Hillston

Hillston is a township in western New South Wales, Australia, in Carrathool Shire, built on the banks of the Lachlan River. It was founded in 1863 and at the 2006 census had a population of 1,054. John Oxley and his exploration party were the first European visitors to the Hillston district, in 1817.  Oxley wrote in his journal: "country uninhabitable and useless for all purposes of civilised man". In 1839 William Hovell followed the Lachlan River to near the site of present-day Hillston and took up a pastoral holding called “Bellingerambil” (later named “Cowl Cowl”). The locality of present-day Hillston was a crossing-place for stock on the Lachlan River.  The earliest European name for the place was ‘Daisy Plains’ or ‘Daisy Hill’. ...