Rockley is a classified National Trust Village with many historic buildings including Churches, The Mill Museum, School of Arts Hall, Art Gallery, Country Pub.
Have a picnic in our village green bounded by the picturesque Rockley Weir with BBQ facilities, playgrounds and more.
- Tennis Courts
- Trout Fishing
- Horse riding and Farm experience
- Relaxing and do nothing.
Ideal base for visiting the region and other places of interest….
- Bathurst - museums - art galleries - fine dining.
Visit other charming villages nearby
- Abercrombie Cave and Jenolan Caves
- Mushrooming in the nearby forest
Located 239 km west of Sydney via the Great Western Highway and Bathurst, Rockley is one of those remarkable villages where, because it is away from the main road, time has stood still. There can be few towns in New South Wales which so simply, and with so few alterations, capture rural life around the turn of the century. It is hardly surprising that it has been listed by the National Trust as a Historic Village.
The first European into the Rockley district was Surveyor Evans who arrived in 1813. By 1818 land in the area had been granted to William Lawson, who, along with William Charles Wentworth and Charles Blaxland, was responsible for the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains by Europeans in 1813.
William Lawson (1774-1850) was trained as a surveyor and arrived in New South Wales in 1800. By 1813 he was a prominent local citizen living in a gracious 40-room, early colonial mansion on 500 acres at Prospect. Lawson was invited to accompany Blaxland and Wentworth as the Australian Dictionary of Biography observes: ‘Lawson’s knowledge of surveying made him a particularly valuable member of the expedition. His journal, with its accurate record of times and distances, enables the route to be precisely retraced.’
The actual townsite was not granted. It was held as a stock reserve until, on 21 February 1829 Governor Darling it was granted, as part of a parcel of 1,920 acres, to Captain Watson Augustus Steel who named his property ‘Rockley’ after his birthplace in Wiltshire, England.
Copper was found in the late 1840s and the Summerhill Copper Mine, located 8 km south of the village, was opened in 1848. Rockley was officially gazetted in 1851.
The discovery of gold in the Campbell and Isabella Rivers and around Abercrombie Caves in the late 1840s drew settlers to the area. At its peak the town was home to around 3,000 people. The town’s prosperity is reflected in the solidity of its churches and public buildings.
Time passed Rockley by. Around the turn of the century the copper mine closed and slowly people drifted away. As a result the village remains largely untouched. It is this near-perfect preservation which has resulted in the whole village being listed by the National Trust.
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