Forbes is a town renowned for its remarkable civic buildings and homes, and rightly proud of its heritage. But the thing we liked most about Forbes is the magnificent lake that snakes through the town, providing a walkers’ paradise of pathways. And of course the wonderful McFeeters Motor Museum.
We were at the Forbes from 06 April departing on 11 April 2021.
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
Getting There
Cowra > Woodstock (28km) > Canowindra (30km) > Forbes (71km) ~ 129kms
History
The Wiradjuri people occupied the lands around the upper Lachlan River for tens of thousands of years. Their history after European settlement can be read here.
In 1817 a party led by the Surveyor General, John Oxley, camped near the town. Oxley named the site ‘Camp Hill’. He was unimpressed with the clay soil, poor timber and swamps. He described the land as ‘it is impossible to imagine a worse country‘.
The history of European settlement can be read here
Today Forbes has a population of nearly 10,000 in the shire and is a remarkably elegant and substantial inland town. It is an important rural service centre noted for its fine parks and gardens and its large and gracious public buildings. The rural economy in the district is based around a major livestock sale yards complex, beef and hay exports, wool, wheat, grain seed crops, oil seed crops, fruit and vegetables.
Day 1 – 6 April 2021 – drive to Forbes
We drove to Forbes via Woodstock and Canowindra, which were towns with great history, we had been told. It was a shame we did not know that on the way to Cowra as we had driven right past the short diversion to Woodstock. It is a drive through rolling agricultural lands – very pretty.
Woodstock is today a virtual skeleton of a town. Naturally the Royal Hotel is great – so big – and looking good. The Post Office looks in good condition as does the cute yellow house right behind it. Love the railway station too.
There are a few other buildings standing proud, including the large church, and a beautifully restored home.
Its a pretty drive to Canowindra.
Canowindra is brilliant. It’s amazing the buildings that are still there and being used. I took a video of the drive down the main street – click here.
Some of the best buildings are as follows.
We stopped at the lovely old milk bar: The Garden of Roses. We had a tea/iced chocolate and cake. Lovely place and the owner was great to chat to.
It’s an easy 71km to Forbes. There are a few good buildings at Eugowra, but we did not stop.
We have a drive-through site at the Forbes Big4 van park – the van on gravel and the awning area paved. Cost was $31.50 a night. Lots of grass – in fact we were warned not to park the car on the grass as they want to protect it. We got 1 key for the toilets and one for the boom gate, which proved a bit annoying. The facilities are all there – oldish but perfectly clean. The pool is tiny.
There is a good sized camp kitchen and in the evening the staff light a pretty good fire – they deliver enough timber to last until about 10.00. You can’t burn your own timber there, a sign warns us. In fact there are many signs up telling us what we cannot do.
We drove up to the Tourist Information Office which is at the old rail station – lovely building. The two ladies there were excellent and we came away with the usual maps and brochures. We had to get a couple of things done on the car (new break pads and tyre rotation) so made arrangements for that – luckily we found a place that could do the work first thing the next day. One of the ladies grew up in Manly and used to catch the manly ferry to work every day…. just like me.
Day 2 – 7 April 2021 – around Forbes – it’s Kerry’s birthday.
A bit cold overnight but then perfect.
After wishing Kerry a happy birthday, I took the car out to the workshop, which was a bit out of town. Whilst the work was done I walked back to town and wandered around for a couple of hours.
Later we headed up town to have a good look around. We had not got far before we got a call from a florist who was at the entrance of the van park trying to deliver a big bunch of flowers. We rushed back to take delivery – they were from Kerry’s family, adding to the list of good wishes that came her way. And thank you everyone for your birthday wishes.
Back into town and we parked at Victoria Park, which is surrounded on 3 sides by some glorious old buildings. The Park is very pretty with the rotunda and fountain.
The buildings are amazing – here are pics of some at the Park and including some others from around town. This part of Forbes is very elegant – with the wonderful old buildings and the beautiful Victoria Park.
In a nearby park we found a very strange and graphic sculpture – Pyramid – by Giilie and Marc. It is said to symbolise community and friendship depicting Rabitwoman with 2 Dogmen supporting each other.
Whilst walking around town that morning, I had noticed that the Hotel we were going out for a celebratory dinner had a steak night on Wednesdays, which we found out later meant the normal menu would not be available. So we delayed the meal for a night.
