Collector, New South Wales: Travel guide and things to do

Located 228 km from Sydney via the Hume Highway, Collector was, until recently, a stopover for travellers from Sydney. It was a tiny township which seemed to be little more than a pub and service station. Then the town was by-passed by the Federal Highway.

The area was first settled by Europeans when T.A. Murray was granted land in 1829. By 1837 Murray had built himself a substantial home and that same year a postal service began from Goulburn across the flat plains to Lake George and down to Yass. This inevitably meant the development of staging posts and the towns of Gundaroo and Collector sprang up. It is said that, in spite of its obviously 'English' name, the town takes its name from an Aboriginal word 'colegdar'.

Collector's history is the history of the roads which passed through it. When horse and bullock were the main means of transportation the town prospered as it was a day's journey from Goulburn. It was during this time that it had five inns and a number of stores. When Canberra was chosen as the national capital the town benefited as the Barton Highway, later to become the Federal Highway, passed through the town and consequently was kept in good condition. Today the Federal Highway by-passes the town but it is still worth visiting for the historic Bushranger Hotel and the memorabilia associated with Ben Hall's bushranger gang.

Things to see

Bushranger Hotel
It is hard to imagine that there was a time when Collector had five inns. The Bushranger Hotel is now the only one left. It was built in 1860 out of ironstone and named Kimberley's. Its true moment of fame came five years later when, on 26 January 1865 the bushranger Ben Hall and his gang held up the publican. At the time most of the police and able-bodied men in the town were out searching for Hall and his gang. They arrived and made so much noise (they fired on a horseman who was passing by) that they attracted the attention of the town's constable, the 38-year-old Samuel Nelson, a father of eight, who put on his uniform and went up the street to investigate. One of the gang, John Dunn, had been left outside to guard the pub. When confronted by the constable he shot him dead with a shotgun and a pistol. Dunn was finally captured on Christmas Day, 1865 and hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol on 19 March 1866.

There is a monument to Nelson outside the pub and just along the road. Eventually the name of the pub was changed to the 'Bushranger' to celebrate this event and over the years pieces of bushranging memorabilia (including some old guns) were collected. The pub has changed as well. There was no verandah outside when the crime was committed.

Grave of Samuel Nelson
It can be rather confusing hunting for graves but the grave of Constable Samuel Nelson is located in the Church of England cemetery at the back. It is more a memorial being placed there on 26 January 1965 by the Wild Colonial Days Society and the Goulburn & District Historical Society.