The first Europeans recorded as visiting the area were the exploratory party of Hamilton Hume in 1821.

Binalong lay beyond the border of the Nineteen Counties which was the formal legal extent of European settlement in New South Wales.

The same year a local entrepreneur applied successfully to the Commissioner of Police for a grant to build an inn to provide accommodation and victuals for the visiting magistrate and police witnesses, and the Swan Inn was established close to the courthouse.

In 1853, Cobb and Co was established in Melbourne as a coaching company, and upon eventually expanding their operations into New South Wales, entered into an agreement with the Swan Inn to provide staging services for coaches, drivers and passengers travelling along the adjacent road to the goldfields at Lambing Flat or Young.

Media related to Binalong, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons