Pooncarie

• Population 202
• Distance from Mildura 150km
• Grazing, horticulture and viticulture

Pooncarie

Situated on the Darling River in New South Wales, Pooncarie is a good place for a stop on an outback trek east from Mildura to the ancient wonders of Mungo National Park, to Menindee, or Kinchega National Park. It is also a convenient pit stop if you're taking the adventurous back-route 230 kilometres north to Broken Hill.

The town is referred to locally as ‘The Port'. It remains an important hub for the surrounding grazing district and has recently become busier as the closest town to the burgeoning mineral sands mining operations to the north.

Things to do

• Call in to the Pooncarie Outback and Beyond Craft Gallery and Museum, which is housed in the former Pooncarie Police Station.
• Play nine holes of golf, or tennis year-round.
• Call in at The Telegraph Hotel, which is a popular meeting place.
• Cast a line in the Darling River - check in with the General Store to see if the fish are jumping.
• Join the fun of the annual Pooncarie Cup - held on Labour Day (NSW and SA). This bush horse racing event attracts a crowd of over 1500 enthusiasts from all around the district.

History

White settlement of the Pooncarie district is believed to have begun in the 1840s when settlers headed west to graze livestock illegally on vacant Crown Land between the Murrumbidgee and Lower Darling rivers.

The settlers were following in the footsteps of explorers including Burke and Wills, and the township is held to have been the site of the Bilbarka camp struck by that ill-fated expedition.

The pioneering settlers illegally took up the land as ‘runs' - large, unfenced areas of land used to graze, or run, sheep and cattle. In the 1860s leases were formalised by the Federal Government to foster pastoral settlement and gain control over the area.

As more land was settled and paddle steamers brought trade up and down the river, the need arose for a small service town on the Lower Darling. In 1862 a plan was drawn up for a village on the east bank of the river, almost midway between Menindee and Wentworth. The village was gazetted ‘Pooncaira' in 1863.

The Port of Pooncarie was a vital link with the outside world for the district's grazing properties. Its wharf facilities were unaffected by flooding and accommodated steamers when the Darling River was high or low.

Facilities in Pooncarie 

• Fuel at the general store (no LPG)
• Accommodation
• Ice, fishing tackle and bait (general store)
• Post Office and Internet access - Pooncarie Telecentre