Come by Chance
Banjo Paterson, the Australian bush poet most famous for penning ‘Waltzing Matilda’ immortalised this locality in a poem:
“But my languid mood forsook me, when I found a name that took me,
Quite by chance I came across it -`Come-by-Chance’ was what I read…”
With a population of just 111 at the 2011 census, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Come By Chance was named when, in 1862, George and William Colless bought a sheep farm in the area, and called it by that name after their great surprise at being able to actually buy something, anything, in the remote area. All the land was thought to be selected for settlement but as the name suggests this one had not been. The town was eventually called after the sheep station.
Mr Colless later owned the post office, blacksmith shop, cemetery and other building blocks. Come-by-Chance was reputed to be the only privately owned village in the Southern Hemisphere.
Come-by-Chance is located about 100 kilometers north west of Coonamble in the Walgett Shire, and about 250 kilometers from Dubbo.
Visit the cemetery in Come-by-Chance – a must for every family historian.
Each year, the tiny settlement hosts its famous picnic races – but you’ll have to take a drive up to Come By Chance to see what that entails.
COME BY CHANCE
Banjo Paterson, the Australian bush poet most famous for penning ‘Waltzing Matilda’ immortalised this locality in a poem:
“But my languid mood forsook me, when I found a name that took me,
Quite by chance I came across it -`Come-by-Chance’ was what I read…”
With a population of just 111 at the 2011 census, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Come By Chance was named when, in 1862, George and William Colless bought a sheep farm in the area, and called it by that name after their great surprise at being able to actually buy something, anything, in the remote area. All the land was thought to be selected for settlement but as the name suggests this one had not been. The town was eventually called after the sheep station.
Mr Colless later owned the post office, blacksmith shop, cemetery and other building blocks. Come-by-Chance was reputed to be the only privately owned village in the Southern Hemisphere.
Come-by-Chance is located about 100 kilometres north west of Coonamble in the Walgett Shire, and about 250 kilometers from Dubbo.
Visit the cemetery in Come-by-Chance – a must for every family historian.
Each year, the tiny settlement hosts its famous picnic races – but you’ll have to take a drive up to Come By Chance to see what that entails.
