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History Before Europeans arrived the Comboyne Plateau was covered by dense forests. The traditional owners, the Birpai people came here for hunting and, food and medicinal plant gathering. There were traditional pathways over the plateau, stone artifacts have been seen at various locations. The Birpai had sacred sites on the Plateau that were an integral part of their way of life. Aboriginal burning would rarely affect dense rainforest, only the drier forests around the edges and so there was probably little change to the vegetation during their time. The earliest mention of the name “Cunboyne” on a map appears on Thomas Mitchell’s Map of the Colony of N.S.W. published in 1834. Comboyne, as the area came to be called, is derived from the Aboriginal word for female kangaroo. In the 1870’s the cedar cutters came to the Comboyne Plateau. Cedar was the first timber taken from Comboyne and by 1910 there was not a cedar tree of any value left in the eastern portion of the forests. In the late 1880’s the first selections of land on the Comboyne Plateau were taking place. In 1899, Thomas Jones, later to be known as the “Father of Comboyne” and his three sons selected land on the Comboyne. In 1902 the site for the village of Comboyne was proclaimed. This site was not the present site but rather another approximately 1km north of the present village. The proclaimed site was never developed. Between 1900 and 1912 Comboyne was starting to take shape. Roads were constructed but were poor in condition. A timber mill was in operation and there were 100 settlers with blocks ranging from 40 – 320ha and practically all the available land, 12,000ha had been selected. Of this area nearly 600ha had been cleared and grass planted for dairying. The dairy farmers’ major problem, transport of cream was alleviated by the opening of the butter factory in 1914. Businesses commenced around the area of the butter factory, on the property of John Jones who stated “I was compelled to subdivide and I did so.” About this time the village had a bakery, butchers shops, general stores, blacksmith, police station, post office, butter factory, boarding house, tinsmith and two banks. Dairying progressed in the 1920’s and by 1925 the Plateau had been transformed. The country on top was now mostly cleared. By 1921 the population of the Plateau was 777. The years 1902 to 1921 were ones of rapid growth in population. Through the 1930’s to 1940’s both dairying and timber progressed steadily, with WWII starting a boom in the timber industry. Bullock teams had been replaced by crawler tractors, lorries were improved and with the introduction of electricity in 1950 logging and milling became more efficient. Electricity also enabled the dairy farmers to have power for milking, pumping water and all conveniences. The butter factory then began sending milk to the city as whole milk and the returns to farmers increased. The number of timber mills declined as timber became scarcer. This contributed to a fall in population of the Plateau as did mechanization of the mills. Timber had provided an income for many families not involved in dairying from 1910 to 1960. Dairying, potato growing and beef cattle grazing were the main sources of income on the Plateau from the 1960’s. Recently, coinciding with deregulation of the industry the dairy factory closed down with further losses of income and closure of many dairy farms. Avocado, kiwifruit, blueberries and cut flower farms are being established. There is one paulownia farm and a few small potato growers. However, dairying and beef cattle grazing are still prominent ventures. Among the people of today there is now as always, a strong rural community attitude to life here on the Comboyne Plateau. Source of historical information is: “Together in the Jungle Scrub. A Folk History of the Comboyne Plateau” by Helen Hannah, 1981. This book is available at the Comboyne Community Centre
($30 includes postage & handling). Compiled for the website by Anne Heinrich.
Comboyne Local History Collection On the last Tuesday of each month there is a 'Sharing Stories' meeting at the Community Centre. People meet to have a cuppa and a yarn and share stories of the 'old days'. This group is putting together a collection of photos and stories from the past. The Comboyne Local History Collection is situated in the Library section of the Community Centre. If you have any photos or stories of Comboyne please contact us.
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Pit Saw - used to cut timber for early housing
Family hand milking in early dairy
Comboyne school children taking part |
