SCONE NSW Postcode 2337

HISTORY OF SCONE SHIRE

The first white man to come into the Upper Hunter area was Allan Cunningham (botanist and explorer) in 1823. A year later, Henry Dangar discovered a route through to what is now known as Aberdeen and Scone.

More than three square miles was allocated as a Crown reserve on the east bank of Kingdon Ponds in 1826, when the first land grants were being measured. Part of this reserve became the village of Scone which was gazetted on 6 September 1837 and the remainder was sold to William Dumaresq of St. Aubins, whose estate enclosed the town and continued to do so for many years to come.

Scone was named in 1831. Hugh Cameron, a Scottish soldier from Turanville produced a petition for government requesting that as this valley of the Kingdon Ponds has not received a general name, that it may be called Strathearne; for the Scottish valley close by the Palace of Scone, the ancient crowning place of the kings of Scotland. It became the Parish of Strathearn and after various alterations, the nearby village reserve became known as Scone.

Aberdeen was marked out as a township in 1838. By 1840, the only buildings that stood were the Segenhoe Inn, established in 1824, five houses and a mill. The town was the  home of the "Aberdeen Meatworks" for over 100 years but in 1999 closed its doors due to a shortage of cattle.

Other examples of early Australian architecture include MacKenzies Store (formerly M Campbell and Co store) built in 1920 and the Segenhoe Flour Mill. The town is expanding and forming its own unique character and forms an important part of the residential and business structure of Scone Shire.

The town of Scone became a municipality in 1888. The present Shire of Scone had three names. In 1906, it was proclaimed as Wooluma Shire. In January 1907, it was altered to Woolooma. The name was changed to Upper Hunter Shire in 1917, and in December 1957 when the municipality of Scone was amalgamated with the Shire of Upper Hunter, the name was again altered to the Shire of Scone.

The Shire of Scone covered an area of 4027 sq km in the Upper Hunter Region of NSW. Population of just over 9 700 spread over 2 major urban settlements - Scone and Aberdeen and 6 smaller villages. During 2004 Scone shire was amalgamated with the former Merriwa and Murrurundi Shires to become the Upper Hunter Shire.

Upper Hunter Shire is bounded by Liverpool Plains Shire and the Tamworth Regional Council area in the north, Gloucester and Dungog Shires in the east, the Singleton Council area and Muswellbrook Shire in the south and the Mid-Western Regional Council area in the west.

The Shire is a predominantly rural area and encompasses a total land area of about 8,000 square kilometres, of which a large proportion is National Park and nature reserves. Most of the rural area is used for grazing, dairy farming, horse studs and general farming. The main township is Scone, with smaller townships at Aberdeen, Merriwa and Murrurundi