• Court House. The Court House was built in 1878. The structure of the building is of interest with the iron stone foundation, the brick construction in colonial bond, the granite stone windowsills and cedar woodwork and furniture. Situated on the corner of derby and Apsley streets.

• -Fenwicke House. John Hamilton brought the block of land in 1855. Where he later built this delightful terrace style home in 1889. In the early 1900�s the Hamilton sisters taught music here. The big window out the front was put there for a tailor, Mr Howe, who is remembered sitting in the widow sewing and mending suits. The upstairs rooms of the house in 1906-1912 were used for delivering babies. The Mc Donald family later lived here from 1919 till 1969. Witnessing the flood on the 12th of January 1962, where the water rose over one meter. John Fenwicke helped the family out of the raging water. It was later used in 1979 as an art gallery, tearooms and the upstairs was rented. It was named The Parmenter Gallery. The owner at the times maiden name. It was continued as an Art Gallery, and in 1989-90 was extended further ,building an office at the rear for the growing insurance business.

- New England Hotel. Walcha has had several hotels since its first settlement. Built between 1850and 1860�s, this was Walcha�s first New England hotel owned by the Mac-Donald�s. The Hotel still stands at its original site.

- Anglea House. James W Rae f irst purchased this bloc k of land in 1856. It was then sold in 1881 to Reuben C Holledge. Mr Holledge sold it 18 months later to Dr C Schrader. Who built the bric k section, with its wide verandas fac ing Hill Street and subsequently named it Anglea House. He conducted surgery f rom the house for almost a decade. Dr Sc hrader then sold the house to Mrs Hamilton and he returned to Sydney where he died in 1892. The house is now a Bed and Breakfast. - St Paul�s Presbyterian Church. The existing churc h was opened in 1888 on land bought and donated by Abraham Niv ison. Origina lly it was named St Mary�s Presbyterian Church, the name was later changed in 1915. This building replaces a wooden building erected in 1857, af ter three years of attempts to have a Presbyterian c hurch established in Walc ha. A Sunday sc hool was established here in the early 1870�s. The Mase beside the c hurch was built around 1904. - Erratt House. G H Erratt c ame to Walc ha in the late 1850�s and established a general store, which the family ran for more than a century . T he residence is one of the earliest buildings in Walc ha, and is still used by members of the Erratt f amily . This building is now an Antique store. - Post Off ice. The f irst Post Off ic e was established in 1851 and the present building was finished being c onstruc ted and reopened on the 16th of June 1884. it has had severa l a lterations to the front and side of the building since it was f irst established.

Take A leisurely stroll around the town and experience some of our spectacular historical buildings. ( walking time 1 hours)

Tour Our Historic Buildings of Walcha

-Walcha Library. This building was first established in 1901, as the Walcha Shire Chambers. Today used as the Walcha library, established in the building in 1952. - National Australia Bank. This building was first lo-cated in Fitzroy Street as Walcha�s Commercial banking Company, opened on the 16th of June 1873. The building was purchased from the Ewing family in 1947 and is now the Walcha Ex-Services Memo-rial Club. A corner store was located here facing Ar-midale. It was later knocked down and a new build-ing for the bank was built and reopened. Which is now the National Australia Bank.

- Brown�s Bake House. This was the old Royal hotel, owned by George Andronicus, built in 1889. It was later guttered by fire on the 28th of August 1938. This building was later rebuilt on the same location and named the New Royal Ho-tel. It is now use as a Bake House and Coffee Shop, also caters for dinners and lunches. - The Walcha Witness. It was from this building that Frank Townsend issued the first newspaper, the Walcha Witness, in June 1889. The printing Press was later moved and the premises was later demolished by fire in 1932. The first building was built on land adjoining and early Aboriginal Corroboree ground. - Mc Hatton Park. With its picnic tables, bus shelter and toilet block. Also take note of the Sculptures; �Weather signs� by Stephen King 1996, and �The Family� by Tom Deko 1998. It is hard to believe but this park was once the scene of a tragedy that claimed the lives of three people. The federal Coffee Palace (boarding place) and Walcha Cot-tage Bank (Commercial Bank of Sydney) also shared this site. Run by Miss Gibson, which was awoken by fire 3am, April 3rd, 1926. Nine people had a miraculous escape, most of which jumped from the top floor. The bank was opened in 1873. This building was a �miserable structure, unsuited to the climate and built on low damp land�. It was being relocated in 1877 to the Memorial Club, and to where it stands now as the National Australia Bank.

mercial Hotel, which was built by Hardaker in the early 1860�s.

