Byrock, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Byrock is a small village in north western New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in Bourke Shire. In 2006, Byrock had a population of 90 people.

It is named after a rock hole, called Bai by the Nyammba tribe. This became the Bye Rockhole, then Bye Rock, then Byrock.

Byrock is on the Mitchell Highway
Mitchell Highway
The Mitchell Highway is a major rural highway in Australia, travelling through central and northern New South Wales and south central Queensland. The highway starts from its northern end in Queensland with the Landsborough Highway near Augathella and continues south to Charleville and Cunnamulla...

 roughly halfway between Bourke
Bourke
Bourke may refer to:* Bourke, New South Wales* Bourke engine* Bourke Street, Melbourne, a street in Melbourne, Australia-People with the surname:* Jamie Bourke, Australian ice hockey player...

 to north-west and Nyngan to the south-east.

Railways

It was founded to serve the Cobb and Co
Cobb and Co
Cobb and Co is the name of a transportation company in Australia. It was prominent in the late 19th century when it operated stagecoaches to many areas in the outback and at one point in several other countries, as well....

 stagecoaches. The railway opened in 1874, with an extension to Bourke
Bourke
Bourke may refer to:* Bourke, New South Wales* Bourke engine* Bourke Street, Melbourne, a street in Melbourne, Australia-People with the surname:* Jamie Bourke, Australian ice hockey player...

. Later still, in 1888, a branch railway opened to Brewarrina. All these rail lines closed in the 1970s and 1980s.

Water

Byrock relies on rainfall for its non potable water supply that is channeled into a large ground tank, settled and then pumped to the historical railway tank. Water is then gravity fed
Gravity feed
Gravity feed is the use of earth's gravity to move something from one place to another. It is a simple means of moving a liquid without the use of a pump. A common application is the supply of fuel to an internal combustion engine by placing the fuel tank above the engine, e.g. in motorcycles,...

 to dwellings. When the ground tank runs dry, emergency water cartage from Bourke is provided by road tanker, as was the case around 2006.

Byrock has one Council maintained bore.

Cemetery

The Byrock Cemetery is the resting place for pioneers who died between 1882 and 1933. The average age at death of those buried in this cemetery is 20 years.

Public Transport

CountryLink
CountryLink
CountryLink is the operator of passenger rail services in country New South Wales, Australia and into Queensland and Victoria. It is an operating brand of the Rail Corporation New South Wales, a government-owned entity...

 operate a bus service between Dubbo and Bourke
Bourke, New South Wales
-Transportation:Bourke can be reached by the Mitchell Highway, with additional sealed roads from town to the north , east and south . The town is also served by Bourke Airport and has Countrylink bus service to other regional centres, like Dubbo...

, via Nyngan
Nyngan, New South Wales
Nyngan [pr: ning-g'n] is a town in the central west of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the Bogan Shire Local Government Area. At the 2006 census, Nyngan had a population of 1,975 people. Nyngan is situated on the Bogan River between Narromine and Bourke, on the junction of the...

, four days a week.

Airstrip

Byrock has a gravel airstrip 1067 metres long with no facilities. It is located next to the town on the western side of the Mitchell Highway
Mitchell Highway
The Mitchell Highway is a major rural highway in Australia, travelling through central and northern New South Wales and south central Queensland. The highway starts from its northern end in Queensland with the Landsborough Highway near Augathella and continues south to Charleville and Cunnamulla...

.

Newspaper

The Western Herald community newspaper is delivered free to Byrock from Bourke every Thursday.

School

In 2006, the school was placed on review because of insufficient enrolments and has since been formally closed.
By September 2009, the site of the former Byrock Public School was put up for sale by the NSW Department of Education.

Gallery

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