Tocumwal is a town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales. Has a populations of approximately 1,860 people.
Prior to European settlement, the Tocumwal area was inhabited by the Ulupna and Bangerang Aborigines. The first pastoral runs were established in the 1840s. The town was established in the early 1860s and recognised as a village in 1872. Tocumwal Post Office opened on 1 August 1868.
During the Second World War the town was the site of Royal Australian Air Force Station Tocumwal, which was a major Royal Australian Air Force training airfield and aircraft depot. Today, the airfield is a renowned gliding site.
After the war families were housed at the American air Force Hospital,the men travelled daily over the river to Yarroweyah to work on farms which they could then apply for under the soldier settlement scheme. The Hospital was on or next to Barooga Station. Living quarters were made in long Nissen huts, 3-4 in each with a shared bathroom. Single quarters were at the front and a cook was employed for them.
After the war ended, many of the Air Force houses in Tocumwal were disassembled and trucked to Canberra to be rebuilt and reused in new and inner city suburbs where they provided Government housing to workers coming from Melbourne and Sydney to construct the new Capital City. To this day they remain a distinctive architectural form in suburbs such as Ainslie.
So lots of history in this town.
These two photos are of the picnic area along the banks of the Murray River just over the border from Victoria to New South Wales.
Old tree across the road from the park, it would have many a story to tell.
A Murray Cod.
A real one maybe be caught just over the bank in the Murray River
Strutting along as these three Galahas.
Farm-ily lives in this district, I waved as we drove by.
