Maitland and from there to Newcastle; or north to Singleton, the Upper Hunter and New England.

But Wollombi wasn't just a travellers stop on the way to elsewhere. The township was a trading centre in its own right. The town hosted a courthouse, a grand post office, blacksmiths shop, churches, schoolhouse and more than one inn.

Local farmland produced wheat, maize, tobacco, livestock, barley and potatoes. A flour mill stood by Mill Pond and the cedar forests were commercially logged. But crop rust and repeated flooding destroyed the crops, the cedar was felled and, eventually, more efficient road systems were built leaving Wollombi by-passed.

Far from being a ghost town, this quaint little village is still worth checking out on a Hunter Valley country drive. On weekends, the town's cafes, pub, handicraft shops and museum are open bringing back that old world buzz.

Wollombi's Heritage Sites

St Michael the Archangel - considered to be the oldest Catholic Church on the Australian mainland, the church was originally built in 1840 by the river. Due to repeated flooding, the church was dismantled and moved stone by stone to be rebuilt in its present location in 1893.

Wollombi Post Office - this elegant 2 storey building was once Wollombi's Post Office and hosted the first telephone line connecting Sydney to Newcastle

Wollombi General Store - possibly one of the oldest General Stores in the Hunter, it has been operating since the 19th century.

"The Forge" - on the site of Townsend's Blacksmith Shop (1870-1930) it was an essential stop on the GNR

Wollombi Dance Hall - without a sawmill, timber for this wooden split slab and shingle roofed building had to be cut by hand.

Wollombi Museum - the Former Lock-Up and Court House now hosts a local historical museum. Despite its foreboding security, the Wollombi Lock Up was renown for how easy it was to escape. It would have been a busy place with numerous bushrangers bailing up travellers on the GNR

St John's Anglican Church - built between 1846 - 49, the simple church, designed by colonial architect Edmund Blackett, has changed very little over the years. The sandstone church with cedar woodwork is a great example of early colonial work using local materials.

The Great North Road was built between 1826 and 1834 by an estimated 3000 convicts, It was a backbreaking task in unforgiving countryside by men who likely had little to no background in the labour trades. Bridges, retaining walls and stone culverts can still be found along the old road between Wisemans Ferry and Wollombi.