Like all of Australia, Wauchope's history starts with the Indigenous people of the area. For thousands of years this land was home to the traditional Aboriginal custodians the Birpai People with their rich traditional culture and sacred burial and ceremonial sites.

In 1818 John Oxley surveyed the Wauchope area and named the Hastings River after the Governor of India. A penal settlement was established at Port Macquarie in 1821 and the hinterland along the Hastings River was divided into large land grants. This was the beginning of the dispossession of the Birpai from their country and the destruction of their sacred sites.

In 1836 Captain Robert Andrew Wauch obtained 760 acres at King Creek and built Wauch House. When he died in 1866 the Government gazette published the deeds of his property specifying that it should be called Wauchope House.

The hills to the north west of the hinterlands was home to the giant red cedar and it didn't take long for the timber fellers to arrive and thus began the first industry for the Wauchope district.

In 1880 the government built a wharf on the Hastings River to ship timber and agricultural products to Sydney via Port Macquarie. Alexander Bain owned the neighbouring estate known as Yeppin Yeppin "large camp" in the Birpai language , he set aside a small parcel of land for a village. The village started along Cameron Street which was the main road from the government wharf to Kew along the old highway.

In 1881 the first Post Office was established and named Wauchope. The settlement of Wauchope grew slowly with timber and agriculture as the main industries until 1915 when the railway coming through Wauchope opened up markets for its timber and agricultural products. At different stages the railway station shipped more timber than any other town in Australia.

Steam Powered Saw Cutting Wood

Logging Cart (Timbertown)

Saddler's Hut

Old Hastings Dairy Products Sign

Hastings Valley Dairy