Tumut the Beautiful

26 May 1932 Freeman's Journal

Tumut is credited with being one of the most beautiful towns in Australia, and lies 329 miles to the south of Sydney, with an altitude of 900 feet above sea level.

It is the centre of a fertile district producing maize and tobacco amongst other crops. The claim of beauty of the surroundings is well established.

A feature of particular charm is the Tumut River, with its banks framed in a luxuriant setting of weeping willows.

About four miles from the town the Goobaraganda river flows into the Tumut amid the rural surroundings of prosperous farms not far from the bridge thrown over the river at Tumut Plains, to carry the road on to Blowering and other places famous in the feverish days when gold digging was the lure that drew men to the lonely places and forgotten mountains.

Many of the good old Irish settlers made this district their home, and to-day their descendants to the fourth generation are highly respected members of the com-munity, faithful to the Church and foremost in matters concerning the welfare of the locality. 

Tumut has earned distinction in an- other and most admirable way: it has led the way in establishing a Bursary for the education of a priest - the first parish in Australia to shoulder the responsibility of such a laudable undertaking.

Rev. Father James Blakeney is the first Tumut boy to be elevated to the dignity of the Levite state, and is a son of Mr. Roland Blakeney, a prominent business man and Coroner of the district for many years. 

Rev. Father Sharkey, who is the well beloved parish priest, has achieved wonderful results in the way of buildings and improvements during his long association with St. Mary's.