A Piece Of History

The first records of Candelo occur in the early 1830's when pioneering settlers the Imlay brothers from Pamboola Station at nearby Pambula, moved inland and discovered good grazing land.  The first land sales in the area occurred in 1861 and a village was developed in the early 1860's as a centre for the through-trade of travellers and workers from the Snowy Mountains to the coast and also the local independent farmers. The valleys surrounding Candelo were once filled with dairy farms who supplied to the Candelo and Kameruka factories. Today many original dairy farms are still in operation supplying to nearby Bega Cheese. 

Candelo had its first general store in the early 1860's. In its heyday Candelo boasted four general stores, seven blacksmiths, three hotels, it's own newspaper, a doctor, chemist and a tailor. Records show that the original owner of what is now the Candelo General Store, Mr Abraham Levy, operated a store in Candelo from at least 1879, yet the exact location of his original store is unknown. He built a store at the current general store location in 1882 but it was destroyed by fire in 1903. He built a new store in its current form in 1904, which still proudly stands today. After changing hands many times throughout it's 110 years, the Candelo General Store was purchased by its current owners, a local farming family with strong historical ties to the Candelo area, in late 2014 and has been re-invigorated and filled with life once again.