Principal: Di Cox
Ph: 0249771122
Fax: 0249772059
Webmaster: cooranbongbarron
Interview With Mr. Deaves, Retired Bullock Driver, and Former Resident of Cooranbong
In Cooranbong there were nine hotels. The post office and police station occupied the same building. The area was full of convicts. the convicts built Martinsville Rd. There were no bridges and the crossings were stony and hard. the bullocks would get bogged.
The King brothers owned the first mill in Martinsville Rd. Later on another was also built in Martinsville. There was a mill at Wyee on the Morisset side of the railway. There was another mill put up at Wyee run by Joseph Lancaster. It was called Cutting Sleepers. The men who laid railway sleepers stayed at the mill for there were no houses.
Some children started work at 8:00 to cut "pit props". Pit props were used to hold the roof of the mines.
The bullocks replaced the horse teams because the Wattagans were too rugged. There was a mill at Dora Creek where the workers club is now. Hurley brothers had a barge which pulled the logs down the creek to the mill. Rail trucks then pulled them to the mill.