A short note before we start: this page talks about the Aboriginal people of the Collie district. No Aboriginal person is named or pictured here, but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers may still come across names or images of people who have died if they follow the sources.
If you've ever driven the Oxley Highway between Gilgandra and Warren, you've gone straight past Collie, and you may not even have noticed. There's no rail line, no main street of shops, just a turn-off at Coonamble Street, a pub, a hall, a couple of churches and a scatter of houses on wide gravel streets. But this little spot on the black soil plains has been a stopping place for travellers since the 1860s, and it's got a bigger story than its size lets on. I went looking, and here's what I found, along with a look at Ashgrove, the property just south of the village.
Where Collie Is
First, let's get the location right, because there's more than one Collie (the Western Australian coal town is the famous one, and it turns up in searches all the time). Collie, New South Wales, is a village and parish in central NSW, in Warren Shire and on the Oxley Highway, which Wikipedia puts at 522 kilometres north-west of Sydney. Wikipedia gives its position as about 31 degrees 40 minutes south, 148 degrees 18 minutes east.
Warren Shire's 2018 village plan sets out the driving distances: about 36 km to Gilgandra along the Oxley Highway, 49 km to Warren, 54 km to Trangie along the Collie–Trangie Road, 70 km to Nevertire and about 80 km to both Dubbo and Narromine. The same plan says Collie sits in the south-eastern part of Warren Shire, on the northern side of the highway, and that Marthaguy Creek runs to the north of the village. The NSW government's 2017 Collie topographic map shows the same picture, with Marthaguy Creek, Boothaguy Creek, the Collie Soldiers Memorial Hall and Collie Station all marked. So yes, it really is the Collie between Gilgandra and Trangie on the Marthaguy.
Wayilwan Country
Long before any squatter or innkeeper, this was Aboriginal country. Warren Shire's visitor guide calls the shire "a meeting place for the nations of the traditional custodians of this land, the Wayilwan people". The shire's 2023 economic development strategy goes into a bit more detail. It says the shire sits where two Aboriginal nations meet: the Wongaibon to the south-east, through Narromine, Trangie and on to Nyngan, and the Weilwan, also written Wayilwan or Ngemba Weilwan, to the north and north-west. It puts the Weilwan Nation within Warren, Gulargambone, Gilgandra, parts of Coonamble and Quambone, and out into the Macquarie Marshes. The same document says about 20 per cent of the shire's people identify as Aboriginal.
For Collie itself, the 2018 village plan is careful. It says the area is likely to be significant for Aboriginal people, "particularly along Marthaguy Creek and the fertile floodplains", but admits the plan didn't review that history or the key sites in detail. The visitor guide also mentions that Aboriginal families lived at the Beemunnel Reserve near Warren from 1920 to 1982, and that Beemunnel was gazetted as an Aboriginal Place in 2016. Today Warraan Widji Arts in Warren, the guide says, is working to reawaken the Wayilwan language through art, dance, music and song.
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How Collie Got Its Name
I couldn't find a firm answer on this one. Wikipedia says only that the name "could have derived from an Aboriginal word meaning 'water'". That's a "could have", not a "did", and I haven't found an older source that backs it up, so treat it as a possibility rather than a fact. What is clear is that the pub came first under a different name: the village plan calls the original 1862 hotel the "Marthagai Inn", taking its name from the creek.
Explorers and Squatters
The Warren Shire visitor guide sets out the early timeline for the district. John Oxley and his party came through in 1818, Charles Sturt in 1828, and Thomas Mitchell in 1846. In between, during the 1830s, the first settlers moved in. The shire's economic strategy puts it plainly: Europeans moved into the area in the 1830s, "taking up land or 'squatting' in the surrounding district". Warren itself was gazetted as a town in June 1861.
