It is acknowledged that the town of Binnaway is located on the lands of the Kamilaroi people. The word Binnaway is from the Aboriginal word ‘binniaway’ meaning ‘Peppermint Tree’.
Binnaway stands on part of the Mowabla run occupied in 1848 by William Lawson. In the 1850s this run, then roughly 13,000 acres, passed to David Innes Watt, who also held Ulindah to the south. Following the passing of the Robertson Land Act in 1861 settlers were allowed to take conditional purchase of small areas, which helped to break up the vast pastoral properties of the earlier squatters. The first of these settlers in the Binnaway area was Charles Naseby who took up 50 acres in 1869 and a another adjoining 50 acres in 1874. In 1876 he subdivided his land to create the ‘Private Village of Binnaway’.
Renshaw Street (originally Binnaway Street) is one creation of the 1876 subdivision that created the village of Binnaway. The construction of the railway line from Mudgee in 1917 appears to have been a major catalyst for the development of the town. Commercial establishments sprang up in the town in anticipation of the coming of the railway and the railway also encouraged the development of wheat growing in the area. With the completion of a cross-country railway line from Dubbo to Werris Creek in 1923 Binnaway was established as an important railway junction. A locomotive barracks was built in the town in 1925. Much of the current built heritage of the town relates to the development created by the expansion of the railway.
The commercial centre of Binnaway was initially focused around Myall Street. The Exchange Hotel is one remnant of this former commercial area. After the coming of the railway the focus of the town shifted towards its current location.
The earliest surviving building in Renshaw Street appears to be the Royal Hotel. The Royal Hotel was
constructed in 1918. It’s first licencee was Mr E. Sheehan who operated the hotel in partnership with his wife. Various other commercial buildings were constructed throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The architecture of Renshaw Street reflects the styles of this era, with many of the buildings appearing to have been constructed during the boom years of the 1920s.