Day 3 – 8 April 2021 – around Forbes
A bit cold overnight but then perfect – again.
For my morning walk I went up the the lake and walked around the loop close to town. That is about 5km, plus another 4km getting there. Lovely walk, lake is amazing – see pics below – and there are many people out and about.
We went to the McFeeters Motor Museum – a great place to visit. This exhibits more than 60 cars from all eras, and was designed by a woman. She brought in all the mannequins and dressed then for the season. All of the cars could start, after a bit of coaxing, except one. All are virtually fully restored – except for the one at the entrance which is 50:50. You can get a good overview from our video – click here
These is the views from upstairs.
Here are some of the cars we really liked. I just loved the dresses on the mannequins – could easily have taken 2 or 3 home.
The Japanese hearse looks bizarre. Apparently funerals had to happen at Midday so that there would be no shadow cast that might cover someone and bring them bad luck. Its a Lincoln Continental with all the bling on top.
Our favourite was the French 1923 Berliet – and not just because it had its own bar. The company diversified onto lorries and were later take-over by Citroen.
There are also heaps of car related toys and shopping.
After that we went out to see the unusual mural at Spotlight. It is a bush picture of lots of people. But as you get closer yo begin to see that it is in fact all done out of wool. It’s an amazing piece of work. So well done – it won a prize at the Royal Easter Show one year, then was reassembled here.
That night we went out for Kerry’s birthday celebrations at the Vandenberg Hotel. Delightful meal and the company wasn’t bad either.
Back at the camp the fire was lit at 5 and there were about a dozen or so people edging closer to the heat. A really enjoyable evening.
Day 4 – 9 April 2021 – around Forbes
Cold overnight but then perfect
We both had rather sore heads from the joviality of the fire-side drinks, so we drove up to the Lake and walked around for a bit – Kerry had not really done that yet. We walked around to the Wiradjuri Centre, adjacent to the Lake. Panels discuss the history of these people and their previous way of life. There is also a fairly dramatic sculpture, but with no interpretation. I took it to mean harmony and supporting each other… but could be totally wrong.
Leaving the Center there are a number of plaques describing elements of the Wiradjuri culture.
We spent the rest of the day reading. The fire was again lit at 5 and there were the usual suspects edging closer to the heat. Another enjoyable evening.
Day 5 – 10 April 2021 – around Forbes
Cold overnight and then a bit of a nip in the air through the day. There is a cold change on the way.
I walked the entire track around the Lake – an excellent 10km walk. The Lake is a terrific feature of Forbes, a wonderful asset for the town and is fed from the Lachlan River and groundwater. It is in fact a billabong cut off from the River but receiving water. In the early morning the lake provides brilliant reflections of the trees and the two fountains shooting water into the air.
The western half of the lake is an aquatic reserve with a couple of nice picnic areas. The reflections were amazing on this lake in the early morning.
There is also a plaque at the point where Kate Foster drowned. Kate was Ned Kelly’s sister. Her father died when Kate was 3 leaving her mother and 7 children – Kate was second youngest. At age 14 her brothers Ned and Dan started their gang and were under constant police attention. After her mother was wrongly imprisoned for 3 years, Kate had to look after the family. She was later brought to Forbes to work as a domestic, where she married and had 6 children. She became progressively more and more depressed, asked a neighbour to look after her baby and then never returned. Her body was found later floating on the lake. This was such a sad, sad story and had me shedding a tear.
On the southern side of the western sector, there is a free camping/caravan area, where I saw about a dozen vans amongst the trees. A camper told me that they were only supposed to stay for 2 nights.
There is also an airforce plane on a pedestal.
Later in the day we went to see yet another sculpture. This is part of a series being done along various locations along the Lachlan River. You take the West Wyalong road and travel about 5kms when you will come to Greens Rd. There is no sign for the sculpture at the intersection. We turned left but soon stopped a couple of kids on motorbikes to ask them if they knew it. Naturally we had turned the wrong way – should have turned right. The very large sculpture is soon in sight and is really quite amazing.
In the afternoon we went to the cemetery to see the graves of Ben Hall and Kate Foster.
To see photos for this post, click here.
To see a video of Canowinda main street, click here
To see a video of McFeeters Motor Museum, click here