History of Bowral

In 1863, an Anglican stone church which doubled as a school was built on the glebe covering 43 acres (170,000 m²).[2] It was located near the present day Bradman Museum. It had 100 enrollments upon its opening. The students were mostly children of railway workers.

In 1864, Wesleyans or Methodists built a chapel on Bendooley St.

In 1874, a first Anglican church was replaced by the church of St. Simon and St. Jude, designed by Edmund Blacket.[2]

In 1879, an Anglican rectory was built near the church.[2]

In 1881, the Methodist chapel was demolished and was replaced with a church.

The church of St. Simon and St. Jude was rebuilt in 1887 because it could no longer accommodate the growing population. Today, only Blackett's belltower remains.[2]

During the 1880s, a school and hall was built and extended the Anglican church's ground. However, due to Henry Parkes' Public Education Act, the school went under state education. The school remains today as the local primary school across the road from the church.

In 1883, a religious event occurred in Bowral when the Salvation Army famously preached, performed, and paraded in Bong Bong's St.

The first Catholic Church of Bowral was built in 1891 on Banyette St. This was the first incursion of the Catholic Church into Bowral. Bowral has been considered a "Protestant" town unlike its neighboring towns Moss Vale and Mittagong, which hosted large Catholic population.

In 1926, the Methodist church was demolished and rebuilt with the formation of the Uniting Church in Australia.

In 1937, a Baptist church was constructed on Merrigang Street. Its design was the work of Edmund Blacket.

In 1983, a Christian school began (with 7 students) in the back hall of Bowral Baptist Church. Subsequently, a block of land was purchased in East Bowral, as a new site for classrooms. The school, currently named Southern Highlands Christian School is fully operational, educating both Primary and Secondary students.[3]

This original Catholic church on Banyette St. was sold to the Evangelical Church in 1986 and rebuilt next to St. Thomas Aquinas School and presbytery in the same year.

The first hotel of Bowral was built in 1862 and named the "Wingecarribee Inn". The building was built on the corner of modern-day Merrigang St. and Bong Bong St. (where the current Royal Hotel is). The second hotel was built in 1887 named "The Grand Hotel & Motel". The building had 35 rooms. The original Hotel building remains but only a quarter of the building is used as hotel. The building was formerly known as "The Grand Bar and Brasserie" on the corner of Wingecarribee St. and Bong Bong St. It was sold in 2014 after 126 years in operation.

During and after the construction of the railway line from Mittagong to Moss Vale in the late 1860s and 1870s, there were petitions brought forth by recent settlers to open a station at Bowral. These petitions as well as the increased commerce, agriculture, and industry in Bowral led to the construction of the Bowral Station, which opened in 1886. The present Bowral station is where the original station was built. The station was originally called "Burradoo", however the name was changed to "Bowrall" and then, at the turn of the century, to "Bowral," its modern spelling. (For more information, see Bowral Railway Station)

In 1876, milk was shipped from Bowral Station and during the 1880s, due to the railway shipping to Sydney and Goulburn, a tannery was also built. The tannery had operated where the current Commonwealth Bank stands today.

Before the construction of the Grand Hotel, the site was where the first School of Arts was built. The building was rebuilt to its current position in Bendooley St. in 1884. The current Police station was built three years later next to the School of Arts on Wingecarribee St. In 1896, the Bowral courthouse was added next to the police station.

In 1886, Bowral established itself as a municipality. It covered 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) and was home to a population of 1,000. The Victorian Imperial-style town hall of the municipality was built in 1890 next to the police station.

A signal of Bowral's significant growth into a town was established when in 1889 Bowral's lamps were lit by gas. The demand of gas paved way for Bowral's first private gas-works in 1890.

Catholics began relocating into the area after the construction of several Catholic churches and this development called for new Catholic schools. In 1904, the nuns of Our Lady of Sacred Heart bought land known as "Belmore Park" on Centennial Road and established a convent school. In 1924, Belmore Park became a boys college under the nuns of Our Lady of Sacred Heart. Belmore Park today serves as a park and function center.

During World War II, a stronger Catholic presence was felt when St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School and a new presbytery was built. Just three years later, in 1946, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart bought a large property in Burradoo and established it as Chevalier College which eventually became the largest secondary school in the Southern Highlands and Wollondilly Regions. The college is established as a day and boarding school for boys. However, in the 1970s, Chevalier had ceased to become a boarding school and became co-education upon the closure of the girls convent school in Moss Vale.

In 1928–30, Bowral High School was built. It served as a tribute building to the ANZACs of the Great War. Its original building remains until this day. The school served as the prime high school for the area from Picton to Moss Vale until Moss Vale's primary school was upgraded into a high school.

The Springett Family had established themselves in Bowral when they opened a general store in 1926. Two decades later the Springett Family expanded this general store into a bakery and soft-drinks plant. These buildings were the first to distribute soft drinks and sliced bread in the Highlands. The soft drinks plant was the first plant to make the soft drink Passiona in Australia.

In 1920, Bowral's Brickworks were built to supply the booming residential and commercial growth in the Southern Highlands region. Bowral Brickworks remain until this day. The town also began shipping milk to nearby towns since the 1870s and this paved way in the 1930s for the construction of Bowral's Old Milk Factory. This milk factory dominated the dairy industry around Bowral. The Old Milk Factory remains to this day.

Since the late 19th century, the residents of Bowral had been gardeners, planting many decorative European trees and plants. This legacy paved the way for the construction of "Corbett Gardens" in 1911. The gardens are named after Ada Corbett. The gardens were established as a public garden with a large band rotunda. The rotunda was dismantled in the 1950s and rebuilt in the 1990s by donation from the Springett family.

In 1958, Corbett Gardens put Bowral on the map with cultivation of thousands of tulips that would bloom during September. This annual tradition became known as "Tulip Time".

In 1919, 60 acres (240,000 m²) of Mount Gibraltar was decreed as a nature reserve.

The town of Bowral had to rely on the Berrima District Hospital in Berrima for the town's health needs until 1863 when Jacob Ward becoming Bowral's first doctor. In the late 1920s and 1930s, Bowral established its own health-care system with the construction of Bowral Hospital in 1935, which was expanded in 1959. The hospital added an ambulance station in 1935 in Bong Bong St. The station was later sold and is currently used as a commercial space.