Sebastopol | |
|---|---|
 Entering Sebastopol | |
  Sebastopol | |
| Coordinates:34°34′48″S147°31′03″E / 34.58000°S 147.51750°E /-34.58000; 147.51750 | |
| Country | Australia |
| State | New South Wales |
| LGA | |
| Location |
|
| Government | |
| • State electorate | |
| • Federal division | |
| Elevation | 299 m (981 ft) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 56 (SAL2021)[2] |
| Postcode | 2666 |
| County | Clarendon |
Sebastopol is a village community in the north east part of theRiverina, inNew South Wales, Australia. It is situated about 15 kilometres south ofTemora and 19 kilometres north ofJunee Reefs. The name is also applied to the surrounding rural locality, for statistical and postal purposes.
The area now known as Sebastopol lies on the traditional lands ofWiradjuri people.[3]
It was named afterSevastopol, the site of an important battle during theCrimean War. Gold was mined there fromc. 1870.[4] It was the first to be discovered of a line of gold mining locations that ran north-north-west, from Junee Reefs, through Sebastopol, Temora,Reefton, andBarmedman, toWest Wyalong.[5]
The early days of the gold field were difficult; the closest police were atMorangorell, and water, carried from springs nearCombaning, had to be purchased by the cask.[5]
The first largequartz reef mine on the field was the Morning Star, begun in 1869, which was also the most productive,[5] recorded as producing 0.93 tonnes of gold.[6] The other large mine was the Homeward Bound. Both of these mines were rich in gold at a relatively shallow depth, yielding around eightounces of gold to the ton; more gold was recovered later by retreating thetailings from these mines.[5] From 1895 to 1898, thecyanide process was used to recover 0.5 ounces of gold per ton from the tailings.[6] After 1896, mining on the field declined to small-scale and intermittent operations, but some mining activity continued in the area into the first half of the 20th Century.[6][7][8]
The mines were long-lived enough for a mining village of around 500 people to form. It had three hotels, three stores and two butcher's shops.[5] Sebastopol Post Office opened on 7 March 1870 and closed in 1973.[9] Sebastopol had a school from 1871 to 1949.[10] An Anglican church building remains in the locality some distance away from the old mining village, at a sub-locality once known as Bagdad; it is no longer used as a church, having been sold in 2016.[11][12][13] There was also a school named Bagdad, from 1884 to 1912 and later from 1923 to 1948.[14] Apart from some ruined buildings, little remains of the original mining village of Sebastopol.
Near Sebastopol is the 248 hectare site of a 90 Mega-Wattsolar farm that became operational in December 2021.[15][16]
