Texas - Culture and History

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This was published 15 years ago

Texas - Culture and History

There was a time when the town was important. It was first settled in 1842 and was named after the nearby 'Texas Station' - the largest landholding in the area. In 1868 George Myles was appointed Sheep Inspector and border customs officer. In the 1870s the area became a centre of tobacco growing and in 1876 the town had its own factory which converted the tobacco leaves into cakes and plugs. But it was still hardly a town. A report in 1886 describes Texas as 'the town only exists on paper' and describes it as a hotel, a store, a few cottages and the factory.

The famous flood of 28 March 1890 wiped out the tobacco factory and what there was of the town. People were forced to climb trees and wait until the flood waters receded. The town moved 2 km north to higher ground. The town's interest with tobacco continued for nearly a century but it started to decline in the late 1950s so that today there is little evidence of tobacco growing.

Around the turn of the century Chinese were employed to grow tobacco in the area. One of the pamphlets at the Museum recalls: 'The Chinese tobacco grower's farm usually consisted of five acres on which he would put down three well which were fifteen feet deep...The growers were terrific workers. They carried 2 six gallon watering cans full of water on a pole across their shoulders. They walked between the rows and sprinkled the plants on each side simultaneously as they walked, or rather jogged, between the rows.'

The town has a nice sense of humour about its very unusual name. In the main street there is a Dallas Gift Shop.

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