Moss Vale | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_in_Moss_Vale.jpg) Argyle Street, which forms part of theIllawarra Highway | |||||||||||||
  Moss Vale | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates:34°33′S150°23′E / 34.550°S 150.383°E /-34.550; 150.383 | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | New South Wales | ||||||||||||
| Region | Southern Highlands | ||||||||||||
| LGA | |||||||||||||
| Location |
| ||||||||||||
| Established | 1861 | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • State electorate | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Elevation | 678 m (2,224 ft) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 8,774 (UCL2021)[2] | ||||||||||||
| Postcode | 2577 | ||||||||||||
| County | Camden | ||||||||||||
| Parish | Bong Bong | ||||||||||||
| Mean max temp | 18.9 °C (66.0 °F) | ||||||||||||
| Mean min temp | 8.2 °C (46.8 °F) | ||||||||||||
| Annual rainfall | 784.5 mm (30.89 in) | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Moss Vale is a town in theSouthern Highlands ofNew South Wales,Australia. Moss Vale is the administrative centre ofWingecarribee Shire local government area. It is located 142 kilometres (88 mi) south-west ofSydney and 159 kilometres (99 mi) north-east ofCanberra. TheIllawarra Highway, which connects toWollongong and theIllawarra coast viaMacquarie Pass.
Moss Vale has several heritage buildings. In the centre of the main street is Leighton Gardens. Moss Vale has undergone recent (2019) gentrification. It has become a hub for independent and creative businesses, including design stores, cafes, and bars. The town has a commercial district and a golf course, including a large parkland,Cecil Hoskins Nature Reserve.
The Moss Vale area was once occupied by theGandangara people, though they had disappeared by the 1870s, partly due to the loss of their hunting land to European settlers.Governor Hunter sent a party led by ex-convict John Wilson to investigate the area in 1798. Various others explored the area up to 1815, including John Warby, George Caley,Hamilton Hume andJohn Oxley. Hume,Charles Throsby andJoseph Wild explored the area west ofSutton Forest in 1817 and in 1818, together withJames Meehan, they explored the area between Moss Vale andJervis Bay. GovernorMacquarie granted Throsby 1,000 acres (4.0 km2), known as Throsby Park, atBong Bong, on the northeastern outskirts of Moss Vale and put him in charge of building the Old Argyle Road from Sydney toGoulburn in 1819. This road was replaced in the 1830s by a more direct road viaBerrima surveyed byThomas Mitchell and most of the population of Bong Bong moved to Berrima.[3] The heritage-listed property of Throsby Park house was built about 1834, six years after Throsby's suicide.[4]
The area, which was considered to be part ofSutton Forest, remained rural until the coming of the railway. Subdivision part of Throsby Park for the town of Moss Vale, named after Jemmy Moss, a herdsman at Throsby Park, commenced in 1864, in anticipation of the opening of Sutton Forest railway station in 1867 at the intersection with Old Argyle Road. GovernorBelmore rented Throsby Park from 1870 to 1872 to what is commonly believed to escape the summer heat of Sydney.[5] The railway and theRobertson Land Acts encouraged denser settlement byselectors in the Southern Highlands and led to the growth of Moss Vale as a town.[6] In 1877 Sutton Forest railway station was renamed Moss Vale.
Moss Vale has anoceanic climate (Cfb) with warm to mild, rainy summers and cool sunny winters.
| Climate data for Moss Vale AWS (2001–2022); 678 m AMSL; 34.53° S, 150.42° E | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 40.9 (105.6) | 41.2 (106.2) | 37.0 (98.6) | 30.7 (87.3) | 23.4 (74.1) | 20.3 (68.5) | 21.4 (70.5) | 22.5 (72.5) | 30.4 (86.7) | 31.7 (89.1) | 37.9 (100.2) | 41.1 (106.0) | 41.2 (106.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 26.2 (79.2) | 24.4 (75.9) | 21.8 (71.2) | 19.2 (66.6) | 15.5 (59.9) | 12.5 (54.5) | 11.9 (53.4) | 13.4 (56.1) | 16.7 (62.1) | 19.5 (67.1) | 22.0 (71.6) | 24.1 (75.4) | 18.9 (66.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 14.2 (57.6) | 14.0 (57.2) | 12.1 (53.8) | 8.7 (47.7) | 4.9 (40.8) | 3.4 (38.1) | 2.5 (36.5) | 3.0 (37.4) | 5.4 (41.7) | 7.9 (46.2) | 10.5 (50.9) | 12.2 (54.0) | 8.2 (46.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 4.1 (39.4) | 5.1 (41.2) | 2.2 (36.0) | −2.5 (27.5) | −3.4 (25.9) | −6.3 (20.7) | −5.7 (21.7) | −5.4 (22.3) | −4.0 (24.8) | −2.0 (28.4) | −0.1 (31.8) | 2.0 (35.6) | −6.3 (20.7) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 65.0 (2.56) | 101.4 (3.99) | 96.6 (3.80) | 55.9 (2.20) | 48.3 (1.90) | 76.5 (3.01) | 63.7 (2.51) | 54.7 (2.15) | 41.9 (1.65) | 52.8 (2.08) | 72.3 (2.85) | 60.1 (2.37) | 784.5 (30.89) |
