Scone, New South Wales

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Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Australian place

Scone (Template:IPAc-en)Template:Efn is a town in the Upper Hunter Shire in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2021 census, Scone had a population of 5,013.<ref name=Census2021>Template:Cite web</ref> It is on the New England Highway north of Muswellbrook about 270 kilometres (167.77 miles) north of Sydney, and is part of the New England (federal) and Upper Hunter (state) electorates.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Scone is in a farming area and is also noted for breeding Thoroughbred racehorses. It is known as the "Horse capital of Australia".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

St Luke's Anglican Church, Scone, NSW

Allan Cunningham was the first recorded European person to travel into the Scone area, reaching the Upper Dartbrook and Murrurundi areas in 1823.<ref name="scone.com.au">Template:Cite web</ref> Surveyor Henry Buffier travelled through the area, prior to passing over the Liverpool Range above Murrurundi in 1824. The first properties in the area were Invermein and Segenhoe in 1825. The town initially started as the village of Redbank in 1826 and in 1831 Hugh Cameron, a Scottish descendant put forward the name of Scone to Thomas Mitchell.<ref name="scone.com.au"/> It was gazetted as Scone in 1837 and during the early days was renowned for its large pastoral properties including Belltrees and Segenhoe.<ref>Scone History Template:Webarchive Retrieved on 11 October 2008</ref> Early buildings were St Luke's Church, Scone Post Office, the Old Court Theatre (that is now a hall for musicals and plays), and the St Aubins' Inn.

Scone Shire was merged into the Upper Hunter Shire in 2004, integrating parts of the former Murrurundi and Merriwa shires.

The annual Scone Horse Festival is a celebration of Scone's cultural links to equines. It is celebrated during May and includes all manner of activities, including wine tours, Open Days across the numerous horse studs in the area, the Scone rodeo, the Scone School Horse Sports competition, the Black Tie Ball, and a parade in Kelly Street.

The main event is a horse racing carnival featuring the prestigious Scone Cup, one of the richest country racing days in New South Wales and Australia. Small celebrations are also a key part of the festival and include schools, businesses, public events and sports centres. The Horse Festival is also traditionally linked with such events as the Belltrees poetry competition, the yarns night and many other small annual fundraisers and events. Scone also hosts the Inglis Guineas Day, a major race meet, in the middle of May.<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive Scone Race Club - Race Days - retrieved 8 October 2014</ref>

The town is also home to some of the very old pony clubs and is known for a happening polo club. Besides these, the region is well known for its dairies and wineries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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Belltrees Country House

Located on Gundy Road and is heritage listed.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> The property is 23,000 acre farm.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1830 Hamilton Sempill was granted the land and called Belltree after an estate of an ancestor.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> After Sempill returned to England, it was owned by explorer W C Wentworth.<ref name=":2" /> In 1853, Wentworth sold the estate to the sons of John White.<ref name=":2" /> Designed J W Pender for Henry Luke White in 1906.<ref name=":0" /> In 1912 it was 160,000 enclosed with 3,200 km fencing and 64 buildings.<ref name=":2" />

Currently on the property there is a homestead built in 1908, St James chapel (1887), the original homestead which is now a museum, a trading store (1837) turned into an office, a shearing shed (1880) and a primary school.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Patrick White used the property as inspiration for his novel The Eye of the Storm (1973).<ref name=":2" /> In 1994 the property became the set for the film A Matter of Honour.<ref name=":1" />

St Aubin's Arms

In 1836 Thomas and Henry Dangar leased 6 acres of property at St Aubin's Village from Captain William Dumaresq.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was built in 1837 and is a pub located on 245 Kelly Street.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> The first name was "The Bird in Hand' and the first owner was James Briggs until 1838.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref> There was seven rooms with attached attics, and a small paddock and stockyard.<ref name=":4" /> In 1838 the pub was owned by George Chivers.<ref name=":4" /> In 1840 the pub was robbed by the Jewboy gang.<ref name=":4" /> In 1842, John P Wilkie brought the property and renamed it the White Swan Inn.<ref name=":4" /> In 1888 the house was built on the property.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1917 it was put on market but did not sell due to World War I.<ref name=":5" /> In 1938 the house was purchased.<ref name=":5" /> The property sits on 4 acres of land.<ref name=":3" /> It is a brick building with high ceilings, wide verandahs, cedar joinery and an underground cellar.<ref name=":3" /> In the 1960s an additional wing was added.<ref name=":3" /> The property now has five bedrooms, a library, lounge and dining areas.<ref name=":3" />

