Forbes

Second stop on my road trip after Grenfell was Forbes. Forbes is roughly a 2 hours 10 minutes drive west of Bathurst via Orange. The first thing I noticed as I drove into the town was the beautiful clear Lake Forbes, the water was like a mirror reflecting the clouds in the sky. Lake Forbes travels through the centre of the town and there are many manicured parks with pathways to walk along side the lake. and along most of the If you follow my instagram account you may have seen my post why I wanted to travel to Forbes.

Lake Forbes

Since reading Rebecca Wilson book Kate Kelly I knew I had to plan a trip to Forbes. Probably one of my strangest adventures chasing ghosts. Ok, I wasn’t really ghost hunting, but I definitely wanted to see and feel the places I had been reading about in the book. I went to her grave at Forbes Cemetery, The Court House (There was a plaque on the front gate that made reference to Kate Kelly), the Forbes Police Station and walked along the pathways of Lake Forbes.

The book that inspired my trip to Forbes.

Forbes town center

Nestled on the Lachlan River in the heart of the Lachlan Valley is the historic town of Forbes. Forbes has magnificent heritage buildings and a rich history with a strong link to bushrangers and the gold rush past.

Forbes is a hidden gem which will inspire you to seek out the legacy of Ben Hall where you can visit the site where he was shot, and his final resting place in Forbes Cemetery.

Forbes Visitor Information Center

Located at the old Railway Station on Union Street Forbes NSW.

I was not sure where the exact spot Kate Kelly was found so I meet a lovely lady working on the front desk at the information centre, unfortunately the lady wasn’t sure of the exact location but told me what area to go to. Since then the lovely author Rebecca Wilson commented on my instagram post and said where the location is.

If you head out along the Bedgerabong Road -the lagoon is on your left. You’ll see a small footbridge and there is a large metal sign near that. Standing at the sign looking at the water you’ll see the racecourse across the other side. Look to your right from the sign (south west) and that is the direction Kate Kelly was found.

Forbes Cemetery

So my first stop on my Kate Kelly search was the Forbes Cemetery. The Information centre have a pamphlet with a map of where certain people are located for example the famous Ben Hall Bushranger who I will talk about my in my next blog post on my trip to Eugowra.

I also found the grave of Rebecca Shield who was Captain Cook's great grand niece. Rebecca died at the age of 84 years, little is known about Rebecca Shields from a quick online search but I am sure the Forbes Historical Society would have more information.

As always please leave a comment below if I have any information incorrect so I can amend it or if there are any key factors I have missed that I should add to this blog post.

Nadine Travels West.