Grafton (Bundjalung: Gumbin Gir) is a city in the Northern Rivers region of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is located on the Clarence River, on a floodplain, approximately by road north-northeast of the state capital Sydney.
The closest major cities, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, are located across the border in South East Queensland. At the 2021 census, Grafton had a population of 19,255. The city is the largest settlement and, with Maclean, the shared administrative centre of the Clarence Valley Council local government area, which is home to over 50,000 people in all.
History Before European settlement, the Clarence River marked the border between the BundjalungTindale, Norman (1974) "Badjalang" in his Catalogue of Australian Aboriginal Tribes. South Australian Museum and Gumbaynggirr peoples, and so descendants of the speakers of both language-groups can now be found in the Grafton region.
Grafton, like many other settlements in the area, was first opened up to European settlement by the cedar-getters. An escaped convict, Richard Craig, explored the district in 1831. With the wealth of "red gold" cedar just waiting for exploitation, he was given a pardon and one hundred pounds to bring a party of cedar-getters on the cutter Prince George to the region. Word of such wealth to be had did not take long to spread. One of the arrivals on the Susan in 1838, pioneer John Small, first occupied land on Woodford Island. 'The Settlement' (as the embryonic Grafton was then imaginatively named) was established shortly after.
In 1851 Governor FitzRoy officially named the town Grafton, after his grandfather, the Duke of Grafton, who had served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1768 to 1770. Grafton was proclaimed a city in 1885. Local industries include logging, beef cattle, fishing/prawning, sugar, manufacturing and tourism.
The Grafton Bridge, connecting the main townsite with South Grafton, opened in 1932. It completed the standard-gauge rail connection between Sydney and Brisbane, also forming a vital link for the Pacific Highway. Previously the only way to travel from Grafton to South Grafton was via ferry. As a result, South Grafton developed quite a separate identity, and in fact had its own municipal government from 1896 to 1956.
The introduction of fluoride to the town water supply in 1964 was accompanied by protest which became physical. The fluoride plant was blown up the night before commencement, the dentist supporting fluoridation received bomb threats against his family and later pro- and anti-fluoridation float participants at the annual Jacaranda Festival came to blows and a gun was produced.
Heritage listings Grafton has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Duke Street: Christ Church Cathedral 170 Hoof Street: Grafton Correctional Centre North Coast railway: Grafton Bridge 95 Prince Street: Saraton Theatre 150 Victoria Street: Arcola, Grafton
Demographics
At the 2021 census, Grafton had a population of 19,255.
According to the Census: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 10.4% of Grafton's population. 87.1% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 1.4% and New Zealand 0.7%. 90.5% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 37.8%, Anglican 20.9%, and Catholic 18.2%.
Climate Grafton has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa, Trewartha: Cfal) with significantly more rainfall in summer than in winter. Rainfall is lower than in stations directly on the coast, but monthly rain totals can often surpass . The wettest month since records began was March 1974 when Cyclone Zoe produced a monthly total of , whilst during periods of anticyclonic control and strong westerly winds monthly rainfall can be very low; for instance in August 2017 only fell. Grafton gets around 115.2 clear days on an annual basis.
Grafton like many NSW regional centres, is affected by heatwaves in the summer months. On 12 February 2017 Grafton recorded a maximum temperature of 46.3 °C (115.3 °F), the city's highest recorded temperature since records began in 1966. Winter has a relatively high diurnal range.
Culture
Grafton is known and promoted as the Jacaranda City, in reference to its tree-lined streets and to the annual Jacaranda Festival. Inaugurated in 1935, Jacaranda is held each October/November. A half-day public holiday is observed locally on the first Thursday of November, the Festival's major focal day. During the 1963 festival, inventor John W. Dickenson demonstrated on the Clarence River the first hang glider that was controlled by weight shifts of the pilot from a swinging control frame – the birth of modern hang gliding."How Grafton's hang gliding pioneers made aviation history" by Catherine Marciniak, ABC North Coast, 9 September 2018
A half-day public holiday is also observed for the Grafton Cup horse race, held each year on the second Thursday in July. It is the high point of the city's annual Racing Carnival—Australia's largest and richest non-metropolitan Carnival—which takes place over a fortnight in that month.
Grafton is the birthplace of several renowned country music players. Local artist Troy Cassar-Daley received four Golden Guitar awards at the 2006 Tamworth Country Music Awards—the largest and most prestigious country music awards in Australia. At the same event Samantha McClymont, the 2005/2006 Grafton Jacaranda Queen and sister of Brooke McClymont, also received an award for her country music talent.
A vision of Grafton with its numerous brilliantly flowered trees in bloom is immortalised in Australian popular music in Cold Chisel's song Flame Trees, written by band member Don Walker, who had lived in Grafton during his formative years.
Sports The most popular sport in Grafton is Rugby league. There are two clubs from Grafton in the Group 2 Rugby League competition; the Grafton Ghosts and their arch-rival South Grafton Rebels. The two clubs each have a rich history, and derbies between the clubs have been known to draw attendances in excess of 3000 people.
Other sports such as soccer, Rugby union, Australian rules and field hockey are also played in Grafton.
Notable buildings
Christ Church Cathedral, designed by John Horbury Hunt, was consecrated in 1884 and is the seat of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton.
