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Welcome to Kandos History.

This website was created to promote the town of Kandos and share some of its unique history.

Your feedback is welcome. See Contact page.

How To End A Blog

Over the last month or so, I’ve been playing around with ideas on how to end our Blog Affair. For a while I thought I would just stop posting. Walk out without saying goodbye. Or leave a note: ‘Good-bye. Won’t be back. Sorry!’

In the Interests of Truth and Justice

Numerous newspaper articles praised Rylstone’s solid public buildings and the excellent quality and colour of the sandstone. Enough reason to enter Rylstone stone in the Sydney International Exhibition at the Garden Palace in 1879. And win first prize.

Imagine There’s No Bridge

On 11 October of that year, 1862, 300 inhabitants of the ‘usually quiet little township’ (almost the population) celebrated the opening of their ‘beautiful new bridge’ on a ‘gloriously fine day’ when ‘the heavens looked blue and the earth smiled green’.

In Memory of Sarah Howe

Their generation and their parents’ were referred to as currency lads and lasses. These free young colonials were thriving in the climate and landscape of Sydney, judged to be fitter, healthier and happier than their forbears.

A Mother’s Solace

One day in late January 1947 Flora opened a typed two-page letter that began, ‘Dear Mrs Clarke…I was a friend of your daughter Mary…was with her when she was last seen.’

Solace in a Stained-Glass Window

Light of the World, the largest window, the oldest, set in the most prominent place behind the altar and, at that time, probably the most recognised…It was the subject of sermons, speeches, letters to the editor and news articles. Over 300,000 people saw it at Sydney Art Gallery.

Solace in a Church

The year St James was completed, 1858, was one of the darkest in its history.

It Takes a Community to Raise a Church

It is human nature to want to leave your mark on the world and there are plenty of opportunities in a new town. Street names and foundation stones for two.

Walking With Ancestors

I ask myself why am I drawn to family history, a passion I have had for forty years, a passion aroused by stories of fame (or at least brushes with fame) and fortune (or at least the desire for it). But I am not alone. Genealogy research is a booming business.

Dogged Determination for Rylstone Railway

A timber railway station at Rylstone is a conundrum. All other stations on the line, large and small, were brick: Piper’s Flat, Ben Bullen, Capertee, Clandulla, Lue, Wallerawang and Mudgee. Most of the public buildings in Rylstone were built of stone.