Past memories of today's 'lost village' Murga not abandoned by Marg Carroll

A halfway point between Orange and Forbes, the tiny town of Murga was once known as a bustling little service site for new settlers and goldminers at the backend of the 1800s.

Just 15 minutes drive from Eugowra, the village neighbouring Mandagery Creek was equipped with a post office, a butcher business, two pubs; and its good soil made for one healthy crop environment.

It was a bushranger gang's notorious heist in 1863 a few kilometres away that really put the place on the map though, the notorious Escort Rock Gold Robbery - thieving loot to equal $8 million in today's currency.

But now, there's not a single trade or service operating there.

For Marg 'Margie' Carroll (nee Hamilton) though, Murga was a friendly, simple and quiet place.

To the young 50s era girl, it was where the anticipated "bread day" brought the mail bus from Orange through town, kids sneaking slices from the warm centre of the loaf.

It was the place where a robust Patsy the pony bolted during an interesting ride to school, "whizzing past" cousin Nettie after a pair of mum-gifted spurs didn't work out as planned.

For little Margie Hamilton, Murga was the place that she called home.

"It was a beautiful, horseshoe-shaped valley with a little bush school of 30 kids, I grew up there," Mrs Carroll said.

"Most of the people around there were farmers like us and it was an idyllic childhood, spending my spare time writing stories and mustering horses, I really loved it.

"We were just bush kids, very proud of our town ... of course now, it's a lost village."

Stretching around 125,000 square kilometres the rural Cabonne town has 60-odd people reportedly living there today, though some will say it's about half of that.

Its population figures and market data is often misrepresented too, lumped in with Cudal statistics as the two places share the same 2864 postcode.

Mrs Carroll remembers stories that were told of the Great Depression years before her time, though.

Tales of heavy working horses and skilled buckaroos, sporadic commutes from Orange to Forbes would bring thousands of travellers to the town.

"The biggest picnic sports were held at little old Murga during the Depression era, there'd be 80-odd bullock teams to arrive," Mrs Carroll said.

"They'd do buck jumping, pigeon shooting, roast a whole bullock on the spit ... there'd be some 5000 people there at one time."

Recalling fond memories of "Vince the postmaster" as well, Mrs Carroll describes the late Vincent Mulligan as a man who always had Murga's best interests at heart since his arrival back in 1918.

She says he played a big role in bushfire and flood responses, warning surrounding towns to take action when the Mandagery Creek began to rise.

"We loved Vince, he was the mailman and such a character," she said.

"He was certainly a local identity and he opened [the post office] most days, he didn't worry about the nine-to-five schedule.

"The postal building now, it's abandoned."

Sent to a "strict Sydney boarding school" from the age of nine, the Murga valley girl wound up with three degrees.

Mrs Carroll travelled to remote parts of the world, married a sheep farmer, mothered children and has written and published several books.

She's now an oral historian for the National Library of Australia.

But even with a long list of thrilling life experiences, the affectionate memories of her early childhood are still very alive.

Despite the ghost town it is now, little Margie Hamilton and her Murga nostalgia remains anything but abandoned today.

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