Ilford, New South Wales
Ilford is a village in New South Wales, Australia, beside the Crudine River within the Mid-Western Regional Council. It is located on the Castlereagh Highway (locally referred to as the 'Sydney Road'), about 220 kilometres north-west of Sydney. At the 2016 census Ilford and the surrounding rural district had a population of 187, living in 65 private dwellings. The district also included 43 unoccupied private dwellings. Ilford was named after the English township of Ilford (in Essex, now a part of Greater London), from where early residents of the locality originated. Unremarkable in appearance, Ilford appears to the traveller as no more than a cluster of buildings around a T-junction on the 'Sydney Road', where the Bathurst-Ilford Road joins the Castlereagh Highway. The focus of the community is Ilford Public School on the outskirts of the road-side settlement. An information bay with toilet facilities is located on the northern edge of the village. History An early name for the locality was Kean's Swamp. In June 1853 a thirty-acre portion of Crown Land was proclaimed to be set aside at Kean's Swamp (in Roxburgh county) as a potential town lot. In December 1860 a public meeting of electors of the Hartley electorate was held in the “School-house” at Kean's Swamp. The meeting was one of a number held for the purpose of nomination and election of one member to serve in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales”. In January 1863 tenders were called for the conveyance of mails by horseback “to and from Kean’s Swamp and Sofala, twice a week". The successful contractor was Michael Moore of Kean's Swamp. In April 1863 the Sydney mail coach between Bowenfels and Cudgegong was held up and robbed by two bushrangers at Cherrytree Hill, two and a half miles from Kean's Swamp. The robbers were pursued by constables Wright and Cleary, who were stationed at Kean's Swamp. The policemen finally captured one of the men near Capertee Camp (now Capertee). In March 1868 it was officially notified that the post-office previously known as Kean's Swamp would henceforth “bear the designation of ‘Ilford’”. In June 1874 a visitor to Ilford described the township as being “in a most picturesque situation, at the foot of a mountain”. There were four stores in the settlement (of which Mrs. Phelps’ store incorporated the Post Office) and an inn called The Plough. The only place of worship was a stone-built Wesleyan church. The public school was described as a “miserable slab building”. By November 1875 there were two places of worship in Ilford, Episcopalian and Wesleyan, and the township had “a population of 100”. The buildings in the village were “neat and substantial”, the businesses consisting of “two stores, a public-house, a carpenter’s shop, a bakery, a butchery, and a post-office”. The original school-house was replaced in late 1877 or early 1878, after the foundation stone for the new building was laid in September 1877. In November 1880 the following were granted publican's licenses at Ilford: Mrs. Elizabeth