Kandos a Rare 20th Century Town
As I explored the topic of the Wallerawang to Mudgee railway, I kept searching for James Angus, first chairman of the Kandos cement company. We in Kandos have always believed James Angus built the railway. And that he chose the site for the cement works based on his knowledge of resources in the area.
Henbury has survived for ninety years on the sweat of its volunteers.
According to the Mudgee Guardian Kandos Stores had “a distinct air of progressiveness”. Double-fronted, two-story, with overhead balcony and paved entrance, it was built with CCCs locally manufactured ash and cement concrete blocks, 9 inches by 18 inches.
I hear the arguments against trees. They drop leaves and branches and sap. They attract noisy birds. They break pavements and pipes. Some of them are weeds. That is the song of the tree-cutter. As you probably guessed, I am a tree-hugger.
A copper industry would add to the industrial impact of Kandos, increase the workforce by 90, grow the town and make it more commercially viable. What’s not to like?
Throughout 1918 there was great enthusiasm and support for the new School of Arts, at least from the top end of town.
As early as February 1920 the cement workers were agitating for a pay increase. The trouble was, the area was in severe drought, the company dams were empty and the company was importing 40,000 gallons of water by train daily.
Overwhelmingly I felt a sense of sadness for a once-thriving village.
There was something magical about the ropeway. A continuous stream of buckets gliding across the landscape, sliding against imperial towers, over rugged hills, and deep gullies, above sheep grazing in paddocks or a plough turning the soil.
AussieLegend wrote the information and he was quite sure he was right. After all, he gave a trustworthy source - The Companion to Tasmanian History, produced by the University of Tasmania.
Our rotunda might seem solitary and neglected, yet it is, to me at least, romantic and uplifting. I would suggest also that it has more to say about Kandos history, and even our state history, than any other building in Kandos.
Kandos History 