Tallong

Tallong is a village in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. It is located about 1½ hours’ drive from Sydney, the capital of NSW, and about an hour from Canberra, the nation’s capital. In the 19th Century the village was known as Barber's Creek. The area of which Tallong is a part was first charted by explorers Hume, Throsby and Smith in their 1818 and 1820 expeditions. Tallong was part of Mulwaree Shire prior to the forced council amalgamations of 2004; it is now in Goulburn Mulwaree Council.

History

Tallong was once a thriving agricultural community, known particularly for its pome fruit ==e Tallong Public School was begun by railway workers and was for a time the only school in the vicinity. Several large stations were in operation, Caoura, Tea Tree and Boswick were among the best-known.

The village sent an annual exhibit of a tall pyramid of fruit to the Sydney Royal Easter Show; Tallong's apples and pears took top honours several times through mid-century; in 1940 the village won first place for both apples and pears.

Tallong was destroyed in the Chatsbury bushfires of 1965. Its economy did not recover and the award-winning fruit industry folded. Many residents moved; the Post Office and small businesses closed.

Tallong continued to stagnate through the end of the 20th Century. Land prices were much lower than some neighbouring villages, the cricket pitch became unusable, and the heritage sites "The Dungeons" and the "Cheese Caves", built by convict labour, were closed due to hazardous conditions.

Tallong today

The 21st Century boom in the real estate market in Sydney brought the affordable land in the Southern Villages to the attention of home buyers, investors and speculators. Property value has almost tripled in some areas. According to the postal service, postal drops have increased by 100 households over the last two years, more than a 33% increase.

In 2004, Mulwaree Shire was profitable and was the fastest-growing shire outside of Sydney. The city of Goulburn operated with considerable debt. Following the forced council takeover, Tallong's resources were no longer managed by locals. As of the 2006 assessment, land rates (taxes based on the estimated value of the land) more than doubled.

Modern Tallong is saved from obscurity by a few unique factors

• The discovery of the Tallong Midge Orchid (Genoplesium plumosum), a tiny flower that grows nowhere else on earth, brought the village to the attention of botanists and conservationists. This orchid is now a protected species.
• The Tallong Public School is the oldest surviving single-teacher schoolhouse in Australia.
• There are two world-class lookouts over the Shoalhaven Gorge (a 1500-foot drop to the Shoalhaven River) and Morton National Park; Badgery’s Lookout and Longpoint Lookout, both of which attract day trippers.
• The country campus of Santa Sabina College with the Tallong Wilderness Centre, an outdoor education, retreat and conference centre, is located in Tallong.
• The annual Tallong Trail Ride in support of the Rural Fire Brigade attracts riders from as far away as Sydney.

Local organisations

• Marulan and districts Lions Club
• Tallong Community Focus Group
• Tallong Rural Fire Brigade
• St Stephen's Church

Main businesses

• The Tallong General Store
• The Big Apple (fruit)
• The Sheepskin Shed (tannery)

Tallong today is a hamlet of agrarian and trade workers, cottage industries, including stud farms, and commuters who work in the neighbouring towns of Goulburn, Moss Vale and Mittagong, or who make the commute to Sydney or Canberra. It has significant populations of older residents who are pensioners (retirees) and weekend residents who use the Southern Highlands as a retreat from the fast pace of city life.

Bibliography

• The Tallong Public School, Peter Westren, ed., privately published, Tallong: 1990.
• Southern Village View Magazine, Published Quarterly by the Southern Village View Association Inc. Wingello, NSW.

External links

• Santa Sabina College: [1]

• The Tallong Midge Orchid: [2] and [3]