Molong

The name Molong comes from the Aboriginal word for 'all rocks'. William Lee of Kelso is said to have had cattle in the area by 1819. He later held property just north of present Molong, around Larras Lee. In 1826, a military and police outpost was established at Molong, on Governor Darling's orders, as a step in opening up the government stock reserve west of the Macquarie River for settlement. For its first twenty years the settlement was at a site approximately east of the current location. The present village of Molong was officially gazetted in March 1849. In 1845, Copper was discovered at Copper Hill, just north of the town. == Heritage listings ==

Molong has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: • Main Western railway: Molong railway station • SE of Molong Yuranigh Road: Grave of Yuranigh ==Geography==

Molong is located on the Mitchell Highway about west of Sydney and about from the city of Orange, and an elevation of 529 metres above sea level. At the , Molong had a population of 1,621 people. Charles Sturt visited Molong in 1828. Molong was the site of an early copper mine in Australia, located at Copper Hill just outside Molong. The railway from Sydney reached Molong in 1886; it was later extended to Parkes. A branch railway to Dubbo was opened in 1925 and closed in 1987. Climate Despite Molong's elevation, it still manages to have a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) due to its northern latitude, having warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters with the odd snowfall. While mean temperatures have been recorded since 1907 at the site, extreme temperature records are found only between 1957 and 1975. Perhaps the most extreme weather event to have affected Molong since European colonisation was the snowfall on 5 July 1900, having fallen to a depth of in town, with snow drifts in some areas reported to an exceptional depth of . ==Education==

• Molong Central School • St Joseph's Catholic Schools ==References==