Gloucester is situated in a picturesque valley on the Gloucester River, an easy three hour drive north of Sydney. Traditionally the centre of a rich beef, dairying and timber district, Gloucester is within easy reach of World Heritage Barrington Tops, the Curricabundi group of reserves, Copeland State Conservation area and several other areas of significance.
Climate: The town is situated in the Avon Valley and is 100m above sea level while just west, the Barrington Tops Plateau is over 1500m above sea level. Climate therefore varies significantly throughout the Shire. The temperature in town ranges from an average of 24.5deg.C. in summer to an average of 10.5 deg.C. in winter. Being inland, the day/night temperature cycle is greater than on the coast. Some areas experience frost in winter and Barrington Tops is well known for its winter snowfalls. Average annual average rainfall is around 985 mm.
Community: Gloucester is a thriving country community with a town population of approximately 2600 and a total for the whole Shire of close to 5000. It offers the following facilities and services: ·
Schooling: High school, two primary schools, two country schools, pre-school, two child-minding centre’s and vocational training. Daily bus service to Taree provides good access to TAFE courses. ·
Churches: Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Christian Outreach, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Presbyterian & Free Presbyterian, Seventh Day Adventist and Uniting Church. ·
Shopping: Two modern supermarkets, two hardware stores, chemist, home furnishing store, electrical appliance and whitegoods store and a wide range of specialty shops in a compact Central Business District. ·
Public: Shire Office including motor registry, post office, library, Centrelink and other welfare offices, Senior Citizens Centre, Visitor Information Centre (incorporating a Countrylink Booking agency), police station and court house, exhibition gallery. ·
Commercial: Local newspaper, motor vehicle sales and service, six petrol outlets, NRMA, garden and landscaping supplies, ready mix concrete and aggregates supplier, farm machinery sales and service, two agricultural supplies stores, industrial estate, cattle saleyards, stock, station and real estate agents. ·
Recreation: Aero club, archery, little athletics, canoeing, croquet, fishing, most football codes, golf, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, rifle range, skateboard bowl, soccer, softball, swimming pool, tennis, touch football, waterpolo and Indoor Recreation Centre for basketball, badminton etc, and fitness centre & hydrotherapy pool. ·
Licensed Clubs & Pubs: Bowling Club, Golf Club, Soldiers Club and two pubs. ·
Service/Community Organisations: Apex, Rotary, Lions, Quota, Youth Centre, Red Cross, CWA, Art Society, Floral Art, Historical Society, Garden Club, Orchid Society, Probus, View, Physical Culture, Aerobics, Choral Society, Country Music, Scottish Dancing, Karate-Do, Environmental and many others. The Visitor Information Centre has a full list of community organizations. ·
Communications: Mobile ‘phones, internet facilities, 15 TV channels, commercial and ABC radio.
Health/Medical ·
Medical: Modern medical centre, dentist, physiotherapists, chiropractors and several wellbeing practitioners.
Hospital: General hospital with operating theatres, visiting surgeons and eye specialist, x-ray facilities, obstetric and geriatric wards. ·
Nursing Care: Home Care, Modern Hostel and a Nursing Home. ·
Self-Care: Three groups of Council Units located within walking distance of shops
Access Gloucester is an hour’s drive from Taree and Tuncurry/Forster, under 2 hours drive from Newcastle and 3 hrs drive from Sydney & Armidale, all on sealed roads. On weekdays there is a daily bus service to Taree and Broadmeadow. Seven days a week, the town is serviced by three Countrylink XPT trains in each direction on the North Coast railway line. These give access to Newcastle and Sydney and to Grafton, Brisbane and Murwillimbah. There is a 24hr taxi and hire car service available in Gloucester.
Lifestyle: Newcomers settling in Gloucester are warmly welcomed. People come to the district for a variety of reasons, be it to take up a job appointment, to start a new venture, to provide a new lifestyle for their family or to retire. New arrivals come with a variety of skills and experience and often find these can be used in voluntary roles for the benefit of our community. It is recommended that you talk to stock and station agents about your plans when looking at properties. They have extensive experience of the district and you will find them helpful in the selection of suitable properties. Council staff is also willing to acquaint you with relevant regulations.
Heritage: Gloucester had its beginnings as an out-station in the vast landholding of the Australian Agricultural Company. This was formed in England in 1824 and worked the land from Port Stephens to the Manning River until the end of the 19th century. Although gold was discovered west of Gloucester at Copeland, this had little effect and it was not until 1900 that the AA Co. withdrew from the region and the land was sub-divided and sold. The town of Gloucester was laid out at that time. The only remaining evidence of the AA Co’s activities is “The Homestead”, south of town, opposite the Saleyards. This was built by the company to accommodate guests. The Superintendents residence adjacent to this building was destroyed by fire many years ago. The town was officially recognised in 1903 and the Shire Council met for the first time in 1906. Original access was by boat up the Karuah River to Booral from where freight was transported by bullock wagon and stock herded on a rough track through Stroud to Gloucester. This track continued on to Taree and eventually became the Pacific Highway. Later a bridge was built at Karuah and a shorter route developed through Bulahdelah. From that time Gloucester ceased to be a key staging point on the highway and became dependent on its local population. However, it was not entirely dependent on the road traffic in the earlier years because in 1913, the North Coast railway reached Gloucester and the station and railway yards became an important part of the life of the district for the transport of timber, milk and cattle. As roads improved, transport by rail diminished and the complex was finally replaced with just a modern brick passenger station. A butter factory operated for many years, but this was closed in 2001. The dairy industry and the timber industry have been re-structured to meet changing commercial requirements. The cattle industry continues and other rural industries have been established over recent years. Coal mining has been undertaken south of Stratford and north of Stroud Road. This has supplemented the income to the town over recent years. Tourism is a thriving industry and meets the needs of visitors to The Barrington Tops and the many other beautiful scenic mountains, valleys and rivers for which Gloucester is renowned.