ORANGE’S once thriving saleyards may be gone but the city’s long and colourful history as one of the state’s major stock selling centres will not share a similar fate.
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A unique saleyard and stockmen interpretive precinct will be built at the gateway to the city as a reminder of the role the industry played in the economic development of Orange.
“People don’t know, but in about 1946 this city was actually the largest sheep selling centre in Australia,” councillor Reg Kidd said yesterday.
“This will be a major tourist attraction and preserve for everyone an important phase of Orange’s history.”
Cr Kidd floated the idea of using the old dairy building at the gateway to Orange for the interpretive centre this week and won the immediate support of other councillors.
The open-air site will document the local history of the saleyards, stock routes, slaughter houses, butchers and stockmen using signage and memorabilia from the recently dismantled Edward Street yards.
Orange City Council will ask industry elders like Ken McCarron, Brian Cullinane, David Williams and Mick Ward to help develop the displays given their extensive knowledge of the industry’s local history.
“They’re the type of people you want helping us do this, that way it doesn’t just stay lingering for months of years in the bowels of bureaucracy,” Cr Kidd said.
The final sale at the Orange Saleyards was held in early 2008 following the opening of the Central Tablelands Livestock Exchange near Carcoar.
bevan.shields@ruralpress.com