I wasn't able to pin down the names of the first squatting runs right around Collie from a source I could actually open. The NSW Department of Lands drew a parish map of Marthaguy, County of Gregory, Land District of Warren (the fifth edition is dated 1958 and held by the National Library), and the 2017 topographic map is still covered in old portion and deposited plan numbers. Those are where the story of who held which block would be told. One more thing worth knowing is that Collie sits right on the edge of two counties. The Commons photos taken along the highway between Collie and Gilgandra are all labelled County of Ewenmar, with parishes like Beemunnei, Urobulla, Berida and Bundobering, while the Marthaguy parish map is labelled County of Gregory.
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The Inn on the Marthaguy
Every bush village needs a reason to exist, and Collie's was the pub. Warren Shire's village plan says the original hotel was the 1862 Marthagai Inn, later called the Collie Hotel. It stood further up Coonamble Street than the hotel does today, burnt down in 1987, and the new hotel opened on 7 October 1989.
The visitor guide says that in 1872 Collie was the halfway stop for the Cobb & Co mail run between Gilgandra and Quambone. You can just picture the coach pulling up at the inn on the creek, the horses changed and the mailbags swapped, before setting off again across the plains.
By 1881 the place was worth a picture in the papers. An engraving called The Township of Collie, Marthaguy Creek, New South Wales appeared in the Australian Town and Country Journal, and a hand-coloured copy of it has turned up with an antique print dealer, dated about 1881.
The Village Is Proclaimed
Warren Shire's village plan says Collie was proclaimed a village in 1893, and it got that date from the information board in the village. The visitor guide says the same: "Proclaimed a village in 1893." The village plan admits that's about all the board tells you, and suggests a fuller history should be put together using the Warren Historical and Family History Society, the 2011 Warren Shire Thematic History and R. M. Brennan's two books, Across the Black Soil Plains and Keep the Billy Boiling. Those are the books to find if you want to dig deeper.
The village plan describes the town grid as a handful of east–west streets crossed by three north–south ones, with names that read like a roll call of the district: Coonamble, Bundemar, Curban, Wonbobbie, Wambianna, Inglega, Calga and Bourbah. Collie once had more than 300 people, the plan says, and served as the service centre for the surrounding farms.
Local Government: From Marthaguy Shire to Warren Shire
Collie spent half a century in a shire named after its own creek. Marthaguy Shire was proclaimed on 7 March 1906, one of 134 shires created under the Local Government (Shires) Act 1905. Its office was in Warren, and its towns and villages included Collie and Nevertire. On 1 January 1957 Marthaguy Shire joined the Municipality of Warren to form Warren Shire, which is still Collie's council today.
The School
Collie had its own public school for many years. The NSW State Archives (then State Records NSW) put one of its files on the school onto Wikimedia Commons, a document dated 1927 and labelled "part of the teachers evidence to show he could not return to Collie in time to open school". I'd love to know the full story behind that one. It sounds like a teacher caught out by a flood or a missed coach, but the file title is all I can vouch for.
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The school has since closed. The 2018 village plan says Collie Public School "is closed and now in private ownership", so the nearest schools are now at Warren or Gilgandra. The old school site sits on Wonbobbie Street, and Collie Memorial Park is tucked away on a corner of it. The plan notes that when the school was running, the park would have been a natural meeting place for the village.
The Churches
For a village this size, Collie has done well for churches. The village plan lists a Catholic church at the corner of Coonamble and Wambianna Streets, built in 1953, and recommends protecting it as a historic item. It also lists a former Anglican church, dated 1920, which has been sensitively converted into a house. The 2011 Community Based Heritage Study of Warren Shire recommended protecting both churches, on Bourbah Road and Coonamble Street.
One warning if you go searching: the Anglican church history you'll find online about a church built for Mrs Nora Noyes, with jarrah pews and a 1915 opening, belongs to All Saints at Collie in Western Australia, not our Collie. It's an easy mix-up.
The Hall, the CWA and the Memorial
The Collie Soldiers Memorial Hall is marked on the 2017 topographic map. The village plan calls it simply the community hall, says it's linked to the memorial along Bundemar Street, and notes that a small sign near the hotel points the way. The Country Women's Association has its own hall in Collie for meetings too, and the plan describes it as in great condition. The visitor guide says 2024 marked 100 years of the CWA in Collie, so the branch dates back to 1924.
