[8][9] The Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell and his expedition had camped and obtained water, in early 1845, at a place that he called "Canbelego" but that was not the later site of the village; it was a location—on Bogan River, near to the modern-day locality of Grahweed[10]—about 30 km from Nyngan.

[14] After reef mining ceased in September 1921, the old company reprocessed tailings and remnant ore stocks, until finally closing the site and selling off equipment, in 1923.

[61] His partner in the cinema venture was Maurice Levy, who also had business interests in Nymagee, another mining village 61 km due south of Canbelego.

[91] The rapid growth in population soon exposed the vulnerable water supply—a continuing problem in a semi-arid area—overcrowding at the school, and inadequate postal and telegraph arrangements.

After the long drought of 1911 interrupted production at the Mount Boppy mine, ten of the 28 bandsmen left town, bringing to an end the heyday of the band.

Miners working underground complained that there were no sanitation arrangements in the mine, and of the risk of lung damage due to quartz rock dust (silicosis).

In the village, to the immediate east of the mine, one observer opined that, "the clash of the huge batteries and the grinding of the great machinery create a noise like that of a sou'-easterly gale breaking on Bondi beach.

"[139] Running on two shifts, the last ending at midnight, around 260 to 290 days per year,[140] its continuous roar was labelled "Canbelego's lullaby"; it was reported that, "Canbelegolites get so used to it they can't go to sleep without it".

[148][149][150][151][152] In late January 1914, two men, John Sedgeman and William Stevens, died in separate accidents at the Mount Boppy mine; both left widows and children.

[144][164] Price himself had experienced a near miss, in January 1908, in an incident in which the miner working alongside him, a popular man and keen sportsman, Herbert Corbett, lost his leg.

When Corbett's body was returned for burial, at Canbelego, the funeral cortege from the railway station, led by the town band and including members of the miners' union, the A.M.A., was said to be over three-quarters of a mile long.

[165][143] Probably the last miner to die at the Mount Boppy mine, in July 1921, was a shift boss, husband, and father of three, Samuel Lecount, who fell 400 feet down a shaft.

[168][169] In January 1904, while working at the New Golden Gate mine, Mathinna, Tasmania, he had fallen into an ore pass[170] (a vertical or near-vertical opening made to provide more convenient material handling by gravity and to reduce haulage distances)[171] and then had been covered quickly by falling rocks; he had been rescued, after three hours, with only bruises and shock.

A fall from a bullock wagon and being run over took the life of Canbelego's carrier, Owen Byrne, in 1914,[172][173] a clothing fire that of old-age pensioner, Mrs Smart, in 1908,[174] and an accidental shooting that of 15 year old Thomas Henderson, in 1915.

In late December 1912, William Duncan Williamson, a well-respected Scottish-born metallurgist—he had been the Mount Boppy Mine's chief metallurgist for nine years, and he just been granted a provisional patent for treatment of gold and silver ores using cyanide—died unexpectedly of heart disease, aged only 39.

Despite Hermidale lying within the adjacent police district of Nyngan, it was the involvement of Senior Constable George Jeffrey, of Canbelego, that led to the case being identified as a murder.

Fearing for their own lives, his sister and his mother fled and summoned a policeman, Sergeant McLean, who found Pearson dead and Carroll mortally wounded by a gunshot to the head.

[222] The village formed a Patriotic League, in January 1915, which initially was a fund raising organisation, but which by mid year was demonstrating support for the recruiting effort.

[243][242] He did make an apparent success of his middle years of life,[242] but he continued to suffer grievously from the ill effects of his war service, for the rest of his days,[244] and it probably contributed to his violent death, in 1946, aged just 51.

[228] He had served in the Second Boer War, with the 3rd Bushman's Contingent, but said that "his conscience has moved him to again join the colours, which this time are in jeopardy, and set an example to some of those able bodied young men with smiling faces and no claim of any kind on them except their faint hearts".

[228] He was president of Canbelego's branch of the Amalgamated Miner's Association, which was the mine worker's trade union, and secretary of the village's band, football club, and Labour Electoral League.

[252] Michael William Lane had originally enlisted in the army in the mining town of Mount Morgan, Queensland, in 1914, but deserted, from a troop ship in Melbourne.

[277][278] Lance-Corporal Joseph Ellery,[279] whose brother Stephen had been killed in action, returned to Canbelego, in January 1918, after recovering from wounds, wearing a Military Medal.

[281] Driver Sidney Windsor (or 'Winsor' on the roll of honour), won the Military Medal, upon the recommendation of Major-General Ewen Sinclair-MacLagan, commander of the 4th Division.

[288] Despite assurances that the closure was temporary,[7][15] the population began to decline during the approximately twelve-month interruption to mining, probably as there was plenty of work for miners elsewhere in the Cobar region.

[290] The frequent droughts in the Cobar region had caused the Mount Boppy mine to shutdown on numerous occasions over its life, including in late 1918;[291] it happened again in 1919 and in early 1920.

[312] A gold discovery and rush at nearby Muriel Tank, halfway to Hermidale, proved minor, and nothing came of a mining claim pegged in Canbelego village itself.

In 1938, the village—by then described as "one hotel and cluster of houses"— had briefly relived its former glory, when its Country Rugby Leaque team—the smallest club of the 500 in the state—won 20 of its 22 games,[343] and it had another successful year in 1940.

[387][388] The sporting ground, Canbelego Park, still exists, in Florida Street,[389] together with the adjoining abandoned playground and ruins of tennis courts, but is now long disused,[390] and the route of the erstwhile racecourse is still discernible in aerial views.

[415][416][417] A codd bottle from the village's soft drink maker, Robert Linton, survives; it attracted a far higher than expected price at auction in 2023.