Rollands Plains is a village and bounded rural locality in Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia.
Location and economy
Located 320 km north of Sydney and 20 km west of Port Macquarie, New South Wales, between the town of Telegraph Point and Willi Willi National Park it is roughly equivalent with Tinebank parish of Macquarie county. It is within Port Macquarie-Hastings Council area, and is divided into Rollands Plains and Upper Rollands Plains.
The economy is primarily agricultural although timber getting was dominant in the past, with parts of the locality being cleared as soldier settlements following World War I. Rollands Plains has a school of arts hall, cemetery, oval, a Rural Fire Service, and the Upper Rollands Plains Public School. The smaller Rollands Plains Public School closed in the 1960s.
The natural geography is dominated by the Wilson River, a tributary of the Hastings River. The head waters of the Wilson River is near Mount Banda Banda 20 km to the west in the Willi Willi National Park. A number of state forest reservations also lie to the north of the village.
Etymology
The name Rollands Plains derives from Captain John Rolland, the cousin of the Governor of nearby Port Macquarie. Taken ill at sea in 1824, he sailed to Port Macquarie seeking medical attention at his cousins settlement. Medical attention of the day was not able to save him and he was interred at the Church of St Thomas Port Macquarie, under construction at the time.