Hermidale is a village in the Orana region of New South Wales,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is 600km north-west of Sydney and the two closest towns are

Nyngan Nyngan () is a town in the centre of New South Wales, Australia, in the Bogan Shire local government area within the Orana Region of central New South Wales. At the 2016 census, Nyngan had a population of 1,988 people. Nyngan is situated on th ...

(46 km to the east) and

Cobar Cobar is a town in Outback New South Wales, Australia, whose economy is based mainly upon base metals and gold mining. The town is by road northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Barrier Highwa ...

(51 km to the west). It lies on the

Barrier Highway Barrier Highway is a highway in South Australia and New South Wales, and is designated part of route A32. The name of the highway is derived from the Barrier Ranges, an area of moderately high ground in the far west of New South Wales, through ...

. At the 2021 Census, the population of Hermidale was 127. The area now known as Hermidale is part of the traditional lands of

Wangaaypuwan The Wangaaypuwan, also known as the Wongaibon or Ngiyampaa Wangaaypuwan, are an Aboriginal Australian people who traditionally lived between Nyngan, the headwaters of Bogan Creek, and on Tigers Camp and Boggy Cowal creeks and west to Ivanhoe ...

dialect speakers (also known as Wangaibon) of

Ngiyampaa The Ngiyampaa people, also spelt Ngyiyambaa, Nyammba and Ngemba, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of New South Wales. The generic name refers to an aggregation of three groups, the Ngiyampaa, the Ngiyampaa Wangaaypuwan, and the ...

people. After settler colonisation, the site of Hermidale lay partly within the County of Canbelego (Parish of Hermitage) and partly within the County of Flinders (Parish of Boree). The area was originally known to settlers as Hermitage Plains but postal authorities substituted the name Hermidale, in 1892, initially leading to some confusion with distant

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 23,967 as of the 2021 census. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands reg ...

. What would become the village site lay astride the route of the

Cobar railway line The Cobar railway line is a railway line in New South Wales, Australia. It branches west towards Cobar railway station, Cobar from the Main Western railway line at Nyngan. Main West passenger trains once continued northwest to Bourke railway sta ...

and a station was opened there in 1892. The village of Hermidale was proclaimed on 18 July 1896. Sales of land took place in mid-1897. The public school opened in 1901. There were many mines near Hermidale, the most important of which was the Budgery Copper Mine (north-west of the village). There were also some small gold mines in the far west of the modern-day locality, around Muriel Tank. Hermidale was initially the rail connection location for the mines at

Nymagee Nymagee is a small town in the north west of New South Wales, north west of Sydney, south west of Nyngan and south of Cobar. It is in the Shire of Cobar, The State Government area of Barwon and the Federal Government area of Parkes. At the ...

but the opening of the Budgery Copper Mine brought some prosperity to the village from around 1906. In 1923, mining became uneconomic due to low copper prices and the Budgery Mining Co. went into liquidation. By 1924, all levels of the mine were flooded; the mine water contained dissolved copper salts and copper was extracted from it. There was also a village of Budgery—planned in 1908—but its design was cancelled in 1927, leaving Hermidale as the established community in the area. In 1913, Hermidale was the location of the murder of Mary Jane Greentree. Unlike other former mining villages in the region, such as the ghost towns of

Bobadah Bobadah was a mining village, now a locality, in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The village was also known as Carpina, its official name, although that name was rarely used. It is now a ghost town, with its community hall being ...

and

Canbelego Canbelego is a village in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. It is now virtually a ghost town but was once a much larger settlement associated with the Mount Boppy Gold Mine. The name (pronounced can-bell-ee-go) also refers to the ...

, Hermidale has considerable passing traffic, bringing potential customers to the village, due to its location on the Barrier Highway. The village retains a sports ground, tennis courts, post office, public school and one hotel, and it has a small cemetery. In 2018, it was announced that Hermidale is the site of a new multi-user rail siding that will accommodate trains up to 1,200 metres long. It will enable trains to be loaded more efficiently, while other trains pass on the rail line. The new siding will result in 33,000 tonnes of freight each year being switched from road transport to rail.

Reference section

External links

* {{Bogan Shire Towns in New South Wales Mining towns in New South Wales Bogan Shire