Upper Kangaroo Valley

The upper valley and its school

Upper Kangaroo Valley lies at the edge of the Southern Highlands and the Kangaroo Valley district. The NSW Electoral Commission lists it among localities partly or wholly within Wingecarribee Shire. Names and boundaries in the upper valley can be confusing: the neighbouring Upper Kangaroo River community and Kangaroo Valley village have their own local histories, so an old record needs to be located on a map rather than assigned by name alone.^[3]

A useful education lead for the wider district is Kangaroo River Upper school. The NSW government school dataset records a provisional school beginning in August 1888, then several public, provisional and half-time periods; its final public-school period ended in December 1969. The same record gives the former name Hillcrest until January 1942. Check the location and dates of an individual family’s record before assuming the school served a particular property.^[4]

The Society’s library catalogue lists Upper Kangaroo River School Reunion 1888-1988, an accessible starting point for researching families and school memories. The University of Wollongong Archives also catalogues a 1953 photograph of an Upper Kangaroo Valley school in the Mary Tow history-of-education collection. Researchers should confirm the photograph’s exact school and seek the archive’s permission before reproducing it.^[5][6]

Community and the landscape

Community life extended beyond school. The State Library’s W. A. Bayley collection catalogues 1964 photographs of the Upper Kangaroo River bridge and hall. These records provide a way to investigate the neighbouring river community and its changing connections with the Highlands; they do not establish that the hall or bridge lies within today’s Upper Kangaroo Valley boundary.^[7]

The 1960 Parish of Yarrawa map follows part of the upper Kangaroo River south from the Robertson district, showing numbered portions, waterways, roads and reserves near the boundary of the Parish of Wallaya. It is useful regional context rather than a map of today’s locality boundary. A 2010 government notice places one road parcel at Upper Kangaroo Valley in Wallaya, County of Camden; individual sites need checking against their own deposited plans.^[8]