as a 'sea of bush and scrub, with a house here and there', and with bullock teams and drays having 'to wend their way between stumps and saplings'. Even in 1892, at the opening of Dungog Cottage Hospital on Hospital Hill to the west, the trek up was largely through open countryside. Boosted by the dairy industry, which began to develop in the 1890s, Dungog grew more rapidly, receiving a further boost with the arrival of the railway in 1911. Many of the finest houses and commercial buildings still to be seen here were built between the end of the nineteenth and the first two decades of the following century. Coolalie (206 Dowling St) and Coimbra (72 Dowling St), as well as the then Angus & Coote, now J A Rose building (146-148 Dowling St) and the Dark stores (184-190 Dowling St) all date from this period of expansion. All, as the Dungog Chronicle continuously proclaimed, were 'up to date', and as the Dungog Chronicle also pointed out, modern improvements such as the 'water service and electric light service has made Dungog a desirable place to live in'. The architects and builders used for these projects were locals; such as C H Button, Town Clerk and architect, or J A Hall, builder, as well as those from Maitland, such as architect J A Pender. Around 1926, Dowling Street was first fully kerbed and the present alignment of the shop facades was established. Money and new businesses were entering the town at this time. While things may have slowed a little thereafter, many new buildings and houses continued to be built in the following years. The Catholic community built a new place of worship in Brown St in 1933, replacing the church that had stood in Dowling St since 1870 (where the Tall Timbers Motel now stands). In 1935 the Bank of NSW replaced its old building on the corner of Dowling and Mackay Sts with one in the, then, very modern Georgian Revival Style. World War II was just beginning when the Dungog Chronicle reported: Recent weeks have seen a progressive building campaign in Dungog. Apart from the palatial new building for the Royal Hotel erected and furnished at a cost of some £20,000, and remodeling of the Court House Hotel and Bank Hotel, nine new residences have been completed within the past month. In addition to these works, the