Deepwater, New South Wales

Deepwater is a parish and village 40 kilometres north of Glen Innes on the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Deepwater had a population of 323, with 489 people in the area.Deepwater is located on the New England Highway and the Main North railway line (now closed). The village is on the northern bank of the Deepwater River which is a tributary of the Mole River.HistoryThe land where Deepwater was established is the territory of the Ngarabal people, who had occupied and carefully cultivated the country for thousands of years. The Ngarabal name for Deepwater is Talgambuun, meaning dry country with many dead trees.The Deepwater run was occupied in 1839 by William Cooins for the Windeyer brothers. In 1848 their run covered 60000acre. The Windeyers had a close relationship with Edward Irby, who took up Bolivia Station further north. There was strong Ngarabal resistance to Irby and Windeyer's incursions into Ngarabal country, including the killings of shepherds. Irby's memoirs record that Windeyer joined him in pursuing and killing groups of Aboriginal people in retaliation for these acts. The principal incident of this was on October 17, 1844, when Irby records that he and Windeyer "gave it to them severely" near Bolivia. In addition, Commissioner for Crown Lands from the Clarence district, Oliver Fry, a group of Aboriginal people from further east into Ngarabul country at Deepwater, murdering five children, four women and seven men on April 15, 1845.