Holbrook is a small town on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri people in Southern New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Hume Highway, by road North East of Melbourne and by road south-west of Sydney between Tarcutta and Albury. The town is in the Greater Hume Shire which was established in May 2004 from the merger of Culcairn Shire with the majority of Holbrook Shire and part of the Hume Shire. At the 2016 census, Holbrook had a population of 1,715 people. The district around Holbrook is renowned for local produce including merino wool, wheat and other grains, lucerne, fat cattle and lamb.
History
Holbrook is on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri people.
The explorers Hume and Hovell were the first-known Europeans in the area. They travelled through in 1824 looking for new grazing country in the south of the colony of New South Wales.
The town was originally called Ten Mile Creek and the first buildings were erected in 1836. A German immigrant, John Christopher Pabst, became the publican of the Woolpack Hotel on 29 July 1840 and the area became known as "the Germans". By 1858 the name had evolved into the official name of Germanton, though the postal area retained the name Ten Mile Creek. In 1876 the name Germanton was gazetted and the old name Ten Mile Creek consigned to history.
Ten Mile Creek Post Office opened on 1 January 1857, and was renamed Germanton in 1875.
On 17 August 1878, Germanton hosted the earliest known game of Soccer (Association Football) in New South Wales between Germanton and Yarra Yarra football teams.
During World War I, the town name was deemed unpatriotic so on 24 August 1915 the town was renamed Holbrook in honour of Lt. Norman Douglas Holbrook, a decorated wartime submarine captain and winner of the Victoria Cross. Lt. Holbrook commanded the submarine .
The town was a stop on Old Sydney Road – the road between Sydney and Melbourne. The railway arrived in Germanton in 1902. The town was serviced by the Holbrook branch railway line until the line was closed in 1975.
In 2013, a re-alignment of the Hume Highway around Holbrook was completed so it is now possible to by-pass the town.
Garryowen
Garryowen was a property and small settlement on Little Billabong Creek, about north-east of Holbrook, in the mid 19th century. A larger settlement was planned but never built.
Sport
Holbrook formerly had a rugby league team who competed in the Group 13 Rugby League competition. Known as the Warriors and then the Bears, the club wore blue and red striped jerseys.
Local landmarks
HMAS Otway
To honour Lieutenant Holbrook, the town's namesake, the Holbrook council acquired a portion of the hull of , an Oberon-class submarine, after it was decommissioned by the Royal Australian Navy in 1995. The Navy gifted the fin from the submarine to the town. This resulted in a fund-raiser by the town and district to purchase the whole submarine. This drive was successful in raising $100,000, almost all a gift from Lt Holbrook's widow, Gundula Holbrook. However, this amount was insufficient to purchase all of the Otway. Through negotiations with the scrap yard in Sydney, the town succeeded in purchasing all of the outside casing of Otway above the waterline. This part of the Otway is now displayed in Germanton Park in the heart of Holbrook, having been dedicated on 7–8 June 1997.
National Museum of Australian Pottery
The National Museum of Australian Pottery is housed in the old A. H. Mackie and Company building. It features over 1500 pieces made from the earliest colonial potteries up to the end of World War 1.
Demographics
The population of the town was 1,267 people at the 2001 census. The population of the former Holbrook Shire was 2343 people. The population had declined by 7.4% (186 people) from 1996 and by 10.3% (269 people) since 1991. In 2001 the population of Australia increased by 6% from the 1996 census and 12.6% since the 1991 census.
Less than 1% of the population identified themselves as being of indigenous origin (compared with 2.2% for the whole of Australia).
The median age of people in Holbrook in the 2001 Census was 40 years. In the 1996 Census the median age of people was 37 years, while in the 1991 Census the median age of people was 34 years. The median age for the whole of Australia in 2001 was 35 years.