Young, New South Wales

Young is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and is the centre of Young Shire. Young is the Cherry Capital Of Australia and every year hosts the National Cherry Festival.

History
The indigenous people of the district were members of the Burrowmunditory tribe, part of the Wiradjuri people.

James White was the first European settler in the district and established Burrangong Station in 1826 with a squatting claim of 100 sqmi.

Gold was found in the district in 1860. Until that time the area was called Lambing Flat, a reference to the grazing of sheep that was the main industry until mining. The town was gazetted in 1861. The goldfields produced 470,000 ounces of gold sent by escort from the fields. Up to 20,000 miners worked the fields including about 2,000 Chinese miners.

From November 1860 through to June 1861 anti-Chinese miners attacked Chinese gold miners in the area, now known as the infamous Lambing Flat riots. As gold became scarce, European miners began to resent what they saw as the greater success of the more industrious Chinese, and hence many Chinese miners were attacked, robbed and killed. The anti-Chinese rebels rallied in numbers of up to 3,000. Eventually the rioters were controlled, Chinese miners had their claims restored to them, but the New South Wales Parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Bill which restricted the number of Chinese that could be brought in to New South Wales on any ship and imposed a tax per head on entry.

In 1889 Young was the first town in Australia other than the capital cities to install electricity into the streets and homes of the township.Young is also acknowledged as the first Local Government Area to institute a rural school bus system in New South Wales

Location
Young is situated on the Olympic Hwy in the South West Slopes of NSW. It is approximately 2 hours drive from the canberra area. Young is situated in a valley, with surrounding hills to show.

Demographics
On census night, 7 August 2001, there were 6,821 people (3,287 males and 3,534 females) counted in Young.

There were 238 people (1.221%) (127 males and 111 females) who identified as being of Indigenous origin in the 2001 Census.

The median age of people in the 2001 Census was 36 year and seven hours

Ancestry
The number of people born overseas in the 2001 Census was 650 (5.8%) compared with 589 (5.3%) in the 1996 Census and 549 (5.1%) in the 1991 Census. Of those born overseas, the three main countries of birth in the 2001 Census were:

United Kingdom: 253 (2.2%) New Zealand: 74 (0.7%) and; Netherlands: 34 (0.3%).

In the 2001 Census, the three most common ancestries identified with were:

Australian: 5741 people (50.9%) English: 4022 people (35.7%) and; Irish: 1309 people (11.6%).

Languages
English was stated as the only language spoken at home by 10547 people (92.6%) in the 2001 Census. The three most common languages spoken at home other than English in the 2001 Census were:

Arabic (including Lebanese): 130 (1.8%) Netherlandic: 24 (0.2%) and; Chinese languages: 20 (0.2%). Also nigar:1 (2.1

Education
In the week preceding the 2001 Census, 3333 people (29.6%) had used a personal computer at home. 407 (4.8%) people (154 males and 253 females) held a bachelor degree. 6140 (72.1%) people (2775 males and 3365 females) did not have a qualification.

Young has 7 Education Institutes:
 * Bellhaven Special School
 * St Mary's Primary School
 * M-E-T School Young Campus
 * Young North Primary School
 * Young Public School
 * Hennessy Catholic College
 * Young High School 

Employment
349 people (194 males and 155 females) were unemployed, representing 7.1% of the labour force. The median weekly individual income for people aged 15 years and over in the 2001 Census was $300-$399.

Housing
In the 2001 Census, there were 3847 separate houses (89.0%), 141 semi detached, row or terrace houses and townhouses (3.3%), 227 flats, units or apartments (5.3%) and 97 other dwellings (2.2%).

In the 2001 Census, there were 1378 couple families with children (which comprised 45.6% of all families in occupied private dwellings), 1149 couple families without children (38.1%), 445 one parent families (14.7%) and 47 other families (1.6%).

Sport

 * Young Yabbies are a Rugby Union team playing in the Southern Inland Rugby Union competition.
 * Young Cherrypickers are a Rugby League team playing in the Group 9 competition
 * Young Saints are an Australian Football League team playing in the Central West AFL competition.
 * Young Lions are a Soccer Club playing in the Bathurst District Soccer Senior Mens and Senior Women's competition.

Local government
The current mayor of the Young Shire Council is Cr Stuart Freudenstein.

Newspapers

 * Burrangong Argus 1864-1914 (became the Young Witness)
 * Burrangong Chronicle 1873-1902 (became the Young Chronicle)
 * Burrangong Courier 1962 (ceased publication)
 * The Lambing Flat Miner 1862-1961 (ceased publication)
 * Young Chronicle 1902-1947 (incorporated in The Young Witness)
 * The Young Witness 1914-

Radio Stations

 * 2LF AM 1350 (commercial),
 * ROCCY FM FM 93.9 (commercial),
 * SBS FM 98.7 (retransmission),
 * JJJ 90.7,
 * Radio National 89.1/97.1,
 * ABC Riverina 89.9/96.3,
 * Classic FM 88.3,
 * Cherry Capital Music & Sport "2YYY, FM 92.3" (Local Community Broadcasting Radio Station).

The Lambing Flat Chinese Tribute Gardens
Young Shire Council has established these gardens adjacent to the site of Chinaman’s Dam, which is an old railway dam about 4 km south of Young. They are intended to create an ambience similar to the Japanese Gardens at Cowra.

Chinaman’s Dam, with an initial capacity of over 2 million gallons when it was in railway use, is situated at a very small place called Pitstone on Sawpit Gully. The story goes that the dam was built in the 1860s by Dutch brothers, Herman and John Tiedeman, to provide water for the sluicing of their Victoria Hill gold claims. At some time in the 1870s, the brothers sold the area, including the dam, to a Chinese group who worked the site.

The story of the dam as a railway facility began in 1882 when the NSW Railway Commissioners gave notice of the intention to build the first part of the Blayney-Demondrille railway. To provide water for its steam locomotives, the Commissioners decided to provide a dam and pump water from it to a facility, known as Young Tank, at the 246 mi post. It is not known whether the railways enhanced the existing dam or built a new facility.

From 1885 to 1901, locomotives stopped at Young Tank to replenish their water. In 1901, watering facilities were built at Young Station. The supply of water was obtained from Chinaman’s Dam. The capacity of the dam was enlarged in 1911.

The dam was a popular spot for swimming. Whilst officially frowned upon, it was tolerated.

Following the connection to the South West Tablelands Water Supply Scheme, which provided water from Burrinjuck Dam, the railways ceased to draw water from Chinaman’s Dam after 1936. The site was returned to the Crown in 1962 and in the following year, a 36 acre reserve was established and the Shire Council appointed as Trustees. The dam has since been enlarged.