| Average precipitation days | 13.2 | 14.2 | 16.6 | 15.7 | 15.0 | 16.8 | 13.8 | 12.3 | 11.5 | 12.1 | 14.2 | 12.5 | 167.9 |
| Average afternoonrelative humidity (%) | 51 | 60 | 59 | 58 | 60 | 63 | 61 | 53 | 51 | 51 | 56 | 52 | 56 |
| Source:[7] | |||||||||||||
Moss Vale has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
At the2021 census, 9,310 people were living in Moss Vale.[12]
According to the2016 census of Population, there were 8,579 people in Moss Vale. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.6% of the population. 78.2% of people were born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were England 4.4%, New Zealand 1.7% and China 1.5%. 87.2% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin at 1.3%. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 25.8%, Anglican 24.9% and Catholic 22.1%.[13]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 1,947 | — |
| 1933 | 2,359 | +21.2% |
| 1947 | — | |
| 1954 | 2,748 | — |
| 1961 | 3,040 | +10.6% |
| 1966 | 3,144 | +3.4% |
| 1971 | 3,235 | +2.9% |
| 1976 | 3,638 | +12.5% |
| 1981 | 4,415 | +21.4% |
| 1986 | 5,016 | +13.6% |
| 1991 | 5,960 | +18.8% |
| 1996 | 6,108 | +2.5% |
| 2001 | 6,601 | +8.1% |
| 2006 | 6,723 | +1.8% |
| 2011 | 7,305 | +8.7% |
| 2016 | 7,865 | +7.7% |
| 2021 | 8,774 | +11.6% |
| Source:Australian Bureau of Statistics data.[14][15] | ||
Moss Vale holds a large part of the Southern Highlands Industry – as well as being a minor centre for agriculture, many light and medium industries are found in and around Moss Vale, including aJames Hardie plant, aHarperCollins book distribution centre, and other manufacturing industries. Despite Moss Vale's prowess as an industrial centre, nearbyBowral is the commercial heart of the Southern Highlands.
Moss Vale is believed to have fertile soil and good precipitation. Agricultural rural holdings in the area specialise in dairy herds, mainlyHolstein Frisian, and there is an assortment of beef studs and sheep properties.
TheWingecarribee Shire Council Chambers are located at 68 Elizabeth Street, Moss Vale. They can be found online at:Wingecarribee Shire Council WebsiteWingecarribee Shire Council Facebook Page
The Southern Highlands Police Station, part of the Hume Police District is the mainNSW Police Force Station serving the Southern Highlands (Wingecarribee Shire). It is located at 67 Elizabeth Street. Moss Vale has aNew South Wales Rural Fire Service Brigade which is located at 49 Berrima Road. There is also aFire and Rescue NSW Station which is located at 64 Elizabeth Street, Moss Vale which is across the road from the Police Station and just up from the Wingecarribee Shire Council Chambers.
Moss Vale station is the primary southern terminus of theSouthern Highlands railway line. The line provides regular services from Moss Vale to southern Sydney, where a change of trains is generally required to access the city centre. Limited services continue south of Moss Vale to Goulburn and beyond (intercity, regional and interstate).
The station has 4 MelbourneXPT services a day (2 to Melbourne, 2 to Sydney), with other services towards Canberra (3 daily trips in each direction) and Griffith (2 return trips per week).
Moss Vale is the junction of theUnanderra – Moss Vale railway line toWollongong, opened in 1932, but now only used by freight trains.
Television is delivered from the Illawarra region with a transmitter based onMount Gibraltar.
The Southern NSW Channels[16] are:
ABC (withABC News,ABC Family,ABC Entertains,ABC Kids)[17]
SBS (withSBS Viceland,SBS Food,SBS WorldWatch,SBS World Movies,NITV)[18]
7 Moss Vale (with7two,7mate,7flix,7Bravo,Racing.com,TVSN) –Seven Network owned and operated
WIN Television (with9Go!,9Gem,9Life andGold) –Nine Network Affiliate
10 Southern NSW (with10 Drama,10 Comedy,Nickelodeon,Sky News Regional, SBN and gecko) –Network 10 owned and operated
Schools in Moss Vale:
Churches in Moss Vale:
Sporting teams in Moss Vale:
Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) underCC BY 4.0licence. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) underCC BY 4.0licence. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) underCC BY 4.0licence. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) underCC BY 4.0licence.
Media related toMoss Vale, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons
| Authority control databases: Geographic |
|---|