!Walcha - The early spring of the year 1818 saw the arrival of john Oxley, surveyor general and explorer. Hoping to

follow the Macquarie River to the outlet. ( Frustrated with his endeavour, he turned eastward. Only to find in the dis-tance several campfires, which appeared to be many na-

tives.

Aboriginals � The first contact with Aboriginals in the local area seemed to be by John Oxley�s party in 1818. The

Nganyaywana, Ennewen, Himberrog and the Thungutti .-

Ex-Services memorial Club. Alexander Mitchell constructed the older portion of this building for the Walcha Brach of

the Commercial banking company of Sydney in 1876-1877. By the end of 1877 the building was re-located op-posite the Post office in Derby Street. It is now the local

EX-services Memorial club. - Mitchell�s Residence and Flour Mill. Alexander Mitchell came to Walcha from Lancashire, Scotland in 1854. In

1857 he set up business in Uralla as a builder and con-tractor. He moved to Walcha in 1870 to establish a general

store, run the flourmill, opened the bank and continue contracting for public and private buildings.

- Commercial Hotel. Thomas Bath, who was born in Wilt-shire, England in 1836, came to Walcha with his parents as a child. In 1873 he purchased the Walcha Hotel, which he ran for eight years. In the 1880�s he brought the Com-

Tour Our Historic Buildings Of Walcha �.

- Anglea House. James W Rae first purchased this block of land in 1856. It was then sold in 1881 to Reuben C Holledge. Mr Holledge sold it 18 months later to Dr C Schrader. Who built the brick section, with its wide verandas facing Hill Street and subsequently named it Anglea House. He conducted surgery from the house for almost a decade. Dr Schrader then sold the house to Mrs Hamilton and he returned to Sydney where he died in 1892. The house is now a Bed and Breakfast. - St Paul�s Presbyterian Church. The existing church was opened in 1888 on land bought and donated by Abraham Nivison. Originally it was named St Mary�s Presbyterian Church, the name was later changed in 1915. This building replaces a wooden building erected in 1857, after three years of attempts to have a Presbyterian church established in Walcha. A Sunday school was established here in the early 1870�s. The Mase beside the church was built around 1904. - Erratt House. G H Erratt came to Walcha in the late 1850�s and established a general store, which the family ran for more than a century. The residence is one of the earliest buildings in Walcha, and is still used by members of the Erratt family. This building is now an Antique store.

- Post Office. The first Post Office was established in 1851 and the present building was finished being constructed and reopened on the 16th of June 1884. it has had several alterations to the front and side of the building since it was first established.

- St Andrew�s Anglican Church. This church was the third church to be built in Walcha, but is now the earliest church still standing on its original site in Walcha. Con-struction commenced in 1862 with stone quarried from the old Walcha station, known as �The villa Wolka� Originally known as St Paul�s Church, it was renamed St Andrew�s in the 1870�s. The church interesting stained glass windows dedicated to the early Pioneers of the dis-trict. The new church was built in 1963 and the Parish Hall was built in 1954.

-St Patrick�s Catholic church. This church was built in 1881 and extended again in 1955. The first Catholic Church, a timber structure, had been built in 1859, but was later demolished. The Convent and School were built later this century. Walcha has the oldest catholic Cemetery in the Diocese, located on the south side of the Oxley high way to Port Macquarie.

-Pioneer Cottage and Museum Buildings. These building are typical examples of houses built in Walcha during the 1870�s. The land on which the Historical Society�s buildings are located was granted to Senior Constable Buckland in 1858. Mrs J.N.B Watts owned the Pioneer cottage, and it remained in her family until 1962. The Museum building was moved to its present site from the eastern end of Fitzroy Street in 1970. Both buildings were constructed of stringy bark slabs and roofed with wooden shingles. At a later date corrugated iron was put over the roofs and weatherboards covered the slabs on the front of the houses.