A Brief History of Tottenham

Before the turn of the century, exploration and mining for copper was being carried out around this area. There were mines at Cobar, Nymagee, Girilambone and Shuttleton from 1870 onwards. In March 1903, Harry Fishpool discovered a copper lode on the 80 acre mining lease at Orange Plains Station that had been acquired by a Cobar entrepreneur, William Shallalah. This mine became known as the Mount Royal. Other mines operated in the vicinity such as the Bogan River, the Caroline, the Chris Watson, the Ace and the Iron Duke. The Mount Royal Mine was reportedly the deepest and most productive in the area.

Harry Fishpool sold his interests in the Mount Royal to a Sydney syndicate in 1907. Two smelters were then set up at the mine and 40 men were employed. A makeshift town sprang up around the mine with bark humpies, tents, boarding houses and stores. The first post office began in the private residence of Mrs Ellen Mathewson, postmistress, on 8th April 1907. The telephone exchange was opened on 6th December 1912. This town became known as "Old Town" as the new township of "Tottenham" was proclaimed in November 1907.

The Orange Plains Progress Committee was successful in having a provisional school opened on 5th October 1908, in "Old Town". The Department of Public Instruction rented a building and provided a teacher. The Department decided that, because of the temporary nature of the mines, they would not provide the building. This school was there until 1917 when a new school was built on the present site.

The active Progress Committee wanted the proposed Bogan Gate - Bulbodney railway line to deviate through Tottenham. The line had been completed as far as Tullamore in 1907. The Minister for Works believed that it would not be profitable to extend it into an area where, due to inadequate rainfall, wheat farming would not be successful. However, persistent delegations led by Mr T. C. Fowler, promoting the mines at Orange Plains eventually paid off and the line was built through Albert Waterholes to Tottenham and opened in 1916.

Along with the coming of the railway and the emergence of mining, the government was conducting large-scale experimental wheat farming in the area. There was a gradual drift to the new town as the blocks in "Old Town" had no title and the area was condemned because of the sulphur fumes from the mines that permeated the air. Many houses were skidded into the new area on logs and some remained on those logs. Population was increasing and radical Industrial Workers of the World came to Tottenham causing unrest. Tottenham achieved notoriety in 1916 as the town where three I.W.W. shot Constable George Duncan as he sat in the police station. Two of the men were hanged at Bathurst for the crime and Duncan was buried at Parkes.

After World War I, returned soldiers took up Soldier Settler's blocks in the district. Towards the end of the 1920s, copper mining ceased mainly due to low copper prices. Other industries such as timber milling, mixed grazing and farming developed ensuring the town’s survival. The late 1920s and early 1930s saw many new business houses and community facilities built. The town continued to survive through the depression, drought years and World War II and by the 1950s the town was riding on the sheep's back, poised to enter the wheat boom of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

The first recognition of Tottenham as being the centre of NSW came with the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932. A message of goodwill commenced here at the most central school of NSW with schoolboys on ponies who conveyed the message to Albert and thereon to the bridge. The message was handed to the Premier, Jack Lang, at the opening. A cairn, made from slag from the local mines, was erected just west of Tottenham and marks the centre as calculated by the Central Mapping Authority using graphical digitisation.

In 1835 Major Mitchell led expedition to prove that the Darling River flowed into the Murray River. While passing along the Bogan River, his botanist, Richard Cunningham, became lost and was killed by aborigines. His grave is located about 18 kilometres from Tottenham on Burdenda near the Bogan.

Tottenham has survived the downturn in the economy in the ‘80s and ‘90s. We locals have a great pride in our town and a strong community spirit exists. In 2002, Tottenham won three awards in the Country Energy Tidy Towns Competition. The beautification committee has installed attractive street gardens. The town boasts bowling greens, golf course, squash courts, a 33 metre swimming pool, racecourse and recreation ground, motocross course and gun club.