Moonan Flat

Moonan Flat is a village in the Upper Hunter Shire local government area, about 51 kilometres (32 mi) north-east of Scone in the Upper Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is about 316 km (196 mi) from Sydney, the state capital.

Moonan Flat
New South Wales
Victoria Hotel
Populationunknown (2011)Note1
Postcode(s)2337
Time zoneAEST (UTC+10)
 • Summer (DST)AEDT (UTC+11)
Location
  • 316 km (196 mi) N of Sydney
  • 51 km (32 mi) NE of Scone
LGA(s)Upper Hunter Shire[1]
RegionHunter[1]
CountyDurham[2]
State electorate(s)Upper Hunter[3]
Federal Division(s)Hunter[4]
Suburbs around Moonan Flat:
Moonan Flat Barrington Tops National Park

The Village

Moonan Flat the closest town to the western entrance to the Barrington Tops National Park. The town is on both sides of the Hunter River, connected by a vehicle bridge and by a suspension footbridge. The nearby locality of Moonan Brook was once a gold mining town on a stream of that name. Although there are only a dozen or so houses in the township, the town has a post office, a hotel (The Victoria[5]), a campground and a School of Arts Hall (The Soldiers’ Memorial).

History

Gold was first reported to have been discovered at Moonan Brook in 1855, by Richard Ward. Some nuggets were found in 1856 by Captain Moore. Some time later gold was found in quartz deposits by Moore and a Mr. Simpson. Mining in what was called the Denison Diggings was well under way by 1861.[6] Captain Thunderbolt robbed two miners at Denison Diggings in February 1867.[7]

By 1876, the Denison Diggings at Moonan Brook had passed their prime, there being one company employing twenty to thirty miners. There was one store and one public house, and a school.[8] Moonan Flat also had a school at that time.[9]

A town called Macqueen, just across the Hunter River from Moonan Flat, was gazetted in 1885. (Moonan Flat was not a gazetted town,[10] although the two together were generally called Moonan Flat.)

The Victoria Hotel at Moonan Flat was first licensed to Margaret Mitchell in 1898.[11]

A suspension footbridge across the Hunter joining the two was proposed in 1900.[12] Such a bridge still exists.

Tenders were called in 1920 for timber truss bridges across the Hunter River to Moonan Flat at Gundy and Belltrees.[13] There was a dry road to Moonan Flat from the early 1920s. Telephone service was established about 1921.[14]

The Soldier’s Memorial Hall, built by local fund-raising, was opened on 17 February 1926.[15]

A vehicle bridge was built in 1958 connecting Moonan Flat with Macqueen, and the two towns were formally merged. That bridge was replaced in 1984 by the present Rex Collison bridge, named for an Upper Hunter Shire Councillor who lived in the area.[16]

Notes
  1. ^ The Australian Bureau of Statistics does not provide population data for Moonan Flat, only its suburb, which includes several other localities. The population of the suburb, at the time of the 2011 Census, was 274.[17]>

References
  1. "Suburb Search - Local Council Boundaries - Hunter (HT) - Upper Hunter Shire". New South Wales Division of Local Government. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  2. "Ellerston". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  3. "Upper Hunter". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  4. "Hunter". Australian Electoral Commission. 10 January 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  5. "Victoria Hotel Moonan Flat".
  6. "SINGLETON". The Sydney Morning Herald. 7 August 1861. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  7. "THE DENISON QUARTZ REEF". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. 28 February 1867. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  8. "UPPER HUNTER". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. 27 April 1876. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  9. "UPPER HUNTER AND DENISON DIGGINGS". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. 10 August 1876. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  10. .news-article162714303 "HERE and THERE" Check |url= value (help). The Scone Advocate. 16 September 1949. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  11. "Advertising". The Scone Advocate. 14 January 1898. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  12. "Advertising". The Scone Advocate. 30 January 1900. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  13. "Advertising". Construction and Local Government Journal. 22 December 1919. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  14. "UPPER HUNTER SHIRE COUNCIL". The Scone Advocate. 8 November 1921. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  15. "LOCAL and GENERAL NEWS". The Scone Advocate. 12 February 1926. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  16. "Moonan's hall for generations". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 29 August 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  17. "2011 Census QuickStats". Retrieved 10 June 2015.

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