Kariong

Kariong is a locality of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia west of Gosford along the Central Coast Highway. It is part of the City of Gosford local government area.

History

Kariong's first British settler was W.H. Parry in 1901. The Mt Penang Training School for boys was opened in 1911. Many of the boys came from the training ship Sobraon, which had been in Sydney Harbour before being condemned, as did former officer Basil Topple. The village of about fifteen families, mostly workers at the training school, was first called Kendall Heights, then Penang Mountain. The name Kariong was assigned in about 1947.

Etymology

Kariong was once believed to mean meeting place in the local Aboriginal language. Other early residents were told the name meant "place of the cold winds", and the name is listed, albeit it with a different spelling, in F.D. McCarthy's Australian Aboriginal place names book of 1946 with this meaning. However, records in the NSW Mitchell Library show that the name Kariong was a typographical error from old script reading 'Karrong', the second 'r' was mistaken for an 'i'.

Geography

Kariong's boundaries include a considerable section of the Brisbane Water National Park to the south, and the Mount Penang Parklands, with its native gardens, which is also the location of the annual Australian Springtime Flora Festival. Kariong is considered the entry point to the Central Coast as it borders the Sydney Newcastle Freeway. A visitor information centre for the Central Coast is located just off the Central Coast Highway, near the entry to the Mount Penang Parklands.