An old cottage in Cullen Bullen village

Cullen Bullen
Small working village north of Lithgow
Two local mines and the power stations to the south sustain the small village of Cullen Bullen (population around 300), located on the Mudgee Rd, 168 km north-west of Sydney and 28 km north of Lithgow.

The district was occupied by the Wiradjuri people prior to white settlement. The first European in the immediate vicinity was James Blackman who surveyed a roadway from his depot at what is now Wallerawang to Mudgee in 1821. William Lawson followed in 1822 and Allan Cunningham investigated the flora and fauna of the area in 1822-23.

The first land grant was taken up by Robert Dulhunty who selected 2000 acres of land which now lies on the back road from Cullen Bullen to Portland. There he built a homestead and began grazing sheep and cattle. Dulhunty was apparently on good terms with the local Aborigines and chose the term 'Cullen Bullen' from their language. It is said to mean 'lyre bird' as they were apparently common. Dulhunty also took up the first grant at what is now Ben Bullen (9 km north of Cullen Bullen).

By the late 1840s the district to the north had become more settled, the road to Mudgee had improved and traffic was growing, particularly after the discovery of gold at Hill End and Sofala. The village of Cullen Bullen is thought to have started as one of a number of stopping places on that road.

In 1861 a post office was opened at Cullen Bullen. Thomas Loneragan later married the postmistress (Margaret Hart) who moved the business over the road into Loneragan's house, where it stayed until 1914, doubling as a store and providing meals and accommodation for passengers on the Cobb & Co coach service. It was also the site of local Catholic services.

With a railway line to Mudgee planned, the area's coal resources suddenly became commercially viable and the first coal mine in the area opened in 1880. The railway was extended to Capertee in 1882, running to the west of Cullen Bullen.

Although Hart's mine did not last, the Cullen Bullen Coal and Coke Company began operations in 1885 and a railway siding was constructed for their benefit in 1889. It was a sizeable operation and encouraged some development. A hotel was built in 1889 on the Mudgee Rd and a school was erected directly opposite in 1890. However, the 1890s depression caused conflict between employees and employers and the ultimate closure of the mine.

The Invincible Mine opened when matters improved around 1900, employing 200 men by 1905. In 1899 the Great Western Mine also began operations at Tyldesley, just west of the village.

The town continued to grow after World War I when the Renown Colliery opened in the early 1920s. However, the Great Depression of the 1930s was a setback to the mines and their employees with extensive lay-offs and industrial unrest. Nonetheless the population was then around 1000, a good deal higher than today.

In addition to the three older mines, three new open-cut mines were established in the boom years immediately after World War II. However, when continuous mining was introduced in the 1950s local mines found it hard to compete and they began to close from 1956. Tyldesley ceased to exist. The Invincible was the only mine to adopt the continuous process and so was the only one to survive, though with a greatly reduced workforce. It is still a mainstay of the local economy.

Things to see:  

Tourist Information
Tourist information is available from the Lithgow Visitors' Centre, tel: (02) 6353 1859.

View across at the Gardens of Stone National Park

Gardens of Stone National Park
Recently gazetted, the Gardens of Stone National Park includes Pantoneys Crown Nature Reserve. It is a very beautiful wilderness area of limestone outcrops, precipitous sandstone cliffs, pagoda-like rock formations and a diversity of fauna and flora. The area is ideal for bushwalking, particularly in the MacLeans Pass area, although there are no marked trails or facilities (be sure to take a map and compass). You can walk to Pantoneys Crown from Baal Bone Gap.

The access road is pretty much 4WD-only. It is signposted 'Gardens of Stone National Park' at Ben Bullen where the Mudgee Rd crosses the railway line. It leads through to the Wolgan Valley Rd which heads north-east from Lidsdale to Newnes. For further information and a map ring the Blackheath National Parks and Wildlife Service Office, tel: (02) 4787 8877.

	Hotels
	Royal Hotel Mudgee Rd Cullen Bullen NSW 2790 Telephone: (02) 6359 0613