Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales

Kangaroo Valley is a valley along the Kangaroo River in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia, located west of the seaside in the City of Shoalhaven. It is also the name of the small township within it, formerly known as Osborne, with a population of 319 in the 2006 census.

General
The small town has several arts and craft shops and galleries, several restaurants and cafes, a hotel and licensed bowling club, one post office, one grocery store and two real estate agents. Notably, while there are two real estate agents who always open on weekends, there is currently a doctor practising fulltime and a pharmacy nearby and there is also an ambulance station where a doctor visits once a week. Kangaroo Valley has a bus service to Nowra and Moss Vale. Priors Scenic Express also provides a long distance coach service to Bowral, Mittagong, and Greater Sydney as well as to the Shoalhaven and South Coast (as far as Narooma).

History
The first inhabitants of Kangaroo Valley were the Wodi-Wodi Aboriginals, who had reportedly occupied the land for around 20,000 years before the European settlement of Australia in 1788. An 1826 census indicated 79 Aborigines lived in the valley in five separate encampments. The first recorded European sighting of the valley was in April 1812, when surveyor-explorer George Evans passed through the area as he travelled north from his exploration of Jervis Bay. Evans reportedly claimed that the valley offered a view that "no painter could beautify."

The area was first settled in 1817 when Charles Throsby, an explorer and Captain Richard Brooks, a cattleman, opened the area for white settlement. The felling and exporting of cedar trees quickly became the valley's main industry. By the mid 1840s, the valley also became home to a number of dairy farmers, who specialized in the production of butter as other dairy products such as milk couldn't be exported as they would often curdle long before they had completed the treacherous journey out of the valley to neighboring settlements.

By the 1870s activity had begun to focus in the area that is now the village, as other centers in the valley, such as Trendally, died with the valley's dairy industry. Both the Church of the Good Shepherd (built in 1870–72) and rectory (built in 1879 by John Tanner) were designed by John Horbury Hunt, and are listed on the Register of the National Estate.

The local public school was built in 1884 of local stone. Further additions constructed of weatherboard and brick were made later. The local court house was built circa 1910, also of local stone. The design is asymmetrical and features a sloping buttress and arch. The main buildings include a residence and lock-up as well as the court house itself. Alterations and extensions have taken place over the years. The local school and the court house are both listed on the Register of the National Estate.

The valley has changed very little in the past 130 years with reminders such as the historical Hampden Bridge (the oldest suspension bridge in Australia, completed in May 1898) and old Barrengarry School serving as a testimony to the past when the valley was home to a flourishing dairy industry. Agriculture still exists in the valley today though other industries such as tourism and outdoor recreation have since taken over as the valley's primary source of income.

Geography
Kangaroo Valley is a gently sloping wide valley surrounded on its sides by high mountains of the NSW Southern Highlands, approximately two hours drive south-west of Sydney and about two hours north of Canberra. Flying Fox Pass looks over the valley.

Education
The Scots College has an outdoor education campus for year nine students in the valley, with the name of Glengarry. The Glengarry campus itself consists of four 20-boy dorms, six classrooms, a gymnasium and a theaterette. Glengarry itself spans over 200 acre.

Arts in the Valley
Kangaroo Valley has a strong artistic community, which participates in a biannual arts festival under the leadership of artistic director Belinda Webster. The first festival was held in 2007. Art competitions are used as a framework for the visual arts, while musical programs, addressing a festival theme, are provided by Australian performers including the Goldner String Quartet, gospel choir Cafe of the Gate of Salvation, and the Band of Brothers. In 2009, the festival celebrated the 80th birthday of Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, with three concerts being devoted to his music.