The Gwydir Shire is in the centre of the ‘Fossickers Way’ and encompasses a diverse landscape that is both picturesque and productive. The Gwydir Shire encompasses the larger towns of Bingara and Warialda as well as many small villages that offer a brilliant lifestyle.
The Gwydir Shire is renowned for the innovative farming practices its primary producers utilise such as satellite guidance systems and minimum tillage. Both Bingara and Warialda have amazing communications infrastructure and a great ‘can do’ attitude within the community, both of which are instrumental in making the Shire a wonderful place for a ‘tree-change’.
Welcome to The Fossickers Way
The Fossickers Way is one of the oldest and most picturesque touring routes in New South Wales and provides an alternative route between Sydney and Brisbane for those who enjoy an easy, more leisurely scenic drive …on sealed roads.
Escape the stress of hours on the road watching traffic, instead take your time and appreciate the magnificent, ever-changing scenery, a landscape which varies from steep wooded hills and native forest to wide fertile valleys fringed by a haze of blue ranges.
The drive is exciting and different and takes you through one of the richest gem areas in Australia and just like the precious stones found along its route, The Fossickers Way holds many treasures waiting to be unearthed – from buildings steeped in history to picturesque scenery and quaint villages where the personalities are as big as the sky overhead.
The Gwydir Shire is in the centre of the ‘Fossickers Way’, a route which offers the traveller a relaxing alternative to the New England or Newell Highways. The Shire encompasses a diverse landscape that is both picturesque and productive.
The southern boundary of the shire is the Nandewar Range where the Gwydir and Namoi Valleys meet. The Horton Valley and Cobbadah District are home to some Australia’s most highly regarded beef cattle studs. These enterprising farmers use the latest artificial breeding and agronomic technology to produce beef of exceptional quality. Meat Sheep and merinos that grow high quality wool are also grazed in this area.
The Gwydir River enters the Gwydir Shire where it spills from the Copeton Dam and meanders in a westerly direction through the towns of Bingara and Gravesend. The Gwydir valley is well know for irrigated and dry land cropping as well as livestock production. In addition to the traditional crops of wheat, barley, oats and sorghum, there are olive groves, pecan nut plantations and freshwater fish farms in the Gravesend district.
Heading northwest from the timbered surrounds of the town of Warialda and the close-knit community of Coolatai, the countryside opens into an undulating vista of basalt farmland. This part of the Shire which include the villages of Crooble, Croppa Creek and North Star, is known as the ‘Golden Triangle’. Farmers using advanced farming techniques, such as minimum tillage and satellite guidance systems, produce a variety of high yielding crops such as wheat, barley sorghum, maize, chick peas, canola and cotton to name just a few. This area also has several cattle feed lots which supply grain fed beef to the Australian domestic market and export markets throughout the world.
Both Warialda and Bingara have Hospitals, Aged Care Hostels, Medical Centres, Caravan Parks, Swimming Pools, Pre-schools, Libraries, Tourist Information Centres, and a Mobile Pre-school based at North Star. Warialda is the centre for the Council’s Technical Services functions. Bingara is the centre for the Administrative functions. The two centres are being linked through the use of sophisticated communications equipment to ensure that the amalgamations primary objective is achieved which is to save the existing employment numbers within each of the main urban centres of Warialda and Bingara.
