Timeline of Events
1817
1823
1824
1825
1828
1830s
1832
1838
1840
1841
1845
1846
1849
1850
1852
1855
1858
1859
1861
1863
1860s
1865
1867
1869
1871
Discovered by John Oxley
Convict settlement established
GT Palmer and John Wylde given permission to occupy “grazing runs” late
Murrumbidgeree and Gobolion
First burial
First missionary – John Harper, Methodist
Existence of Wellington Caves recorded by explorer Hamilton Hume
Wellington Caves fossil deposits were the second recorded finds in Australia
First mail – weekly coach from Sydney / Christian Missionary Society Missionary
Settlement
First Post Office (Montefiores)
Village of Montefiores surveyed / Village of Neurea surveyed
Auction sale of 100 allotments at Montefiores
Licence for Lion of Waterloo Inn (Nicholas Hieronymus, Montefiores)
Licence for White Horse Inn (W Coomber, Neurea)
First race meeting (Wellington Flat)
Village of Wellington proclaimed
First land sale at Wellington
First ferry over the Macquarie River
First gold found
First slab church (Church of England) built at Montefiores
First mass celebrated
First vineyard (John Maxwell)
First cricket match
First school – Montefiores
First Roman Catholic Church
First sawmill (Joseph Matthews)
First record of visiting entertainers (Alpine and Tyrolean Minstrels)
Improvement Society formed (later Progress Association)
First cricket club
First flour mill (Dunlop – site of water works)
First hospital (in a rented house)
First Presbyterian service
First National School (Cnr Gobolion and Lee streets)
First hospital built (Reid Street)
First church on St Patrick’s Catholic Church site
Roman Catholic Denominational School
Cobb & Co Coaches (Orange to Wellington via Ironbarks and Orange to Wellington
via Molong)
St John the Baptist Anglican Church licensed (consecrated in 1869)
First bank (Bank of NSW)
First Post and Telegraph Office built (only used as a telegraph office and residence)
First bridge over the Macquarie
1872
1873
1874
1875
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1887
1889
1900
1901
1903
1904
1905
Post and telegraph offices amalgamated
First court house built
Wellington Times and Miners Advocate first published
First cordial factory (Gisborne Street)
Agricultural, Pastoral and Historical Society formed (Show Society)
First Methodist Church
First library established
First agricultural show
Bell River bridge opened
First produce store (WP Pridham)
First Masonic Lodge formed
First railway bridge built
First recorded football match
First brass band formed
Municipality proclaimed (Joseph Aarons, Mayor)
Railway comes to Wellington
Bell Brewery established
Rygate Park dedicated
First public hall (Band Hall in Warne Street)
First council chambers
First gas used (portable generator used by a storekeeper, Mr Cunningham)
First Presbyterian Church built
First telephone between railway and post office
First debating society
First recorded Lawn Tennis Club
First local dramatic club
Bank of NSW built (now Oxley Museum)
First Baptist service
Volunteer Rifle Club formed
Salvation Army work begun locally
Town lit by kerosene lamps
First show in new showground
Dredging at Muckerawa
Acetylene gas for lighting business houses
Water supply begins
Presbyterian Manse built
Fire brigade formed
Town lit by gas
School of Arts built (now Senior Citizens Centre)
First Sanitary system installed
Light Horse Sqaudron formed and Volunteer Rifle Corps disbanded
Fire station built in Cameron Park
Salvation Army Citadel built in Lee Street
Renovated post office opened
Wellington District Hospital built in Maxwell Street (now Hermitage Hill)
First Baptist Church
First telephone exchange (with 25 subscribers)
1906
1907
1909
1910
1920
1921
1922
1923
1925
1926
1927
1933
1934
1936
1937
1938
1942
1944
1946
1949
1952
1958
1964
1967
1971
1983
1989
1991
2005
2016
Parents and Citizens Association formed
Wellington Bowling Club began (site of present library)
Butter factory built (Warne Street)
St Andrews Church built (now Uniting Church)
Kennard Park dedicated
Bell Park designed and set out by Patterson
Fountain erected in park
Bell Park renamed Cameron Park
First swimming carnival held at The Shallows on Bell River
Diggers Aviation Company formed
Centenary of Wellington celebrations (held over from 1917 because of WWI)
Binjang memorial unveiled
Work begun on War Memorial in Cameron Park (designed by Gilbert Doble)
Memorial gates to Cameron Park donated by Murdoch McLeod
Municipal swimming baths constructed (now sunken garden in Cameron Park)
Ambulance service began
Town lit by electricity
War memorial dedicated and unveiled
Band rotunda built in Cameron Park
Rygate Park opened
Macquarie Theatre built and opened
Methodist Church built in Swift Street
Road up Mt Arthur began
Munitions factory in Maughan Street opened (now TAFE)
Bindawalla Hospital built (now Wellington Hospital)
First sod turned on Burrendong Dam
Technical college opened on munitions factory site
Wellington Shire Council formed (amalgamation of Wellington Municipal Council,
Macquarie Shire and part of Cobbora Shire)
Wellington Historical Society founded
Apex Park dedicated
Baby Health Centre opened (CWA rooms)
Burrendong Arboretum established by George, Peter and Hazel Althofer
Burrendong Dam officially completed
Pioneer Park dedicated
Citizen of the Year and Young Citizen of the Year awards established
Macquarie River Bridge collapses
Macquarie River Bridge re-opens
Wellington’s first female mayor, Anne Jones, elected
Native title over Wellington Town Common granted to Rose Chown
Wellington Council amalgamates with Dubbo City Council to become Dubbo
Regional Council