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

Located midway between Cootamundra and Temora and 426 km from Sydney via the Hume Highway on the South West slopes, Stockinbingal is a tiny settlement comprising one hotel, a takeaway cafe (in the old Bank building) a few shops, a post office and a small population of 250.

Like most Australian towns with Aboriginal names no one knows exactly what the word 'Stockinbingal' meant. Local mythology says it means 'full belly' but equally it is believed that the local water supply, now known as Bland Creek, was known to the Aborigines at Tocumbidgie or Tocumbimbil with 'tocum' meaning deep hole and either 'bingara' meaning creek or 'bimbil' meaning white leafed box tree. Somewhere in the past someone added an 'S' and changed a letter or two so that the result is a word no Aborigine would recognise.

The area around Stockinbingal was first settled sometime before 1848 but the village of Stockinbingal was not proclaimed until 1885. By the turn of the century the village had grown to become a significant service centre for the surrounding pastoralists who concentrated their attentions on wheat and sheep. There was a bank, a pub, a blacksmith, a doctor and dentist, and numerous small businesses. There was even a local photographer.

The local hotel was built in 1892 to cater for the Cobb & Co coaches which used the village as a stopover on their journeys from Harden to Temora. The following year the branch line from Cootamundra to Temora was completed and the town became an important railhead. In the years that followed the town grew rapidly and so, in 1893, a local police station was established and the local school was opened in 1894.

Undoubtedly the most interesting hotel in the region was that at Dinga Dingi which played host to bushrangers and Cobb & Co at various times. To get to Dinga Dingi take the Milvale road at the western end of Stockinbingal.

James Troy opened the Dinga Dingi (originally spelt Dingy Dingy) Hotel in late 1879 to take advantage of the Scrubyards goldrush. But Dinga Dingi (which was the legal spelling of the settlement) goes back much further than that. On 22 June 1859 Catherine Dacey purchased 320 acres for £320 at Yeo Yeo Creek (now known as the Bland Creek). By 1865 the homestead had a publican¹s license and was known as the Shamrock Inn. The bricks for the Dinga Dingi Hotel were made just 300 m away on the creek and all the nails were hand made. Bushrangers frequented the old hotel and one of the doors was holed by a bullet allegedly fired by one of them.

All that remains of the Scrubyards settlement now are two graves, some broken china and rusted tin. Yet at the end of 1879 there were as many as 1400 men on the goldfield with the usual facilities - butchers shop, general store etc. There was a lack of water on the field and by February 1880 (only 9 months after the initial rush) people were leaving the area.

By March 1880 things were so bad that one account reported: 'We are at present dull...nothing to enliven us not even a fight. We have no money to get drunk...the butcher must see us through now...in one hotel a notice is posted in the public room announcing that all drinks are to be paid for on delivery.' The Scrubyards field closed completely in 1881.

The first and only bank in Stockinbingal was the Bank of New South Wales which set up an agency in 1907 and eventually built on the corner of Hibernia and Martin Streets in 1921. The premises were closed in 1974. It has recently been converted into a cafe­takeaway hoping to attract custom from the increasing flow of tourists (particularly people from Canberra) who pass through the town.

Today the town is a small centre with many empty shops and houses and no new development. Time and transportation have changed Stockinbingal from a thriving township to a quiet community.