The Paterson River at Vacy

Vacy
Tiny village on the Paterson River
Vacy, 9 km north of Paterson, and located 184 km north of Sydney and 27 km north of Maitland, appears a very small collection of residences on the roadside in the middle of nowhere. To the west is Mt George (452 m), to the north is Mt Breckin and looming over the town to the south is Mt Johnstone (341 m).

Vacy came into existence around 1828 as a private township established by the Cory family. John Cory Sr came out from England with his sons Edward and John Jr in 1823 and they soon received grants in the area. John Jr owned Cory Vale and John Sr owned Vacy. By 1839 both grants were in the hands of another son, Gilbert, who arrived later and became the town's real patriarch. It remained in the family until the land was subdivided and sold in 1927.

The Vacy General Store

Vacy was, by the 1870s, an active town with cattle sale yards and a steady flow of livestock through the main street. Tobacco and arrowroot were grown here and processed in local factories.

Things to see:  

St John's Church
St John's Church (1887) is an attractive building on the roadside at the southern end of town. The second Anglican church (the first was erected in 1848) it is constructed of locally-made bricks on land donated by Gilbert Cory. In fact all of the surviving old buildings (and many of them predate the subdivision) were built by Gilbert Cory for his tenants.

Vacy Public School
Vacy Public School over the road from the church was established in 1859, the year before the town gained a post office, and the School of Arts was built in 1901. The first slab-and-shingle school building was erected in 1850.

The Farmers Hotel and a Walking Tour
The Farmers Hotel started out as The Halfway House no later than 1865. It burned down in 1897 and was rebuilt with its current title at that time. Next door is the Vacy Village Motel. Tenants can obtain a walking tour pamphlet of the township.

The bridge at the northern end of town was built in 1898. The junction of the Paterson and Allyn Rivers is just 1 km downstream. Colourful rainbow bee-eaters can be seen around the bridge in summer, after which they migrate to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Summer Hill Road
200 m beyond the bridge is a signposted turnoff to the left into Summer Hill Rd. After 3.1 km Fishers Hill Rd heads off to the right, looping back for 7 km to the Gresford Rd.

Along Summer Hill Rd is the quite awesome and moving spectacle of mountains in close proximity. Those which lurk about the horizon loom over the valley below and create a somewhat eerie sense of enclosure. The prospect is thrilling and a little unsettling at close quarters, sending the gaze rocketing upwards in a precipitous fashion sure to induce vertigo in the prone.

Mt George is to the left. 5.1 km along this road you can see the Sacred Heart Church in the Fields (Catholic) off to the right. Just past the road to the church is a turnoff on the left to Eaglereach Wilderness Resort, situated on 405 ha high in the mountains, tel: (02) 4938 8223.

	Motels
	Vacy Village Motel Gresford Rd Vacy NSW 2421 Telephone: (02) 4938 8089 Rating: ***
	Resorts
	Eaglereach Wilderness Resort Summer Hill Rd Vacy NSW 2421 Telephone: (02) 4938 8233 Facsimile: (02) 4938 8234 Rating: ****
	Restaurants
	Eaglereach Wilderness Resort Summer Hill Rd Vacy NSW 2421 Telephone: (02) 4938 8233 Facsimile: (02) 4938 8234