Where the heck is Carwoola?

This has been catalysed by some conversations about the site of some weather observations that appear under the label of "Carwoola".  It has become apparent that there are many meanings of the term.

The locality doesn't appear on many signposts.  In fact the only one I can think of is at the Eastern end of Briars Sharrow Rd.  My suspicion is that gives the distance to the Community Hall and Fire Shed.  Those with long memories will also recall there being a shop in that vicinity, but it has now closed.  There are signs on Captains Flat Road (one near the intersection with the Kings Highway and the other near Woolcara Lane) announcing that one has entered the locality, but I see these as different to the signs showing a distance.

The best geographic description of the area is a locality adjacent to Queanbeyan.  This is defined by the Australian Burea of Statistics as the State Suburb (SS) of Carwoola.  In the (Bad Old) Days of two Councils part of the area was in the City of Queanbeyan and part in the Shire of Palerang.  Now it is, quite sensibly all in the one administration as part of Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council.  Here is an overview of the SS Carwoola.
I have also developed what I call the Carwoola bird watching area with approximate boundaries in purple ..
 .. which includes most of Hoskinstown and Primrose Creek, as well as Carwoola.  It is largely based on the catchment area of the Stoney Creek Gazette, through which reports for the birding project are circulated.

The next map plots various spots which I have come across labelled as Carwoola.

  • Point 'A' is the location tagged as Carwoola by Google Earth.  I suspect it is the centroid of the State Suburb polygon shown above.
  • Point B is the location equivalent to a point labelled Carwoola for Meat and Livestock Australia rainfall reports.  I suspect it is someone's estimate of the centre of the locality - perhaps attached to the closest road intersection?
  • Point C is the shop/hall/fireshed location referred to above.  
  • Point D is approximately the location from which the Bureau of Meteorology compile estimates of rainfall for their river flow/flood danger analysis in the Molonglo valley.  Trying to work out exactly where that is to be found is a work in progress.
  • Point E is the location of the buildings for Carwoola Station.
  • Point F is St Thomas's Church at Carwoola.  It is interesting that the Council sign for "Carwoola"lies to the North of the Church!
As well as the above there is a Parish of Carwoola used for cadastral purposes.  (A cadastre, using a cadastral survey or cadastral map, is a comprehensive register of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.)  Uncle Google has not thus far been able to be persuaded to deliver me an image of the boundaries of this Parish.  However I have got part of it from an 1888 map of County Murray from the National Library website.  I have added a few annotations - noting the vintage of the map, its surprising how many features were recognisable.


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