Being recognised with an Australia Day Award

So many people to recognise..

Australia day 2021 saw Cathy and Owen Fitzgerald, the stalwarts of this project for almost 20 years, nominated as Citizens of the Year in Tumbarumba. They were humbled to be in such company as the other nominees. The worthy winner of this award was local hero during the bushfires, Mick Jones.

Our hard working volunteer committee were also recognised by being nominated in the Community Award category and we’re pleased to say we were announced as the winners!

Aus Day award 2021
Aus Day award 2021

The citation reads:

Winner of the best Community Group – The Tumbarumba Rosewood rail trail committee. After many years of hoard work negotiations, submissions and reports combined with countless meetings this group, headed by Owen Fitzgerald, finally saw their dream come true. The Tumbarumba to Rosewood” rail Trail was completed in April 2020. The fact that this is the first Rail Trail in NSW is a remarkable achievement and reflects the efforts and numerous frustrations experienced by this group. The result of their predictions, work efforts and site promotion can be seen by all. The recorded utilisation of the site is a true reflection of how this rail trail will remain as a long term tourist attraction. An economic asset for the shire. It will be the bench mark for any future rail trail development. 

Debbie, Cathy & Owen collecting the award for Community Group of the Year in Tumbarumba 2021 on behalf of the committee
Debbie, Cathy & Owen collecting the award for Community Group of the Year in Tumbarumba 2021 on behalf of the committee

Thanks for all your support.

We hope you can visit us one day soon,

Tumbarumba Rail Trail Volunteers

Copyright © 2023 Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail Committee and Debbie Harris – All rights reserved

Where to eat and drink in Tumbarumba and Rosewood?

How many cafes are there in Tumbarumba and Rosewood?

We have lots of fabulous places to eat and drink around our area – let’s count them!

Listed in no particular order – updated September 2024

Proudly supporting local businesses

Click on the links for more info:

We came up with quite a few, have we missed anyone? We’d love to hear about your favourite tea/coffee/food provider in the area.

If you’re visiting, always make sure you say you’re here to ride the rail trail, so the local businesses know how you found them. Tumbarumba Chamber of Commerce

What about pubs, restaurants and cellar doors?

More places to discover – pubs, clubs and cellar doors around the area – again in no particular order. Make sure you tell them the rail trail sent you!

What about other businesses in the area?

What other businesses are there in Tumbarumba? Well we’re glad you asked.

Thanks to Bucycle NSW, Rail Trails Australia, Rail Trails for NSW for producing this video

Plus we have doctors, a hospital, police, forestry, ambulance, schools, childcare facilities, council, library, museum, post office, logging contractors, builders – it’s a great place and we love living here! Help keep us all safe and follow COVID-19 regulations.

Hope you can visit us one day and support these local businesses.

Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail Team

Read: A Guide to Riding the Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail

Post updated 13/10/2021

Copyright © 2023 Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail Committee and Debbie Harris – All rights reserved

An afternoon ride

History Information boards at Glenroy Station on the Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail in the glorious afternoon light.

Have you been on our rail trail yet? We’d love to hear from you!

Photo by one of our Rail Trail Team enthusiasts.

Copyright © 2023 Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail Committee and Debbie Harris – All rights reserved

Where have we been featured recently?

Australian Geographic Magazine

Hot off the press if this month’s (January/February) edition of the iconic Australian magazine – Australian Geographic.

Late last year, we were visited by Christie Goldrick from Australian Geographic Magazine. She was keen to photograph the rail trail, talk to locals, ride the rail trail on her own to get a feel for it and then meet up with local volunteers from our Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail Steering Committee.

Christie went on to write a fantastic story on our Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail. It is refreshing, interesting and spot on! Chrissie shared how she hadn’t been on a bike for 20 years but after hiring an e-bike from Tumba Bikes and Blooms, she ended up thoroughly enjoying the experience, complete with the history of the railway line and seeing the impact it has had on our area.

Other local users were also interviewed along the trail and Jenny from Gone Barny Nursery & Eucalyptus at Rosewood is featured too! We stopped in today on our social Saturday ride and showed her a copy, as we enjoyed lunch and the best ever milk shakes! She’d already been informed of the story by a relative who is a subscriber. Jenny quipped that it’s nearly up there with being featured by David Attenborough 🙂

Aust Geo front cover
Aust Geo front cover
map in Aust Geo
map in Aust Geo
story in Aust Geo
story in Aust Geo
Cycling through railway history
Cycling through railway history

So good for our area, considering this time last year we were battling dreadful bushfires and most of the town had been evacuated which ended up lasting for a month!

Get out and find yourself a copy!!

Rail Trails Australia

We have been fortunate to have lots of support from Rail Trails Australia over many years and now that our rail trail is up and running, they have been fantastic with promoting it for us. In their latest edition of their magazine we are again featured and we are very thankful!

Pedal Power ACT

Lots of cyclists have visited from Canberra to ride our rail trail, as we are about a 3 hour drive away, so not that difficult to do for a weekend away or if you’re keen a day trip!

In the latest issue of the Pedal Power newsletter there are multiple stories about our rail trail, with members writing up their thoughts after visiting our area. It’s all been so positive to read and we really are thrilled with the response so far!

Once COVID travel restrictions are lifted we will have many more people visiting us than can do at the present moment.

How did you hear about our rail trail? Did you see it on social media, or in print somewhere or from word of mouth? We’d be interested to hear from you.

Relaxing at Gone Barny
Some of the team relaxing at Gone Barny on a Social Saturday ride

Happy riding.

The Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail team

About us

Copyright © 2023 Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail Committee and Debbie Harris – All rights reserved

Cycling into 2021

Well 2020 is done and dusted!

Happy New Year to all our supporters and helpers.

The best thing to happen in 2020, in our humble opinion, was the opening of our pilot NSW Rail Trail back in April 2020 after almost 2 decades of work behind the scenes by committed, hard working volunteers. Since then it has been extremely popular, despite the pandemic, or maybe because of it??

The December figures show continuing increases in the number of people using it. For those interested the numbers on the counters as collected at the end of the month:Tumbarumba: 13880 an increase of 1875 on previous month and Rosewood 13290 an increase of 1460 on previous month.

Please continue to share your thoughts, photos and feedback with us either by leaving us a review on Facebook or Google. And tell your friends about us!

We have more updates happening along the trail in the next few months and work continues by SVC to fix problem areas.

Hope to see you out on the trail sometime!

The Rail Trail Team

About Us