The Broken Dam Settlement

Ariah Park had its beginnings as a result of the settlement at the Narrandera, Wagga and Cootamundra Road junction on the Mirrool Creek, a spot known as Broken Dam. William Sanderson built the Beehive Hotel there in 1863 and a few years later a store was built by Jimmy Fong.

The Mirrool Creek rises in the low gravel ridge to the west of Temora. It takes its name from the Wiradjuri word ‘Merool’ which means ‘coloured clay’. The ‘Merool County’ comprises all of the vast area of land drained by the creek as its waters make their way westward towards the Lachlan River.

The first ‘sheep run’ was taken up on the ‘Merool’ in 1850 and it was aptly named ‘Ariah’ another Wiradjuri word that means “Hot and dry”.

The first bridge across Mirrool Creek at Broken Dam was built by Thomas Sanderson in the 1870’s.