Bang Bang Hotel

The small village of Koorawatha is the site of a notable 1864 gun battle between bushrangers and the police. The bushrangers tried to steal race horses from the Bang Bang Hotel – they were thwarted by police. The Bang Bang Hotel was demolished in the 1950’s – a cairn marks the spot where it used […]

Iandra Castle

If you should happen to be driving through the Central West of NSW, past grazing sheep, amid paddocks of wheat and canola, the last thing you would expect to see is a castle! On the road from Greenethorpe to Young, however, this is just what you will see. Mount Oriel homestead, or Iandra Castle, is […]

Murringo

Murringo is a tiny historic village located 25 km east of Young and 137 km from Canberra (via Boorowa). It is one of those Australian villages where time has stood still. Driving through it today it is hard to imagine that in the 1860s, when the whole area was awash with bushrangers and gold prospectors, […]

Cowra

Delicious food and wine, stunning natural attractions and a fascinating military history make Cowra a great place to visit. In 1944, 1,000 Japanese prisoners of war attempted to escape from a local internment camp. Cowra has since forged a remarkable friendship with Japan and you can see this in the Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre, […]

Koorawatha

The fame of the tiny settlement of Koorawatha lies in the remnants of old buildings and the cairn marking the site of a notable gun battle between bushrangers and the police at the Bang Bang Hotel.