Ardlethan () is a small service town in the Coolamon Shire in

New South Wales, Australia ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , e ...

. Ardlethan is at the intersection of the

Burley Griffin Way Burley Griffin Way is a New South Wales state route, is located in south eastern Australia. Named after the American architect Walter Burley Griffin, designer of the cities of Canberra and Griffith, the road links these two cities via Yass ...

and

Newell Highway Newell Highway is a national highway in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It provides the major road link between southeastern Queensland and Victoria via central NSW and as such carries large amounts of freight. At in length, the Newell is t ...

. Ardlethan lays claim to be the birthplace of the

Australian kelpie The Australian Kelpie, or simply Kelpie, is an Australian sheepdog capable of mustering and droving with little or no guidance. It is a medium-sized dog and comes in a variety of colours. The Kelpie has been exported throughout the world and i ...

History

Ardlethan was established in the 19th century after

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

was discovered but gold mining was short-lived. The

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

opened in 1908. Passenger services ceased in 1983 however the line remains open for goods trains. Warri Post Office opened on 1 October 1907 and was renamed Ardlethan in 1908. Tin mining began in 1912, and became an economic backbone of the town. A major labour strike in the 1930s gained national coverage. The open cut pit was at one time the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and is located approximately 5 kilometres North West of the township. Mining eventually went underground and continued through to the late 1980s. The tin mine was reopened in late 2001, particularly for alluvial mining, but closed in mid-2004 after Marlborough Resources was placed under

voluntary administration As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry ...

due to disappointing results at its new processing plant, poor tin price hedging results, and lower-than-expected tin reserves.USGS Minerals - Tin in August 2004
– Retrieved September 2009. Australian Tin Resources Pty Ltd (ATR) now owns the mine. As at 24 January 2019 ATR had received Development Application consent from Coolamon Shire Council for a Rehabilitation and Tailings Reprocessing Project on the site. They intend to first carry out small scale pilot plant processing operations on site for about 2–3 months to prove up the processing technology, before increasing the scale of the operation

Population

In the 2016 Census, there were 387 people in the Ardlethan urban centre. 77.1% of people were born in Australia and 81.5% of people only spoke English at home.

Climate

Sport

The most popular sport in Ardlethan is Australian rules football, as it lies in the narrow 'canola belt', a geographical triangle stretching from the Grong Grong and Marrar at either end of the Canola Way, to

Lake Cargelligo Lake Cargelligo () is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, on Lake Cargelligo. It is in Lachlan Shire. At the , Lake Cargelligo had a population of 1,479 people. Its name is said to be a corruption of the Aboriginal ...

in which Australian football retains a strong following, despite being in the

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

supporting state of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. The town's team, the Northern Jets (shared with neighbouring Ariah Park and Mirrool), competes in the

Farrer Football League The Farrer Football Netball League (FFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing nine clubs based in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The league features three grades in the Australian rules foot ...

. The town used to have a

team.

References

External links

Ardlethan Railway Siding
{{authority control Mining towns in New South Wales Towns in the Riverina Newell Highway Coolamon Shire