Orange

Postcode: 2800

Orange is a provincial city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Mitchell Highway, also known as Summer Street, 260 kilometres west of Sydney at an altitude of 862 metres. The population is approaching 40,000 and the city is a major provincial centre.

Key industries include agriculture, mining, health services and education. A significant landmark nearby is Mount Canobolas at an altitude of 1,395 metres (4,577 ft) it gives commanding views of the district. Orange is one of the few population centres in Australia to receive one or two snowfalls most winters. Orange is the birthplace of poets Banjo Paterson and Kenneth Slessor, although Paterson only lived in Orange for a very short time as an infant.

Orange is situated on the Mitchell Highway, linking the city to Bathurst to the East, and through to Molong, Wellington, Dubbo and Bourke to the north west. Due west is Parkes (100km) and Forbes (125km) which is midway along the Newell Highway, running from Brisbane to Melbourne. Orange has two railway stations. The main station, on the old main line to Bourke, is served by the daily Countrylink XPT service between Sydney and Dubbo and the weekly Xplorer service between Sydney and Broken Hill. The twice-weekly Indian Pacific calls at a small platform on the branch line to Broken Hill (known as Orange East Fork). Orange is also serviced by a regional-class airport, ICAO airport code YORG / IATA airport code OAG. In 2007 a bypass road, known as the northern distributor road, was opened for use after decades of planning.

In 1822 Captain Percy Simpson drove into the Wellington District and established a convict settlement which was called "Blackman's Swamp" after John Blackman. Percy had employed John Blackman as a guide because he had already accompanied an earlier explorer into that region. In the late 1820s surveyor J. B. Richards worked on a survey of the Macquarie River below Bathurst and also of the road to Wellington. On a plan dated 1829, he indicated a village reserve, in the parish of Orange. It is thought that Sir Thomas Mitchell may have named the parish, as he had been an associate of the Prince of Orange in the Peninsular War, when both were aides-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington, whose title was bestowed on the valley westward, by Oxley.

Legal occupation by graziers began late in 1829, and tiny settlements grew up on the properties and in connection with the road. In 1844 surveyor Davidson was sent to check on encroachments onto the land reserved for a village, and to advise on the location for a township; the choice being Frederick's Valley, Pretty Plains or Blackman's Swamp. Blackman's Swamp was decided upon and proclaimed a village and named Orange by Major Thomas Mitchell in 1846 in honour of Prince William of Orange. At nearby Ophir the first payable discovery of gold in Australia was made in 1851 which led to the Australian Gold Rush. Subsequent discoveries of gold in nearby areas led to the establishment of Orange as a central trading centre for the gold. This is contrary to the popular belief that gold was first discovered close to the nearby regional town of Bathurst, New South Wales.

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