NSWRail & telegraph
Ourimbah
A sawmill settlement called Blue Gum Flat became a railway town.
1887Railway station opens
WHAT STARTED IT
Timber drew settlers to the Ourimbah Creek valley, where J. L. Travers ran a steam sawmill from the early 1850s near the Maitland Road crossing. The settlement, known as Blue Gum Flat, took the name Ourimbah when its railway station opened in 1887.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
In 1889 McQuoid’s old grant was cut into 68 farm blocks along the creek, and citrus orchards and dairies followed the timber. After farming declined from the 1950s, the University of Newcastle’s Central Coast campus opened at Ourimbah in 1989.
TURNING POINTS
1887Ourimbah station opens on 15 August, and Blue Gum Flat takes the name Ourimbah.
1889McQuoid’s grant is subdivided into 68 farming blocks along Ourimbah Creek.
1898A public park opens at the railway station.
1970About 11,000 fans attend the Pilgrimage for Pop, Australia’s first major rock festival.
1989The University of Newcastle begins teaching at its Ourimbah campus.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A small township strung along the Pacific Highway, with shops, the railway station and a shared university and TAFE campus. Bushland and acreage surround it.