With a natural artesian spring occurring at a location then known as ‘Comborah’, a Travelling Stock and Camping Reserve was proclaimed at the Cumborah Springs, on 27 October 1888. A Public Watering Place was established there in 1889, and fencing was installed around the springs. This reserve was partially intended to serve the settlers of ‘Cumborah‘ who dipped their buckets into it for water. It was only sufficient for them and ‘the few head of village stock’. A post office operated from Robert Lindores’ store from 1 April 1892 and the township was gazetted at Cumborah on 7 November 1896.
The Comborah Hotel licence was held in 1890 by John Newton, and Edward Young obtained a licence for the Comborah Hotel in July 1898. A small village emerged and included a store by 1899, and in January of that year a provisional school commenced. In the same year the Cumborah Hotel was destroyed by a fire which started at 10 in the morning – it would be rebuilt and reopened as The Federal Hotel.
The town did well initially, with reports of cottages being constructed driving a strong demand for building supplies. The holders of Homestead Leases in the vicinity of Cumborah were taking up land, which was formerly part of the property Llannillo. Since they tended to be genuine settlers, there was stability in the locality not found elsewhere.
The Cumborah Hotel was finding trading slow by 1918, and by 1933, with the motorcar taking potential patrons on to larger centres such as Goodooga, there was no sense in persisting. There were two attempts to have the licence transferred to a hotel proposed on the site of the former Tattersalls Hotel at Walgett. Both attempts were unsuccessful. The licensee, R A Evans, applied to surrender his licence in 1933 and successfully received the necessary compensation for giving it up.
1897-98 – Edmund Young, 1898-99 – Robert Thornley, 1899 (Dec) – Hotel was destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt as Federal Hotel, 1904- Edward Newton, 1905-06 – John Newton, 1912 – Arthur E Pauling, 1926 – J J Nolan, 1933 – Licence surrendered.
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The Pubs of Grawin
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.