Batlow

Postcode: 2730

Batlow is a town within the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, on the edge of the Great Dividing Range, 725 m above sea level.

Batlow is well known for its apples, supplying 2 million cases per year from about 75 growers in the district to the Australian market, and also grows cherries and stone fruit. The town's main landmark, the "Big Apple", stands testament to the orchards which have been vital to the town's economy for over 150 years.

Prior to European settlement the Wiradjuri people lived in the Batlow area. Hamilton Hume and William Hovell were the first Europeans to explore the area in 1824, en route to Port Phillip Bay.

When gold was discovered in the area in 1854, a small settlement called Reedy Creek was established as a supply point and service centre for the mining area, and a Mr Batlow surveyed a townsite nearby. The gold deposits were quickly exhausted, but farmers found the area better suited to a variety of crops, so the mining supply point was moved and the current township established around 1855. Fruit trees and timber quickly became the main sources of income for the town, and in 1910 the townsite was gazetted.

In 1923, the first cool stores in New South Wales were constructed in the town, and at the same time a railway was built from nearby Tumut, which facilitated the town's trade with Sydney and beyond, even supplying troops with dehydrated fruit and vegetables during World War II.

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