Yerrinbool

Building the deviation and a new village

Before the railway opened, workers and their families lived in a temporary tent settlement while tracks and tunnels were built. The Society’s centenary article describes stables for the horses used in construction. Later, better access to the railway helped local growers send produce to market.^[14]

Yerrinbool belongs to the story of the Main Southern Railway’s 1919 deviation. Heritage NSW records that the new route bypassed the steep old line through Thirlmere, Buxton, Balmoral and Hill Top, taking trains through Tahmoor, Bargo and Yerrinbool instead. Construction began in 1918, with four new stations planned. The station gave the locality a fresh connection to Sydney and the Highlands.^[10]

The Yerrinbool Station Estate was promoted in 1919 as a mountain resort. A Society history records that the first land sale attracted buyers, although the larger resort did not develop as advertised. Its accounts of the general store differ: a Transport NSW road history associates a store opened in 1919 with land agent J. W. G. Simons, while the Society’s 2019 railway-centenary article dates the store building to 1921. Further records are needed to establish the sequence. The centenary account records an alpine theme in names such as Andes, Sierra and Everest, part of the estate’s mountain-resort ambitions.^[11][14]

One expression of the village’s visitor trade was Lurgan guest house on the Old Hume Highway. The Society’s photograph catalogue dates its operation from 1921 to 1940: William A. Harman ran it first, followed during the 1930s by Dulcie and Evelyn McLeod. A photograph of guests on the verandah gives the developing village a domestic face.^[21]

The Robertson Advocate reported strong bidding at the first Yerrinbool Station Estate sale after the railway deviation opened in 1919. It said all 42 lots fronting the Main Southern Road sold, along with 26 lots in Sunrise Road. A Sydney Morning Herald report in January 1920 described a further sale of 20 lots. These are contemporary reports of sales, useful alongside the original plans and conveyances when tracing individual blocks.^[18][19][20]

The district’s orchards included Robert Bear’s apple, pear and cherry trees and the Bernard brothers’ orchard with tomatoes and gooseberries, according to the Society’s 2019 history. Another local grower, Sophie Corrie, cleared and fenced a selection in 1875 and developed expertise in preserving fruit. Corrie Road recalls the family; the Society’s later article provides further detail on the orchard district.^[15]

Schools, faith and community

Community work helped establish a school near the station. The Society’s 2019 account gives an opening on 20 August 1922 with 30 pupils. The NSW education history lists Yerrinbool as a provisional school from August 1922, followed by later public and provisional classifications; its last listed period ends in December 1962. That supports the 1962 date in the Society’s 2025 account, although the 2019 article says the late 1960s. The original school files may clarify the discrepancy. A community hall followed in 1938, built with local voluntary labour.^[14][17]

The Baha’i summer school opened in 1937, on the western side of the village. The Hume Highway’s later dual carriageway divided Yerrinbool in the mid-1970s, with an overbridge connecting the two sides. The station garden is a later community connection with the railway; check current arrangements with its organisers.^[12][14]

A 1953 Southern Mail report, reproduced by the Society, describes a collision involving two trains in Yerrinbool tunnel and the diversion of railway traffic through the Mittagong-Picton loop. As with any later transcription, check the original newspaper when researching the incident.^[13]