The Colony
Sugar cane and maize were planted and a sugar mill was built at Repton. Sugar proved unviable, however, as it could not withstand the frosts. By 1868 a pilot station had been built at Urunga (then known as Bellinger Heads) to help the sailing ships across the bar and up the river. The mouth to the river was always dangerous and inevitably it saw a number of dramatic shipwrecks including the Violet Doepel. By 1892 a breakwater had been constructed to help shipping.
During the 1870’s settlers moved into the Kalang valley. The first hardwoods were exploited and the sugar mill at Repton was converted to a sawmill. Early settlement at Repton, on the northern side of the Bellinger River, centred around this mill. In the 1890s, the first butter factory in the valley was established at Fernmount, followed by one at Raleigh. The valley’s second timber mill was built on the riverbank at Urunga. Regulation of the timber industry began with the policing of harvest operations in the Pine Creek area. The road to Dorrigo was completed.
Gold, arsenic, antimony and silver extraction began at the Valla Mine in 1919. Mineral bearing ore was extracted from the mine throughout the 1920s. However, by 1932, operations were no longer viable and the mine shut down. During the depression years of the 1930’s, the community led a Spartan existence. Scores of unemployed passed through the area, setting up temporary camps. In the 1940s World War II saw the depletion of the local labour force. An estimated 500 men and women left the district to join the war effort and the economy entered another recession. Italian prisoners-of-war were assigned to local farmers. They enjoyed a friendly working relationship with the local community, and several returned to Australia with their families after the war.
By now, most accessible areas of public forest had been logged and farming became the mainstay of the local population.
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