Torrington (formerly Torington) is a small village in northern 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...

 in Tenterfield Shire. It is 29 kilometres north west of Deepwater

Deepwater, New South Wales

Deepwater is a parish and village 40 kilometres north of Glen Innes on the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Deepwater had a population of 323, with 489 people in the area....

 and south west of Tenterfield

Tenterfield, New South Wales

Tenterfield is a town in New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the New England region at the intersection of the New England and Bruxner Highways. Tenterfield is a three-hour drive from Brisbane, 2.5 hours from Byron Bay, two hours from Armidale, New South Wales and 10 hours from Sydney....

 and 61 kilometres from Glen Innes

Glen Innes, New South Wales

Glen Innes is a parish and town on the Northern Tablelands, in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the centre of the Glen Innes Severn Shire Council. The town is located at the intersection of the New England Highway and the Gwydir Highway...

 (South-East). It is situated on a plateau known as the Mole Tableland in close proximity to the Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 border on the Northern Tablelands. A feature of Torrington is its abundance of boulders and rocky outcrops. The most notable boulder outcrop located in the village being "Goat Rock".

History

Torrington was named after its English counterpart in Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

. The discovery of the extremely rich Torrington tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

 lode in 1881 created much excitement but in a very short time the small prospectors had lost control to overseas mining companies, the precursors of today's multi-nationals. In the 1920s, 500 men were employed at the mines. There were sixteen batteries working, and the community enjoyed the convenience of five general stores, butcher shop, cafes, bakery, billiard

Billiard

-Games:* A , a type of shot in cue sports * Billiards: cue sports in general, including pool, carom billiards, snooker, etc.; the term "billiards" by itself is also sometimes used to refer to any of the following more specifically:...

 rooms, police station, post office, churches, hotel and many sporting facilities in Torrington and the two now defunct satellite villages of Tungsten and Bismuth which were both approximately 7 kilometres north and west of Torrington respectively. Today, there is scarcely any indication that either of the satellite villages ever existed.

The Mole Post Office opened on 1 August 1882 and was renamed Torington in 1883 and Torrington in 1970. Bismuth Post Office was open between 1912 and 1931.

The first rural land release for grazing occurred in 1931 when a block of 1068 acres (432.2 ha) north of Torrington was granted by the New South Wales Department of Lands. This was followed by the general granting of further lands both north, south and west of Torrington over the next 50 years, for grazing purposes, but primarily most of the Torrington district remains in its natural state. When the government ended its tin subsidy after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the mining industry virtually shut down.
Torrington also had a saw mill which used stringybark

Stringybark

A stringybark can be any of the many Eucalyptus species which have thick, fibrous bark. Like all eucalypts, stringybarks belong to the Myrtaceae family. In exceptionally fertile locations some stringybark species A stringybark can be any of the many Eucalyptus species which have thick, fibrous...

 trees taken from the surrounding heavily timbered pendant but this mill closed in the 1960s. There is still a small timber mill operating not far from Torrington on the Deepwater Road which produces hardwood

Hardwood

Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...

 timber to order. There is still intermittent commercial mining dependant upon the current prices for tin. The area has large deposits of massive topaz

Topaz

Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al2SiO42. Topaz crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and its crystals are mostly prismatic terminated by pyramidal and other faces.-Color and varieties:...

 (silexite) which is of interest to the mining industry and to fossickers.

In 1981 Torrington celebrated its centenary, and was officially classified as a village. There was a hotel in Torrington, but it shut down in January 1999 when the license was to be transferred to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 for the Olympic games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

, but with objections to the Liquor Board the Hotel was re-opened in December 2000 with a restaurant license and the original license was allowed to be transferred to Sydney. However, there was difficulty with the holding company of the freehold and the pub was permanently closed in October 2003. A Cornish Buddle and Five-Head Stamper which are relics of the old mining days can be seen at the caravan park. The population of Torrington is approximately 85 people.

Droughts

The average rainfall over the ten years to 2000 was 39.23 inches (99.6 cm). After the short sharp drought

Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

 of 1982–83, in the twenty-two-year period 1983 to 2005 there were many short droughts. For instance in October 1991 all northern New South Wales and southern Queensland were in extreme drought conditions. Again in 1994 a bad drought continued until January 1996, but worse was to come. In 2002 Torrington received 24 inches (61 cm) and again in 2005 it had 30 inches (76.2 cm) for the year. This drought broke in 2006.

Fossicking and tourism

Mining has given way to fossicking and tourism and now visitors enjoy the spectacular scenery of rocky granite outcrops, steep gorges, gently flowing streams as well as fossicking for topaz, quartz

Quartz

Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...

 and the many minerals found in the area. Unfortunately the last general store was closed some years ago but Torrington has a caravan park with caravans to rent which caters for the tourists and fossickers.

Torrington State Recreation Area has more than 30,000 ha of wildlife featuring the famous Mystery Face, Captain Thunderbolt

Captain Thunderbolt

Frederick Wordsworth Ward was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island, and also for his reputation as the "gentleman bushranger" and his lengthy survival, being the longest roaming bushranger in Australian history.-Early years:Frederick Ward was the son of convict...

's Lookout and many other spectacular rock formations, streams and waterfalls. The Reserve is recognized as being of State significance for conservation, mining, honey production, recreation and cultural heritage. The endangered plant, Torrington Pea (Almaleea cambagei) can be found in this area.