Turanville Estate

William Dangar purchased 800 acres and was given permission to purchase the 1800 acres adjacent to the property.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was well known for horse-breeding – producing racehorses and remounts for the Indian Army and attracted clientele from around the world.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref> Built in the early 1870s with 12 rooms and offices.<ref name=":7">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1888, a telephone line was installed to connect Turanville to Scone; it was the first connection to Scone from a property.<ref name=":7" /> In 1854, Thomas Cook started to work on the property.<ref name=":6" /> In 1889, Thomas Cook inherited the property from his uncle William Dangar.<ref name=":6" /> After Cook inherited the property, it reached around 10,000 acres; he also built a homestead and gardens.<ref name=":6" /> During the 1900s, a new roof made out iron with a front porch was added to replace the shingled one.<ref name=":7" /> In 1912, the property was sold to Hugh Corbett Taylor, whose great grandson still lives on the property.<ref name=":7" /> In 1938, Helen Ethel Moore and Douglas Hamilton Robertson took over the property.<ref name=":7" /> In 1946, a renovation occurred which included demolishing the separate kitchen block and adding a southern wing to the house.<ref name=":7" /> In 1963, Jock Douglas Robertson and his Elizabeth took over running the property.<ref name=":7" /> Since 2003, Douglas Hugh Robertson and his wife Nicola now run the property.<ref name=":7" />

Heritage listings

Scone has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Education

One of the first educational groups to be established in New South Wales was a reading society, The Scone Book Society, formed in 1841. This later became the Scone School of Arts, a Mechanics' Institute and library, which occupied buildings in Kingdon Street (1873–1917)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Kelly Street (1924–1954).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Present-day schools include:

There is also a campus of TAFE NSW.

Transport

Scone lies on the Main North railway line, and is served by a passenger train service made up of a daily NSW TrainLink train to Sydney and two or three NSW TrainLink services to Newcastle.

The town is connected to nearby Gloucester via Scone Road, which traverses the Barrington Tops.

Scone Airport (ICAO code YSCO, IATA code NSO) is located 3.5 kilometers Northwest of the town center. The airport has a 1404 meter asphalt runway. It hosts an aeroclub, a flight school, a warbird collection (Hunter Warbirds) but does not currently have any scheduled airline service.

Osborn’s Buses runs a bus service between Scone and Muswellbrook. There are approximately 20 services per week in each direction.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Media

Scone is serviced by a number of regional radio stations, television stations and newspapers.

Radio

Radio stations include:

Television stations

Subscription Television services are provided by Foxtel.

Newspapers

The Scone Advocate is the town's local newspaper which publishes on print and online.

Climate

Scone possesses a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa), with hot, relatively wet summers and mild, relatively dry winters with cool nights. Average maxima vary from Template:Convert in January to Template:Convert in July, while average minima fluctuate between Template:Convert in January and Template:Convert in July. Annual precipitation is moderately low (averaging Template:Convert), and is spread across 75.9 precipitation days (over Template:Convert). Rainfall is less common in winter than in summer due to the foehn effect, as the town lies on the leeward side of the Great Dividing Range.<ref>Rain Shadows Template:Webarchive by Don White. Australian Weather News. Willy Weather. Retrieved 24 May 2021.</ref> The town experiences 105.3 clear days and 57.1 cloudy days per annum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Extreme temperatures have ranged from Template:Convert on 12 February 2017 to Template:Convert on 20 July 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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Sport and recreation

Scone Polo Club was established in 1891.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

Notes

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References

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