Holbrook, New South Wales

Holbrook is a small town 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 Council area 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 2011 census, Holbrook had a population of 1,263 people. The district around Holbrook is renowned for local produce including merino wool, wheat and other grains, lucerne, fat cattle and lamb.HistoryThe area was originally inhabited by 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.