As local stores arrive and expand, Gilgandra is bucking the discouraging trend of local main streets gradually fading. 

“It’s not by accident,” said Gilgandra Shire Council mayor Doug Batten. 

The Gilgandra Activation Blueprint - which was outlined in 2019 - is producing strong results, as once empty buildings begin to fill once more. 



Gilgandra’s Miller Street has seen the opening of The Meating Place, which has taken pride of place in an old butchery, and the restoration of an old bank for an upcoming business. 

“The owner of the newsagency has just moved from one side of the street to the other to get more floor space, she’s selling clothing and providing that early morning coffee,” Cr Batten said. 

“I had a look in the front door of the (bank restoration)...it’s fantastic inside,” he said. 

The town’s library is also being relocated into the main street, in the hopes to draw more people into the CBD. 

A concept design for the new library precinct. (Gilgandra Shire Council)

“We’ve done what we can to activate the main street. We’re currently looking at a health strategy, whether there’s an opportunity for us to centralise health services into the main street,” Cr Batten said. 

“Gil is definitely on the move.”

Planning for growth

While actively looking to improve foot traffic on the main street, the town’s population increase has also been beneficial to local stores, as the council works towards growing to a population of 5,000.

“At the moment we’re sitting at about four and a half (thousand),” Cr Batten said. 

“Everything council does, we preface with the question ‘Will that assist us to grow the population to at least five thousand or beyond?’”.

As well as causing a promising hive of activity, it has also stretched the housing to capacity. 

Gilgandra’s proximity to the Inland Rail has allowed them to plan expansions that will assist with the construction of the rail corridor, to then be used for housing and local facilities. 

In a new subdivision of 55 housing blocks, 25 will be used as a ‘work camp’.

“Once construction is finished, we’ve got it all set up there with water, sewerage, roads and electricity all in place,” Cr Batten said. 

So far, the Narromine to Narrabri stage of the Inland Rail project - which includes Gilgandra - is in the approvals phase, with no set date for construction to begin.