Branxton, New South Wales
Branxton is a town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Branxton is 171 kilometres (106 mi) north of Sydney via the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway and New England Highway.
Branxton is located mostly in Cessnock City Council, but part of it is in Singleton Shire. Together with nearby Greta, it had a population of 5,429 in the 2011 Census.
Branxton is a busy service township with an IGA Supermarket, medical centre, swimming school, and an art school.
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Transport
Branxton is located on the New England Highway between Maitland and Singleton. While the highway passes through the centre of the town, most through traffic bypasses via the Hunter Expressway.
An infamous road sign on one approach to the town states that Branxton has "two cemeteries and no hospital"! The sign, erected by the local Lions Club, is meant to act as a deterrent to rule-breaking motorists.[1]
Branxton is located on the Main Northern railway line and has its own railway station, served by NSW TrainLink's Hunter line.
Wine
Branxton is at the northern end of Wine Country Drive and is the northern gateway to the world-renowned Hunter Valley wine country of Pokolbin and Rothbury.
James Busby (1801 – 1871) widely regarded as the "father" of the Australian wine industry planted his first grape vines on his property "Kirkton", which is located at Belford in the Branxton district. In 1827 George Wyndham arrived taking up a grant of land adjoining the Hunter River 5k east of the current town. His original homestead, 'Dalwood' is preserved within the grounds of the modern Wyndham Estate complex.
As settlers took up further land grants the township expanded capitalizing on trade from settlers heading further north to open up the Liverpool Plains.
References
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External links
Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
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