Scone (which rhymes with ‘bone’) is a pleasant rural centre of wide, tree-lined streets situated within the Hunter Valley, 283 km north of Sydney and 26 km north of Muswellbrook. It is 202 metres above sea-level and has a population of about 4000.
The commercial and administrative centre of a pastoral, agricultural and dairying shire Scone is an important stock-selling centre noted for its horse and cattle studs. It is known as ‘The Horse Capital of Australia’ and claims to be the second-largest horse breeding area in the world, after Kentucky in the United States. The equine focus of the town is reflected in numerous ways: the ten-day Scone Horse Festival in May when there are street parades, a rodeo, stock sales, an airshow, race meetings and entertainment; the six-week Hunter Horse Expo held over September-October; the new hi-tech racecourse with its Equine Research Centre, and the bronze sculpture, ‘Scone Mare and Foal’ by Gabriel Sterk, prominently situated beside the highway in Elizabeth Park.
In pre-colonial days the Wanaruah people occupied the district. It is known that the Wanaruah had trade and ceremonial links with the Kamilaroi people who may also have occupied the area.
The Wanaruah favoured goannas as a food source, covering larger animals in hot ashes and stuffing them with grass. They also adopted burning off practices as the new shoots which emerged after fire attracted kangaroos which they surrounded and killed with clubs and spears (du-rane) barbed with sharp stones. They also used stone axes (mogo) made of hard volcanic rock bound to a wooden handle. Another food source was lerp, a sweet, edible waxy secretion found on eucalyptus leaves and produced by the young of the psyllid (an insect) for protection.
The first European in the area was surveyor Henry Dangar who, in 1824, passed by the area just west of the present townsite. He crossed over the Liverpool Range but retreated when attacked by the Geaweagal clan of the Wanaruah people west of the Murrurundi townsite.
Dangar’s favourable report on the district led to an immediate land grab by wealthy settlers who had been issued warrants authorising them to take up land. One of the first to investigate the new area was Francis Little who was seeking land for himself and his uncle Dr William Bell Carlyle.
Little established Invermein in 1825. Carlyle was issued the grant of Satur (pronounced ‘say-ter’) which is now a suburb on the western side of Scone. Allan Cunningham passed through in 1827 when he followed Dangar’s route north and went on to ‘discover’ the Darling Downs in Queensland.
The Crown had reserved three square miles for a townsite on the eastern bank of Kingdon Ponds, another creek just west of present-day Scone. However a village named Redbank had begun to emerge by 1828 to the west of that site. A hospital was established there in 1834, along with an inn and store. However, the traffic began to shift to the east when William Nowland discovered the pass at Murrurundi in 1827. His route eventually became part of the Great North Road. Built by 3000 convicts between 1826 and 1834 it was the first road into the Hunter Valley. In 1836 the St Aubins Arms and a store were established adjacent this track. This formed the seed from which the present township grew.
The newer settlement, officially called Invermein but locally known as St Aubins, was gazetted in 1837 as Scone. The latter name was suggested by Hugh Cameron and received a favourable hearing in the ears of fellow Scotsman Thomas Mitchell (surveyor-general). It was also decided that the parish should be called Strathearn. Both names reflect the heritage of the early European settlers – Scone being the residence of the Scottish kings and the site of their coronation. The new name was taken up by locals in 1838.
In 1840 bushranger Edward ‘The Jewboy’ Davis and his gang held up the St Aubins Arms and Thomas Dangar’s store. John Graham, an employee of the latter, shot at the gang when they were leaving then set off to alert the police but he was pursued and killed by one of the highwaymen.
Early development was slow. In 1841, when the first Anglican church was completed, the population was only 63. At the time the area was noted for its large pastoral properties (Belltrees, Segenhoe, St Aubins and Invermein). Bishop Broughton complained of ‘a great insensitivity’ to religious duties amongst the community, none of whom turned up to witness the consecration of St Luke’s churchyard in 1843.
The first school (Anglican) was established in 1845-46 and a proper courthouse built in 1848 (still standing). In the early 1860s a flour mill was erected (now the RSL Club) and gold was discovered in the mountains to the north-east. A national school opened in 1863.
The town received a boost when the railway arrived in 1871. By 1881 the population was still only 214. A new courthouse was constructed the following year. Scone was declared a municipality in 1888, the year the Scone Advocate was established.
English natural history artist Elizabeth Gould lived at Scone in the late 1830s, painting pictures of birds while her husband and Aboriginal helpers collected new species. English psychologist and writer Havelock Ellis stayed at Scone from about 1875 to 1879, teaching at Sparkes Creek School in 1878.
