NSWFarming
Goulburn
A service centre for the southern grazing country.
1833Present town site gazetted
WHAT STARTED IT
Goulburn developed to serve farms, pastoral properties and travellers on the route south from Sydney. An earlier town site was reconsidered because of flooding and the course of the main road; the present town was laid out on higher ground.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Trade, administration, flour milling and wool-related businesses broadened its pastoral service role. Transport and district services continued to give the city a purpose beyond its first town plan.
Read the fuller history
The 1833 plan helped concentrate trade and administration. Flour milling, brewing and wool-related business accompanied its growth. In 1863 Goulburn received city status through Royal Letters Patent associated with its new Anglican diocese.
TURNING POINTS
1833The present town site is gazetted.
1863Royal Letters Patent proclaim Goulburn a city.
1992The Hume Highway bypass removed through traffic from the centre and prompted a long period of civic renewal.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A Southern Tablelands service and transport centre, with substantial nineteenth-century architecture and museums preserving its industrial and water-supply history.