Ariah Park

This beautiful and historic Riverina town was once described as nothing but “wowsers, bowsers and peppercorn trees”.

Story John Dunn   Photo Matt Jelly  

Ariah Park, a tiny wheat and wool town of some 300 people in the NSW Riverina, is a place for remembering. It has much of significance and consequence to recall, and it does so proudly and very visibly.

The town’s history and the people who figured prominently in it are carefully and respectfully recorded in a variety of ways that demonstrate a firmly held local esteem and also a broader appreciation that is confirmed and honoured by its official classification as a ‘Heritage Village’.

There are tributes in various forms to the many facets of life that comprise Ariah Park. They range from the sheep farmers and grain growers of the surrounding districts to the decision-makers responsible for so many far-sighted moves that have preserved the past for the appreciation of the present inhabitants and the increasing number of tourists.

“We work hard to preserve our little village and keep it going while many other country towns are struggling and dying,” says Nigel Judd, local historian and the longest serving councillor in NSW, having served on Temora Shire Council for more than 47 years. He compiled and edited an impressive 324-page volume about the history of Ariah Park, called Wowsers, Bowsers and Peppercorn Trees.

The town’s centrepiece, Coolamon Street, is a delightful walk-back in time with an avenue of magnificent peppercorn trees planted in 1917 to shade the horses tethered there by farmers who drove into town by sulky or wagon. Fondly nurtured through the years by the council, these quite wonderful trees remain today as an attractive backdrop leading to a compelling figure of a wheat lumper struggling under the weight of a bag of grain. The statue depicts the original transfer of the crop from farm to its final destination and marks a major evolution as the grain industry leapt from manual movement to bulk handling. Ariah Park is where bulk handling began in 1916, and the reason why the town occupies such a vital milestone in the history of rural Australia.