NSWPort & river
Singleton
A ford, inn and flour mill formed an early Hunter town.
1827Inn opens at Singleton’s Ford · settlement gathers
WHAT STARTED IT
Benjamin Singleton’s crossing of the Hunter River became an agistment stop and then a settlement when he opened the Barley Mow Inn in 1827. A flour mill and post office followed, serving surrounding pastoral estates.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Rail arrival in 1863 brought a commercial boom, and the town became a municipality in 1866. Coal mining, first recorded locally at Rix Creek in 1860, expanded greatly in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries; an army camp added another role in 1941.
TURNING POINTS
1827Barley Mow Inn opens at the ford.
1863Railway arrives.
1941Singleton army camp established.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
An Upper Hunter service town with vineyards, horse farms, defence activity and coal operations around its historic centre.