Early history of Kinchela

Kinchela was gazetted as a village in 1885 or 1886. However, the locality was known by the name 'Kinchela' long before, as was the creek which enters the Macleay River close by.

Kinchela may have been named after John Kinchela, Attorney-General of New South Wales, who had arrived in Sydney in 1831.

The Government Gazette dated March 1885 described the boundaries of Kinchela as being in the County of Macquarie, Parish of Arakoon, at Kinchela Macleay River, containing about 16 acres. This notice and a corresponding map put the village slightly north of the present location.

Another map dated 1886 showed the village south of the former site. This was signed by E Herborn, licensed surveyor. The revised plan and relocation are a slight mystery, as there is no amendment to be found in the Government Gazette of 1886. It is believed that the formal declaration of the naming of the village was notified in that year.

Streets were then surveyed and residential blocks offered for sale. Before this, Kinchela had been a collection of homes at the confluence of the river and creek and around the wharf. It appears that it remained so, except that Herborn’s second survey divided the village into residential blocks.

In 1883 an Aboriginal reserve was gazetted at Kinchela and an Aboriginal school was established in 1892 at Pelican Island, downstream from Kinchela. It operated briefly, closed and then reopened in 1911.

The school struggled to survive until attached to the Kinchela Boys' Home, an institution set up for boys at Tacking Point in the 1920s. The Boys' Home was thought to be originally for orphans and neglected children. However, it was a place where children of the Stolen Generations were lodged. The home closed in 1970.

The Macleay Valley Historical Society publishes information on self-guided historical walks in the region, including a walk at Kinchela. See Walks in History - Kinchela(PDF, 135KB)