Nyngan
Pre-contact: Ngemba boarding Wiradjuri / Wayilwan /Kawambarai Country:
Traditional Language: Ngiyampaa – Wangaaypuwan (Wongaibon) Mayi (People).
Clans included:
- Belar -Tree people
- Bogan gull – Bogan River
- Keewong- Carowra Tank
- Neila -Tree people
- Karul-kiyalu – Stone people
- Wayilwan (Weilwan) / Kawambarai (Gawambaraay)– Macquarie River/Marshes, Castlereagh River, Warren, Gulargambone, Quambone, Carinda, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Tooraweenah, Binnaway, Mendooran, Collie, Buckinguy, Curban, Eumungerie, Merrygoen surrounding areas (Tindale’s Map,1974).
- Wangaaypuwan (Wongaibon) – Bogan River, Nyngan / Nyingen, Trangie, Coolabah, Girilambone, Hermidale, Narromine, Peakhill, Trundle, Cobar, Nevertire, Tullamore, Tottenham (Tindale’s Map,1974).
- Muttagah
- Duck creek
The history of Nyngan: colonisation and a timeline of events
1835: The first recorded visit by Europeans to the Bogan River was by a party led by Major Thomas Mitchell, who set off from Parramatta on March 9, 1835.
10 May 1835: Major Mitchell arrives in what was then known as Nyingen (Nyngan). He described this spot as a “long pond with many birds, ducks and brolgas.” Squatters settled the area shortly after Major Mitchell passed through the district.
1846: Eleven years later, Major Mitchell returned to Nyingen, and noted the devastation and reduced population of the Bogan Gull Mayi (People), due to the 1841-1842 massacre, led by pastoralist William Lee and his men. Major Mitchell noted the discovery of burnt relics of the previous settlement. At this time Canonba, a small village on Duck Creek some 30 kilometres north of Nyngan, was a thriving village but soon fell into decline following the completion of the railway line to Nyngan in 1883.
A few houses and buildings from Canonba were moved and re-erected in Nyngan. Today the only reminders of the township are a small graveyard and a large boulder bearing a plaque to mark the site of Canonba.
1841-1842: Major massacres of Wangaaypuwan Mayi (Aboriginal People) occurred in the area, significantly reducing the population of the Wangaaypuwan Mayi (People).
1845: The government cancelled all pastoral licenses beyond the Derribong run, after the Bogan River Massacre – Frontier Wars and other hostile encounters.
1865: Nyngan was gazetted as a reserve for water.
1880: The townsite was not reserved.
1882: Nyngan was surveyed in 1882 when the Dubbo-Bourke railway was under construction. The track then arrived in Nyngan in 1883.
1880: Wheat farming began, prior to that the district had been used predominantly for cattle and sheep.
17 February 1891: Nyngan became a municipality.
1890s: A meat works was built on the outskirts of town in the 1890s for the boiling down of sheep.
1896: Initiation ceremony, Conoble.
1910: An experimental farm was established to develop and improve local wheat cultivation.
1942: The town finally got a secure water supply in 1942 when water was relayed along a 62 km canal from the Macquarie River referred to as the Albert Priest channel.
1983: Registration of Nyngan Local Aboriginal Land Council.
19 January 1984: Registration of Bogan Aboriginal Corporation
April 1990: Nyngan and the surrounding district in the Shire of Bogan suffered the worst flooding the area has known since European colonisation.
1997: Aboriginal Education Assistant position establish – Nyngan Public School / Nyngan High School.
1998: Aboriginal Education Worker position established – Nyngan Preschool
This document is based on research carried out by:
Raylene Weldon
Ngiyampaa – Wayilwan – Native Title Claimant
Wangaaypuwan History