The plan also lists tennis courts, a playground, a Rural Fire Service shed on Wambianna Street and the Collie General Cemetery among the village's places.
No Railway
Unlike plenty of western villages, Collie never had a train. The village plan says: "There is no existing or known historic rail line in or near Collie. The nearest rail lines are at Warren and Gilgandra." According to the visitor guide, the line from Dubbo reached Nevertire in 1882 and Warren in 1898. Collie stayed a road town and still is, with the Oxley Highway and the Collie–Trangie Road carrying its traffic.
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Farming on the Black Soil Plains
Farming is what Collie is all about. The shire's economic strategy says the Warren Shire economy is mainly agricultural, producing sheep, wool, cattle, grain and cotton, with irrigation drawn from the Macquarie River. Round Collie it's mostly dryland mixed farming. Ashgrove, which you'll read about below, is one of the properties in this country.
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Ashgrove
Now to Ashgrove, the property just out of Collie. I'll be honest: there's less on the public record about it than I'd hoped. Here's what I could confirm.
Where it is
ExplorOz, the outback travel and mapping site, lists Ashgrove as a station or homestead at 464 Ashgrove Road, Collie NSW 2827. It gives the position as 31°44'24.83" S, 148°18'20.83" E, at an altitude of about 232 metres. Compare that with Wikipedia's position for Collie village and Ashgrove comes out roughly 8 kilometres almost due south of the village. ExplorOz says its nearest weather station is Trangie, about 43 km to the south-west.
Ashgrove and Old Ashgrove on the map
The NSW government's 2017 Collie 1:50,000 topographic map shows two names here: "Ashgrove" and, a little apart from it, "Old Ashgrove", both near Boothaguy Creek, which flows down towards Marthaguy Creek. When a map marks an "Old" homestead next to the current one, it usually means the house moved at some stage, with a newer homestead built and the original site kept on the map. The map doesn't say when that happened.
The road
Ashgrove has given its name to Ashgrove Road, the road the homestead's address is on. That's a good sign of how long the property has been a landmark in the district.
What I couldn't find yet
The National Library's Trove newspaper site was down while I was researching this, so I couldn't read the old papers on who first took up Ashgrove, its families, sales or clearing sales. Searching the web for "Ashgrove" mostly turns up the Brisbane suburb and an Irish estate of the same name, which have nothing to do with this place. Local books such as R. M. Brennan's histories, and the Warren Historical and Family History Society, are the most likely places to find the Ashgrove families, and I'll add more here when I can confirm it.
Collie Today
At the 2016 census, Collie and the surrounding district had 194 people, 80 private dwellings, 56 families and a median age of 39. The village plan points out that the census area takes in a big stretch of farmland as well as the village. The hotel, the RFS and the hall are about the only services left, so for shopping people head to Warren, Gilgandra or Dubbo.
The place still knows how to put on a show, though. The visitor guide talks up the Collie Rodeo, which it calls "a must on your go to list", says the hall hosts a chamber music festival, and calls the village's community spirit "the jewel in its crown". The 2018 plan put forward ideas for the village: better signs on the highway, a history board, street trees, shade over the park and an upgraded entrance at Coonamble Street.
Timeline
- Before 1818 – Wayilwan (Weilwan) country, with Wongaibon country to the south-east (Warren Shire).
- 1818 – John Oxley's party explores the region.
- 1828 – Charles Sturt's party explores the region.
- 1830s – The first settlers take up land, squatting in the district.
- 1846 – Thomas Mitchell's party explores the region.
- June 1861 – Warren is gazetted as a town.
- 1862 – The Marthagai (Marthaguy) Inn opens, later the Collie Hotel.
- 1872 – Collie is the halfway stop on the Cobb & Co mail run between Gilgandra and Quambone.
