Named after John Young, a former NSW governor, Young is located in central western New South Wales lies on the Olympic Highway between Cowra and Wagga Wagga and is nestled in a brilliant valley, split in two by Burragong Creek. Established in the 1830s as Lambing Flats, the town grew around several sheep yards along Burragong Creek but boomed in the 1860s upon discovery of gold. Although the gold rush was made public, the settlement had formed outside of the area of government protection and the area was subject to general lawlessness and crime for several years until authorities were finally established.

Although mining operations ceased by the late 1800s, Young had become an important centre for the surrounding sheep and grain industries and more recently cherry production which stems the current slogan of being the Cherry Capital of Australia. In addition, the town has a colourful and prosperous shopping and civic precinct, several parks along Burragong Creek, the Lambing Flat Folk Museum and tours through the surrounding cherry orchids and wineries.

Population:

7712 ¹

Postcode:

2594

Location:

390 km southwest of Sydney

Main Roads:

Olympic Highway (A41) and Henry Lawson Way (unnumbered)

Radio Stations:

FM:
2YYY (92.3 MHz), ABC Classic (88.3 MHz), ABC News Radio (91.5 MHz), ABC Riverina (96.3 MHz), ABC Radio National (97.1 MHz), Faith FM (88.0 MHz), Roccy FM (93.9 MHz), SBS Radio (98.7 MHz), Sky Sports Radio (87.6 MHz and 95.5 MHz), Triple J (90.7 MHz) and Vision Christian Radio (87.8 MHz)

AM:
2LF (1350 kHz) and ABC Central West (549 kHz)

Olympic Highway:

Campbell Street (Olympic Hwy), heading north approaching the Burragong Ck bridge, Young, January 2003.

Image © Michael Greenslade