BENDEMEER Bendemeer is a crossroads town about midway between Tamworth and Uralla on the New England Hgy. Bendemeer is also now a by-pass town that is suffering economically as a result of the road change. There are limited services available. From an historical perspective there is a legacy that the traveler may derive benefit from the short diversion. The first European settlement was in 1834, with the establishment of a sheep station at a river crossing on what would become the McDonald River. By 1851 a small village had grown around the station, which was known as McDonald River. In 1854 the village was renamed Bendemeer after a line in the 1817 poem Lalla-Rookh by Thomas Moore: “There's a bower of roses by Bendemeer's stream; and the nightingale sings round it all day long." Moore was referring to a stream that ran through the ruined city of Persepolis in modern-day Iran. The word "bendemeer" is a loose translation of the Persian bund (embankment) and amir (a local ruler). It was proposed as the village name by Thomas Perry, a local farmer whose grandfather had maintained a friendship with both Moore and the first New South Wales Surveyor General, Thomas Mitchell. In 1864 the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt carried out one of his first armed robberies by holding up the northern mail as it passed through Bendemeer. Some locals claim Captain Thunderbolt was killed in nearby Uralla six years later, however many locals claim it was his uncle William (Harry) Ward and that the real "Thunderbolt" left for California a short time later. The first bridge over the McDonald River was constructed in 1874, and the steel and timber truss bridge was opened on 29 September 1905. A historic engineering marker was erected near this bridge in 2005. The bridge now in use through the village is a low level concrete structure. The Bendemeer Hotel is just on 150 years old. The hotel is party central to a wide region. Bendemeer has an Anglican, Catholic and United Church. A mix of old and modern. The Bendemeer War Memorial is located over the stream at the Memorial Park. This Memorial is unsigned and easily missed. The pub beckons from an historical and refreshment perspective. Take the opportunity to visit.