Ilford is a village in New South Wales, Australia, beside the Crudine River within the Mid-Western Regional Council.

[3] In June 1853 a thirty-acre portion of Crown Land was proclaimed to be set aside at Kean's Swamp (in Roxburgh county) as a potential town lot.

The meeting was one of a number held for the purpose of nomination and election of one member to serve in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales”.

[6][7] In April 1863 the Sydney mail coach between Bowenfels and Cudgegong was held up and robbed by two bushrangers at Cherrytree Hill, two and a half miles from Kean's Swamp.

[8][9] In March 1868 it was officially notified that the post-office previously known as Kean's Swamp would henceforth “bear the designation of ‘Ilford’”.

The buildings in the village were “neat and substantial”, the businesses consisting of “two stores, a public-house, a carpenter’s shop, a bakery, a butchery, and a post-office”.

[11] The original school-house was replaced in late 1877 or early 1878, after the foundation stone for the new building was laid in September 1877.

[12] In November 1880 the following were granted publican's licenses at Ilford: Mrs. Elizabeth Donovan for the Carriers' Arms and Robert Moore for The Plough Inn.

[14] In April 1898 it was reported that “almost all the children” of the Ilford locality were “suffering from scarlet fever, and the epidemic shows no sign of abating”.

Many of the houses in the village had “gone to decay, their roofs of shingles dropping off in patches” and a “deserted” police station.

This event attracts between 200 and 400 amateur star-gazers from Australia and abroad, effectively doubling the population of the region for the weekend.