Kyalite, New South Wales

Kyalite is a locality on the Wakool River in the Riverina district of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is part of Balranald Shire and is approximately 890km south west of the state capital Sydney and 400km north west of Melbourne. Kyalite was formerly known as Wakool Crossing. At the 2006 census, Kyalite had a population of 108.HistoryKyalite lies within the traditional country of the Muthi Muthi Aboriginal people.Wakool CrossingThe village of Wakool Crossing was founded by Henry Talbett, who in about 1848 established a punt service across the Wakool River at the location. When he became established Talbett brought out his family from Ireland, including his parents and siblings. His brother John came to Wakool Crossing with his family and assisted Henry Talbett to construct an inn and a general store on land Henry had purchased near his punt. The punt was operated by Harry and Agnes Edwards. Agnes was named "Queen Aggie" in a ceremony in nearby Swan Hill to mark the British coronation. Their descendants include musician Kutcha Edwards.In 1854 John Talbett was the licensee of the Wakool Inn.In 1860 Henry Talbett was the licensee of the Wakool Inn. Henry Talbett held the licence of the Wakool Hotel between 1865 and at least 1870. In 1882 Talbett sold the hotel to Thomas Spinks who held the licence until 1889. In 1890 the publican of the Wakool Hotel was John James, and from 1891 to 1893 it was John Spinks, he was Thomas' only son, Thomas had died in January 1890. The original hotel was burnt down and re-built in 1890 by the Spinks family. The hotel licence was transferred from John Spinks to Lewis James in August 1893. The property was later owned by a Mr. Peppin whose family still reside in the region.