Schaeffer House is a historic 1900 Federation house and contains the collection of the Clarence River Historical Society, which was formed in 1931.About Us, Clarence River Historical Society
Transportation
The Murwillumbah railway line was extended to Grafton in 1905;Grafton—Rail Centre of the Clarence for 100 Years Australian Railway History issue 817, November 2005, pp. 443–463 The North Coast Line reached South Grafton's railway station from Sydney in 1915. Pending the opening of the combined road and rail Grafton Bridge in 1932, Grafton had a train ferry to connect the two railways. Clarence Valley Regional Airport is the airport that services Grafton.
Until bypassed in May 2020, the Pacific Highway passed through Grafton and linked it to the Gwydir Highway.Grafton bypass to open in May NBN News 18 April 2020
Busways is the operator for local routes, as well as out-of-town routes to Junction Hill, Jackadgery/Cangai, Copmanhurst, and Maclean and Yamba.
Lawrence Bus Service operates a shopper service, as well as school service on school days, to and from Lawrence.
Northern Rivers Buslines operates a weekday service to Lismore via Maclean, Evans Head and Coraki.
NSW TrainLink operates a coach service to Byron Bay, connecting off the train from Sydney. It also offers a coach service to Moree via Glen Innes, connecting from the train from Brisbane.North Coast timetable NSW TrainLink
Industry From 1904 to 1917 the Grafton Copper Mining Company operated a copper mine, smelter and tramway at Cangai,"Assessment of Mineral Resources in the Upper North East CRA Study Area: A project undertaken as part of the NSW Comprehensive Regional Assessments November 1999". November 1999, New South Wales Government & Commonwealth Government. Retrieved on 6 May 2017. more than 100 km from Grafton via the Clarence and Mann rivers, today about 70 km over the Gwydir Highway. From 1952 to 1997, first as an independent company, then owned by Tooheys since 1961, the Grafton brewery provided Grafton Bitter to the North Coast."Grafton fought hard to get a brewery" by Lachlan Thompson, The Daily Examiner, 29 October 2012 The nearby Harwood Mill is the oldest working sugar mill in New South Wales.
Newspapers The daily online-only newspaper of Grafton is The Daily Examiner, owned by News Corp Australia.
Radio and television Radio stations 2GF 89.5 FM (commercial) FM 104.7 (commercial) Triple J 91.5 FM/96.1 FM ABC Northern Rivers 738 AM/94.5 FM ABC Classic 97.9 FM/95.3 FM Radio National 99.5 FM/96.9 FM Sky Sports Radio Racing Radio 101.5 FM Loving Life FM 103.1 (community) Vision Christian Radio 1611 AM/88.0 FM
Television channels Seven (Formerly Prime7), 7HD, 7two HD, 7mate HD, 7Bravo, 7flix, TVSN, Racing.com, owned and operated station by the Seven Network. Nine (NBN Television); 9HD, 9Gem, 9Gem HD, 9Go!, 9Life, 9Go! HD, Extra, affiliate of the Nine Network, owned by WIN Corporation. 10, 10HD, 10 Drama, 10 Comedy, Nickelodeon, News24 Regional, you.tv – (10 Northern NSW), owned and operated station by Network 10. ABC Television including ABC, ABC Family, ABC Entertains and ABC News, part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Special Broadcasting Service, SBS, SBS2, SBS Food, SBS World Movies, SBS WorldWatch and NITV Pay television services are provided by Foxtel.
Of the three main networks, NBN produces an evening news bulletin containing regional news, screening every weeknight at 5:30pm on Channel 9. Seven News produces a mid north coast news bulletin screening weeknights at 6:00pm. Network 10's 10 News produces news updates throughout the day, broadcast from the Hobart studios.
Education
Public schools Copmanhurst Public School Gillwinga Public School Grafton High School Grafton Public School South Grafton High School South Grafton Public School Westlawn Public School
Independent schools Clarence Valley Anglican School (formerly The Cathedral School) McAuley Catholic College St. Joseph's Primary School St. Mary's Primary School St. Andrew's Christian School
Defunct public schools A large number of small (mostly one-teacher) public schools existed in the Grafton and Clarence Valley areas in the past. These schools have included: Alumny Creek 1872–1969Alumny Creek Public School 125th Anniversary 1872–1997 Angowrie 1895–1899 Billys Creek 1946–1963 Calliope 1890–1983 Carr's Creek 1877–1964 Clouds Creek 1943–1964 Coalcroft 1875–1971 (originally known as Coaldale till 1912) Coldstream Lower 1873–1966 Eatonsville 1881–1961 Glenferneigh 1928–1967 Kungala 1926–1977 Lawrence Lower 1883–1955 Mororo 1886–1939 Palmers Channel 1869–1975 (originally known as Taloumbi till 1907) Seelands 1889–1967 Shark Creek 1877–1927 Smalls Forest 1885–1971 South Arm 1871–1967 Southgate 1867–1875 Stockyard Creek 1882–1895 Swan Creek 1870–1994 Trenayr 1901–1970 (originally known as Milers Waterholes till 1912) Tullymorgan 1886–1971 (originally known as Cormicks Creek till 1911) Tyndale 1868–1975 Ulgundah Island Aboriginal 1908–1951 (near Maclean) Woodford Leigh 1869–1956 Woombah 1872–1953
Military history During World War II, Grafton was the location of RAAF No.6 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 29 August 1944. Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the Royal Australian Air Force and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000).
Notable people Notable people who were born or lived in Grafton include: