One of the main transport routes out of Walgett followed the Narran, Birrie, Bokhara and Culgoa Rivers west through Goodooga and onwards to Enngonia and further west, travelling straight through the area that would come to be known as the Grawin Opal Fields.
Wherever there were changing stations, hotels soon followed, and the Wilby Wilby Hotel on the Narran, and the Grawin Hotel soon established themselves as watering holes, followed closely by the Comborah Hotel and the township of Cumborah.
The railway, modern vehicles, and even paddle-boats all challenged the coaches for the important traffic heading west, and soon new routes navigated away from the old coach roads and connected with railway stations and more established centres.
Grawin gained its own identity when opal was discovered there in 1908, but by that time both the Wilby Wilby and old Grawin Hotel had ceased, and the Cumborah Hotel was finding trading difficult.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that new hotels took shape in response to the needs of the community, and the Glengarry Hilton, the Club in the Scrub, and the Sheepyard Inn all thrive today, in defiance of the fortunes of their predecessors.
