[5] Both names derive from an Aboriginal word for the spearwood tree (Acacia doratoxylon).

[3] The mine operated successfully for a time, but it closed in 1882, due to declining ore grades.

[36][37] The mining operations had left the land scarred and eroded—it was compared with the notorious environmental damage at Queenstown—and contaminated runoff water was entering Lake George.

In 1987, the operator of that mine began developing a previously undiscovered deposit of lead-silver-zinc sulphide ore that it had identified, in 1973, at Currawang.

This time, the ore was trucked to the main Woodlawn operation closer to Tarago.

[40] The settlement was always of a scattered nature with houses being erected close to the mine and smelter.

[3] It seems never to have had any designated streets, other than the main road, despite housing a population that may have reached as high as 2,000, during the late 1860s and 1870s.

In 1876, it had around 50 houses, four stores, a blacksmith, Anglican and Wesleyan churches, two hotels (one of which also hosted Catholic services), and even a brewery.

[42] The Currawang Public School—situated on the main road to the west of the Anglican Church[43]—operated from 1870 until 1944, closing because the number of pupils declined.

[15] The little town had all but disappeared by 1948, leaving only the post office, a telephone exchange with only nine subscribers, and Anglican and Catholic churches.

In 1886, a site was reserved for a village to be officially known as Murray, on the northern shoreline of Lake George, just west of the landform known as Kenny's Point.

[39] Pastoralism remains the dominant part of the economy, however employment also comes from the waste management facilities reusing the former mine sites, and the recently constructed.

[57][58][59][60] St Matthias is part of the Mulwaree Mission District and has a quarterly service led by the Hon.