A Thoroughbred racehorse breeding and farming town in the Upper Hunter Region of NSW, Scone is known as the ‘Horse capital of Australia’.
Quick facts
Scone has a population of 5,478 and is comprised of approximately 51.4% females and 48.6% males. It has an indigenous population of 190 (3.5%) and the median age is 37.
Scone is located in the Hunter, New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (HNECCPHN). This fact sheet provides an overview of the community profile for the Upper Hunter Local Government Area.
Scone is a town in the Upper Hunter Shire in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, located on the New England Highway north of Muswellbrook about 270kms north of Sydney and 153kms north west of Newcastle Scone
Scone is in a farming area and is also noted for breeding Thoroughbred racehorses and is known as the ‘Horse capital of Australia’ and is the world’s second largest thoroughbred and horse-breeding centre.
The closest airport to Scone is Newcastle Airport which is just under a 2 hour drive. Newcastle Airport is serviced by Regional Express Airlines (REX) providing daily return flights to Sydney, Virgin Australia and Jetstar providing return flights to Brisbane and Melbourne and Air Pelican providing flights to Ballina and Canberra.
Scone lies on the Main North railway line, and is served by a passenger train service made up of a daily NSW TrainLink train to Sydney and local regular NSW TrainLink services to Newcastle.
The major sources of employment in Scone are:
- Mining
- Retail trade
- Health care and social assistance
- Education and training
- Manufacturing
- Accommodation and food services
The Scott Memorial Hospital is a 48 bed facility with the following services, 24 hour emergency department, acute care, aged care, antenatal care, gastroenterology, obstetric care, orthopaedic clinic, outpatients clinics, medical clinic, medical imaging including X-ray and ultrasound, paediatric clinic, palliative care clinic, respiratory clinic, surgical clinic and rural rehabilitation services.
Scone also has its own Community Health Services, which is situated at the rear of the hospital.
Scone is supported by NSW ambulance service.
There is one general practice facility in Scone and there are 2 general practice facilities in Muswellbrook, which is a 20 minute drive from Scone.
Scone Medical Practice has a two bedroom fully furnished unit that may be available for registrars working at Scone Medical Practice, rent includes, electricity, phone and water.
Scone has 1 public primary school, 1 Catholic primary school, 1 Grammar (K-12) school, 1 secondary high schools and 1 Tertiary College.
- Scone Public School
- St Mary’s Primary School
- Scone High School
- Scone Grammar School (K-12)
- Hunter TAFE – Scone Campus
For further information regard education in the Hunter and Central Coast, please click here.
Scone offers young families a number of options suitable for children from 6 weeks to school aged, for family day care, occasional care, long day care and preschool.
Scone has a village shopping centre, Coles and Woolworths and numerous boutique retail stores.
Much more extensive shopping opportunities are available in nearby Muswellbrook which is just 20 minutes away. Muswellbrook Marketplace and Muswellbrook Fair include most of the well-known national chains including Woolworths, ALDI and Coles supermarkets, Big W, Harvey Norman, Repco, Best and Less and Furniture Warehouse as well as boasting a wide variety of retail men’s, women’s and children’s stylish clothing boutiques.
There are a number of places of worship located in Scone including, but not limited to, Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Uniting and Presbyterian.
In Muswellbrook, which is a 20 minute drive from Scone there are Anglican, Baptist, Christian Outreach Centre, Jehovah’s Witness Congregation, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Seventh Day Adventist and Uniting churches.
Scone is home to a rich horse racing history, dozens of studs and world-class thoroughbred breeders that have made the area the second biggest horse-breeding town in the world. The Scone & Upper Hunter Horse Festival is a unique event that takes place in beautiful Scone and surrounding areas each year in May. The festival includes remarkable events that showcase the versatility of the horse and the important role they play in the local area.
Scone is also home to a range of things to see and do, both throughout the town and its surrounding parts of the Upper Hunter. Enjoy a vineyard tour or perfect your game at the Scone Golf Club, visit an ancient Aboriginal site or settle in for a relaxed barbecue lunch with the family at Washpools picnic area and viewing platform. When the weather warms up, swim at the Washpools waterhole or spend time discovering a portion of the town’s social and architectural.
