The main street of Ariah Park

Ariah Park
Rural service centre now listed as a National Trust conservation area.
Located 536 km west of Sydney via the Great Western, Mid Western and Newell Highways and 65 km south of West Wyalong, Ariah Park (pronounced 'area') is known as a town of 'bowsers, wowsers and peppercorn trees'.

The Ariah Park region was first settled by Europeans in 1850. In the 1870s a small settlement called Broken Dam grew up north of the current town. By the 1880s the settlers had cleared the land and in 1906 the railway arrived. It was the railway that effectively created the town. In 1907 a village was formally gazetted and pieces of land were sold. Less than a decade later, on 27 September 1916, bulk wheat was loaded onto a train for the first time in Australia. It was also in that year that the distinctive peppercorn trees were planted in the main street. By 1919 such was the importance of the town that wheat silos were built beside the railway line. It was a town dependent on the prosperity of the surrounding agricultural activity.

Today Ariah Park is a lovely old village of shady trees and historic shops with wide verandahs. The town is listed by the National Trust as a Conservation Area. It's primary purpose is to serve the surrounding area which now produces a range of cereal crops, wool, beef, fat lambs, deer, pigs, ostriches and stud rams. It is a little known fact that the original pig featured in the movie, Babe, was born and raised in Ariah Park.

The Ariah Park Hotel

Things to see:  

Lake Arbortree
Lake Arbortree, a 25-hectare artificial lake, is popular spot for boating, waterskiing, windsurfing, barbeques and picnics. It lies 5 km from town off Cemetery Rd.

	Hotels
	Ariah Park Hotel Coolamon St Ariah Park NSW 2665 Telephone: (02) 6974 1068
	Restaurants
	Ariah Park Bowling Club Coolamon St Ariah Park NSW 2665 Telephone: (02) 6974 1092