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Goulburn () is a provincial Cathedral City in New South Wales , Australia characterised by a particularly long Main Street . It is located 190 km south west of Sydney along the Hume Highway and 690 metres above sea-level. It has a population of approximately 25,000. It brands itself "Australia's first inland city". Goulburn was was named by James Meehar and the name was ratified by Governor Lachlan Macquarie , after Henry Goulburn , Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The Aboriginal name for Goulburn is Burbong.1 GEOGRAPHY The City is situated on the Hume Highway in southern New South Wales between Mittagong and Yass . It is one hour's drive from Canberra . Goulburn is a railhead and service centre for the surrounding Pastoral industry and a stopover for those travelling on the Hume Highway. It is home to the '' Big Merino '', the world's largest cement sheep. HISTORY The British Government claimed ownership of New South Wales in 1788 (see Mabo V Queensland ) and to hold all of its land as Crown Land . The colonial government made land grants to free settlers such as Hamilton Hume in the Goulburn area from the opening of the area to settlement inabout 1820, regardless of the welfare of the indigenous population. Later land was also sold to settlers within the Nineteen Counties , including Argyle County (the Goulburn area). This process displaced (disposessed) the local indigenous population and the introduction of exotic livestock drove out a large part of the Aboriginals' food supply. European settlers, with the assistance of the police, prevented Aboriginals, sometimes violently, from hunting their livestock, in accordance with British law, although there is little evidence of deliberate killings of the indigenous population. The reduction of the food supply and the accidental introduction of exotic diseases, substantially reduced the local indigenous population. Some local Aboriginals survived at the Tawonga Billabong Aboriginal Settlement established under the supervision of the Tarago police and there is no conflict recorded from this period. In the 1930s the Billabong dried up and the Aboriginal people moved away although some have, over time, made their way back. The first recorded settler in Goulburn established 'Strathallan' in 1825 (on the site of the present Police Academy) and a town was originally surveyed in 1828, although moved to the present site of the city in 1833 when Surveyor Hoddle laid it out. George Johnson purchased the first land in the area between 1839 and 1842 and became a central figure in the town's development. He established a branch store with a liquor license in 1848. By 1841 Goulburn had a population of some 1200 people - a courthouse, police barracks, churches, hospital and post office and was the centre of a great sheep and farming area. A telegraph station opened in 1862 , by which time there were about 1500 residents, a Blacksmith 's shop, two hotels, two stores, the telegraph office and a few cottages. The town was a change station (where coach horses were changed) for Cobb & Co by 1855 . A police station opened the following year and a school in 1858 . Goulburn was proclaimed a town with municipal government in 1859 . Royal Letters Patent issued by Queen Victoria on 14 March 1863 established the Diocese Of Goulburn giving Goulburn city status and making it the first inland city. The existing St Saviour's Church became the Cathedral. The arrival of the railway in 1869 , which was opened by the Governor Lord Belmore (an event commemorated by Belmore Park in the centre of the city), along with the completion of the line from Sydney to Albury in 1893 , was a boon to the city. Later branchlines were constructed to Cooma (opened in 1889) and later extended further to Nimmitabel and then to Bombala , and to Crookwell and Taralga. Goulburn became a major railway centre with a roundhouse and engine servicing facilities and a factory which made pre-fabricated concrete components for signal boxes and station buildings. Goulburn was proclaimed a city (by the last use of letters patent for that purpose in the British Empire) on the creation of the Anglican Diocese of Goulburn in 1863. It developed as a regional centre with an impressive court house (completed in 1887 ) and other public buildings, as a centre for wool selling, and as an industrial town. Goulburn is a cathedral city. St Saviour's Cathedral, designed by Edmund Thomas Blacket , was completed in 1884 with the tower being added in 1988 to commemorate the Bicentenary Of Australia . St Saviour's is the seat of the Anglican Bishop Of Canberra And Goulburn . The Church of SS Peter and Paul is the former cathedral for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. BUILDINGS IN GOULBURN As a major settlement of southern New South Wales, Goulburn was the administrative centre for the region and was the location for important buildings of the district. While the first town plan was drawn up by Assistant Surveyor Dixon in 1828, the site was moved as it was subject to flooding. The town plan drawn up by Surveyor Hoddle was gazetted in 1833. The first lock-up was built in 1830. In 1832 a postal service commenced in Goulburn, four years after the service was adopted in New South Wales. Goulburn's second court house was built in 1847. It was designed by Mortimer Lewis , the Colonial Architect . |
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