Rock Flat is a rural locality in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of Cooma, on either side of the Monaro Highway.

Rock Flat New South Wales
Monaro Highway crossing of Rock Flat Creek at Rock Flat.
Rock Flat Location in New South Wales
Coordinates	36°20′49.2″S 149°12′36.5″E
Population	77 (2016 census)[1]
Postcode(s)	2630
Location	16 km (10 mi) S of Cooma 127 km (79 mi) S of Canberra
LGA(s)	Snowy Monaro Regional Council
Region	Southern Tablelands
County	Beresford
Parish	Gladstone
State electorate(s)	Monaro
Federal division(s)	Eden-Monaro
Localities around Rock Flat: Pine Valley Cooma Carlaminda Myalla Rock Flat Dangelong Springfield Nimmitabel Nimmitabel

The area now known as Rock Flat lies on the traditional lands of the Ngarigo people.[2]

Near the Monaro Highway crossing of Rock Flat Creek,[3] there is a mineral spring that comes to the surface, on the bank of the creek. The spring water issues from near the base of a small rocky mount composed of highly inclined beds of quartzite and the surface of the flat in the vicinity of the spring is tufaceous limestone that has been deposited there by the spring water. The flow rate of the spring is about 245-litres per hour. The spring water has a pleasant taste and is carbonated.[4][5]

It is likely that this spring is the one referred to as Richard Bourke's Spring by the explorer Dr J. Lhotsky in 1834. Lhotsky had thought highly enough of the spring water to bring bottled samples of it with him on his return journey.[6] The spring was still in its natural state in the 1880s.[5] It was used by local settlers to make bread and damper (presumably making use of minerals that are present in the spring water). The first attempts, to exploit the spring commercially, seem to date from around 1900.[7] The spring water was bottled and sold under the name 'Koomah Spa', from that year.[8][9][10][11] It was bottled by the company, E. Rowlands Pty Ltd.[12] By the late 1930s, the spring was all but forgotten.[13][14] The spring remained accessible to the public into the 1970s but is on private property and public access is no longer permitted.[3]

Rock Flat became a favoured camping spot for teams on the road south from Cooma. A village of Rock Flat was planned around 1886, near the site of the spring, but there is no sign of it now except that one of its streets, Cooma Street, still appears on modern day maps.[15][16] There was a railway station, also known as Rock Flat, that lay within the locality, on the now disused Bombala railway line; it opened in 1912 and closed in 1974. There are some remnants at the railway station site.[17] Rock Flat had a school from 1884 to 1918,[18] and a post office from 1890 to 1978.[19]

See also

• Rock Flat Creek

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rock Flat.

• Plan of the Village of Rock Flat