Michelago, New South Wales
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Michelago New South Wales |
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View from Loorungah, Clearview Road 2009
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 Michelago
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| Coordinates | 35°43′13″S 149°9′27″E / 35.72028°S 149.15750°ECoordinates: 35°43′13″S 149°9′27″E / 35.72028°S 149.15750°E |
| Population | 795 (2006 census) |
| Postcode(s) | 2631 |
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| LGA(s) | Snowy Monaro Regional Council |
| State electorate(s) | Monaro |
| Federal Division(s) | Eden-Monaro |
Michelago is a locality in the Monaro region of New South Wales, Australia. The locality is in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council local government area, 54 kilometres (34 mi) south of Canberra on the Monaro Highway. It was founded in the 1820s, on the main route from Sydney to the Snowy Mountains. In the 2006 census, Michelago had a population of 795.
Michelago is situated in a valley between two mountain ranges, the Tinderry Range to the East and the Clear Range to the west. A road crosses the Tinderrys from Michelago, leading ultimately to the 1950s silver mining settlement Captains Flat. The highest peaks in the picturesque Tinderry Range reach approximately 1600m above sea level, while Michelago itself has an elevation of around 800m. The Murrumbidgee River separates the village from the Clear Range. The Michelago Creek passes through the village, and is a source of water for the residents. Its catchment area is in the Tinderry Range, and after passing the town the creek flows into the Murrumbidgee River. It has been claimed that Michelago represents the territorial divide between white-backed and black-backed magpies on the Monaro Highway from Canberra to Cooma.
Currie and Ovens explored the Michelago region in 1823 and the first settlement proceeded soon thereafter, involving the ex-convict couple, Emmanuel and Catherine Elliot. The explorer Dr John Lhotsky claimed that his journey in 1834 south from the Limestone Plains toward Michelago represented a descent into what he considered barbarism: no church south of Sutton Forest, no window pane south of Canberra, no white woman south of Michelago. The first Monaro Superintendent of Police, the Corsican Francis Nicholas Rossi, built an ironbark slab homestead in the region called Micilago on 35,000 acres (14,175 hectares) in 1837; this station was bought in 1859 by Alexander Ryrie who married Charlotte Faunce the daughter of Alured Tasker Faunce the police magistrate at Queanbeyan; one of their children being Granville Ryrie, later a General in World War I, knighted and involved with the League of Nations in Geneva. Alexander Ryrie who'd renamed his property Michalago,built St Thomas' church in the village of Michelago and life for those in the area was very self-sufficient, with income from wool, cattle for meat, milk and butter, locally grown fruit and vegetables, with soap and tallow candles also being made by hand.
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