West Wyalong

Postcode: 2671

West Wyalong is a town in Australia, the main town for the Bland Shire, located in the Central West region of New South Wales.[2] It is located 486 km west of Sydney and takes almost 5 and a half hours to drive from Sydney and 3 hours to drive from Canberra. It is located on the crossroads of the Newell Highway between Melbourne and Brisbane, and the Mid-Western Highway between Sydney and Adelaide. It is situated 262 m above sea level.

The Wyalong district is the largest cereal-growing centre in NSW. Eucalyptus oil production started in 1907 and the Wyalong area became one of the major world exporters of the product.

Original inhabitants of the area are the Wiradjuri People.

Gold was discovered at Wyalong in September 1893 by Joseph Neeld. In 1895 West Wyalong was developed 5km from Wyalong around the bullock track, without the benefit of town planning, resulting in curious kinks in the road where it avoided trees. As mining declined West Wyalong became the main service centre for agriculture in the surrounding district, although for many years there was rivalry between the towns. Both towns wanted the Temora railway line, but settled on a compromise of a station midway between the two towns, called Wyalong Central.

Development since the 1970s has expanded Wyalong in the direction of West Wyalong with several motels built at Central Wyalong. A shared bicycle and pedestrian track was constructed in 1994 to link Wyalong with West Wyalong.

The town has been suffering a 5 year drought that has caused a large decrease in the local population with many young people heading for the city for employment and never returning.

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