Clarence Town

Postcode: 2321

Clarence Town is a township in New South Wales, Australia in Dungog Shire. It is 204 km north of Sydney and 50 km north of Newcastle. It sits on the mouth of the Williams River, which branches from the Hunter River. It had a population of 807 in 2001, including 20 indigenous people (2.5%) and 35 foreign born people (4.3%).

The Wanaruah people were the original inhabitants of the area, and called it Erringhi. There is a hotel in the main street of Clarence Town built in 1913 called The Erringhi Hotel.

Clarence Town is most famous for building and launching the William IV in 1831, although the town was still called Erringhi at this time. It was later renamed in 1832 after the Duke of Clarence, who became King William IV in 1830.

Clarence Town is large enough to have its own post office (built about 1880), a supermarket (IGA), a primary school (which was recently rebuilt), several churches, a school of arts hall (which hosts many local events), a soccer club (home of the Clarencetown Cobras), a football field cum cricket pitch, a caravan park on the river and a swimming pool (home of the Clarencetown Comets swimming team). There are also several picnic spots and old houses and buildings to see.

Just out of town a little way is the Good Samaritan Donkey Sanctuary, which cares for mistreated donkeys. Visitors are welcomed, however appointments are required. In 2007, devastating floodwaters caused havoc in the Hunter Valley and claimed the lives of 2 people on a bridge into Clarence Town from Seaham, New South Wales.

The area around Clarence Town was once inhabited by the Gringgai clan of the Wanaruah people. The first Europeans to investigate the area were Lieutenant - Colonel Paterson (then Lieutenant Governor of NSW) and explorer Francis Barrellier who was in the area to conduct a survey of the harbour in Newcastle. They explored the Hunter River and its tributaries following what they took to be the Hunter to its navigable limit. Governor King named the river in (William) Paterson's honour. A cedargetters camp was later established here and a village was in existence by 1826.

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