- c.1881 – The Township of Collie, Marthaguy Creek engraving is published in the Australian Town and Country Journal.
- 1882 – The railway reaches Nevertire. Collie never gets one.
- 1893 – Collie is proclaimed a village.
- 1898 – The railway reaches Warren.
- 7 March 1906 – Marthaguy Shire is proclaimed, with Collie in it.
- 1920 – The date given for the Anglican church, now a house.
- 1924 – The Collie CWA begins (it marked 100 years in 2024).
- 1927 – A Collie Public School file records a teacher unable to get back in time to open the school.
- 1953 – The Catholic church is built.
- 1 January 1957 – Marthaguy Shire and Warren Municipality merge to form Warren Shire.
- 1987 – The old hotel burns down.
- 7 October 1989 – The new Collie Hotel opens.
- 2016 – The census counts 194 people in Collie and district.
- 2017 – The NSW topographic map shows Ashgrove and Old Ashgrove.
- May 2018 – Warren Shire adopts the Collie village plan.
- 2024 – The CWA in Collie celebrates 100 years.
Where the Sources Disagree
- When Collie was proclaimed. Warren Shire's village plan, quoting the village information board, and the shire's visitor guide both say 1893. A web page saying the "town of Collie was proclaimed on the 13 December 1897" belongs to the Anglican parish of Collie in Western Australia, so it's a different town altogether.
- The hotel's name and dates. The village plan writes the original as the "1862 Marthagai Inn/1988 Collie Hotel", but in the same breath says it burnt down in 1987 and the new one opened on 7 October 1989. Most likely "1988" is a slip and the building was simply known as the Collie Hotel by then, but I can't confirm that. Also note the spelling "Marthagai", where the creek and the shire are spelt "Marthaguy", and some Commons photos have "Manthaguy".
- The name. Wikipedia says only that Collie "could have" come from an Aboriginal word meaning water. I found no other source either way.
- How far from Sydney. Wikipedia says 522 km, which is a road distance. ExplorOz puts Ashgrove about 359 km from Sydney, which is a straight-line distance. Both can be right.
- Which county. Commons photographers label the highway parishes near Collie as County of Ewenmar, while the National Library's Marthaguy parish map is County of Gregory. Collie sits near where the two meet.
My Earlier Posts
Sources
- Wikipedia, "Collie, New South Wales" (text and coordinates). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collie,_New_South_Wales
- Wikipedia, "Marthaguy Shire". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marthaguy_Shire
- Warren Shire Council, Village Enhancement Plans – Warren Shire: Collie, final, May 2018. https://www.warren.nsw.gov.au/development/3.%20Village%20Plan%20Collie%20FINAL%20May%202018.pdf
- Warren Shire Council, Warren • Nevertire • Collie visitor guide. https://www.warren.nsw.gov.au/discover/WSC_Visitor%20Guide_WEB.pdf
- Warren Shire Council, Economic Development Strategy & Action Plan, adopted 2023. https://www.warren.nsw.gov.au/__media_downloads/Policies/Warren%20Economic%20Development%20Strategy%20and%20Action%20Plan%20v8_ADOPTED%202023.pdf
- NSW Spatial Services, Collie 8534-N 1:50,000 topographic map, 2017 edition. https://portal.spatial.nsw.gov.au/download/geopdf/50k/8534-N+COLLIE.pdf
- ExplorOz, "Ashgrove – NSW". https://www.exploroz.com/places/16266/nsw+ashgrove
- Antique Print Map Room, "The Township of Collie, Marthaguy Creek, New South Wales" (c.1881). https://antiqueprintmaproom.com/product/the-township-of-collie-marthaguy-creek-new-south-unknown-37675/
- National Library of Australia, Parish of Marthaguy, County of Gregory, Department of Lands, 5th ed., 1958. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-770570636
- Anglican Parish of Collie (WA), "The Building" (checked to rule it out). https://www.allsaintschurchcollie.org/the-building
- Wikimedia Commons: image pages linked under each picture.