Bargo is a town in the

Macarthur Region Macarthur is a region in the south-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region includes the local government areas of the City of Campbelltown, Camden Council, and Wollondilly Shire. It covers an area of 3,067 s ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, in the

Wollondilly Shire Wollondilly Shire is a periurban local government area adjacent to the south-western fringe of Sydney, parts of which fall into the Macarthur, Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands regions in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wollo ...

. It is approximately 100 km south west of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. It is situated between the township of Tahmoor (north) and the village of

Yanderra Yanderra is a small village situated on the border of the Southern Highlands and Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia. Geography Yanderra is part of Wollondilly located between Bargo and Southern Highlands' Yerrinbool, and is locate ...

(south), and accessible via the Hume Highway that links Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. It was previously known as West Bargo and Cobargo.

Facilities

Bargo railway station Bargo railway station is located on the Main South line in New South Wales, Australia. It serves the town of Bargo, opening on 13 July 1919 as West Bargo at the same time as a new alignment between Picton and Mittagong. It was renamed Bargo on ...

was first opened on 19 July 1919 as ''West Bargo'' and then renamed in 1921 as ''Bargo''. The station is part of the

Main South Line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Inverca ...

and is served by

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary interc ...

Southern Highlands Line The Southern Highlands Line is an Intercity rail service operated by NSW TrainLink that services the Macarthur, Southern Highlands and Southern Tablelands regions of New South Wales. First operating in 1869, the service runs from across the ...

. The original Bargo railway station building on the eastern side of the platform was destroyed by

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

. Currently in use is a permanent

demountable A portable, demountable or transportable building is a building designed and built to be movable rather than permanently located. Smaller version of portable buildings are also known as portable cabins. Portable cabins are prefabricated structu ...

building.

Bargo's community facilities include a racetrack, tennis courts, sporting fields and skate park. Its commercial facilities include a hotel, motel, post office, a sports club, two small grocery stores, chemist, bakery, butcher, newsagent, liquor store, restaurants (including bistros at the pub and club), takeaway food, petrol station, pharmacy, car mechanic, two hairdressing salons and several other small businesses, including a used car dealership. There is also a public toilet in the park.

History

The name Bargo may be derived from the local Aboriginal language name ''Barago'', meaning cripple, thick scrub, or brushwood. The earliest reference to ''Barago'' was noted as by

George Caley George Caley (10 June 1770 – 23 May 1829) was an English botanist and explorer, active in Australia for the majority of his career. Early life Caley was born in Craven, Yorkshire, England, the son of a horse-dealer. He was educated at the ...

in a letter to

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...

on 25 September 1807. The aborigines called the Bargo area ''Narregarang'', meaning that the soil was not firm - a shaky place. Early explorers and convicts found getting through the Bargo area a difficult experience due to the thick scrub, explorers dubbing the tricky bush the ''Bargo Brush''. In early Colonial times, 'Bargo Brush' became notorious among travelers for harboring 'bolters', convicts who had escaped from captivity and become

bushrangers Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

. Bayley quotes William Riley, who passed through Bargo Brush on horseback in 1830:

"... a miserable, barren scrub, thickly wooded for eight miles; there having been so much rain lately this abominable part of the road was a continuation of bogs for eight miles." Soon the Brush, with its thickets for hideouts, became the lurking place for robbers and caused travel to become fraught with peril. The ''Sydney Gazette'' of 17 March 1832 reported the road as ". . . one uninterrupted morass"!

J. H. Heaton, under the heading 'Crimes and Criminals, Remarkable' lists "Desperate conflict between four police and eleven prisoners at Bargo Brush, N.S.W. Constable Raymond shot dead by a prisoner named James Crookwell, 15 April 1866." Bargo is noted as being where the first recorded sightings of the

lyrebird A lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds that compose the genus ''Menura'', and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their impressive ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environ ...

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the womb ...

and

wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . All three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are adap ...

took place by European settlers. Bargo is also near the site of an infamous

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

in 1816, when settlers forced local Aborigines to walk off a big cliff and shot them if they refused. Bargo Police Station, now abandoned, is currently used as a doctors' surgery. The lock-ups remain behind the building. The patrol area of the Bargo Police Station included Pheasants Nest, Bargo, parts of Tahmoor and Yanderra.

Heritage listings

Bargo has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Avon Dam Road:

Nepean Dam The Nepean Dam is a heritage-listed dam split across Avon in the Wingecarribee Shire and Bargo in the Wollondilly Shire, both in New South Wales, Australia. The reservoir created by the dam spreads across Avon, Bargo and also Yerrinbool in Wi ...

* Hume Highway:

Wirrimbirra Sanctuary The Wirrimbirra Sanctuary is a heritage-listed fauna sanctuary, native plant nursery, education centre and flora sanctuary located off the Hume Highway at 1305 Remembrance Drive, in outer south-western Sydney in the settlement of Bargo in th ...

* Main Southern railway 96.265 km:

Bargo railway viaduct The Bargo Railway Viaduct is a heritage-listed railway viaduct over the Bargo River located on the Main South railway approximately from Central, in the south-western Sydney settlement of Bargo in the Wollondilly Shire local government area ...

Location

The Bargo township border runs from Bargo River Road, south along Bargo River to perpendicular with Tylers Road, along Tylers Road, then south along Silica Road to Remembrance Drive, North along the freeway to perpendicular with and along Dwyers to north along Arina Road and back to Bargo River. Bargo aerial

Population

According to the 2016 census of population, there were 4,393 people in Bargo. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.4% of the population. * 82.6% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 4.5%. * 89.2% of people only spoke English at home. * The most common responses for religion were Anglican 28.9%, Catholic 28.0% and No Religion 22.6%.

Attractions and local business

Nepean and Avon Dams Natural attractions like the Avon and

Nepean Nepean may refer to: Places Australia *Nepean Bay, a bay in South Australia, **Nepean Bay Conservation Park, a protected area in South Australia, **Nepean Bay, South Australia, a locality *Nepean Highway, Victoria *Nepean Island (Norfolk Island) ...

Dams are popular destinations for family picnics and for viewing local and Illawarra water catchments and

bushland In Australia, bushland is a blanket term for land which supports remnant vegetation or land which is disturbed but still retains a predominance of the original floristics and structure. Human survival in bushland has a whole mythology evolving ...

. Wirrimbirra Sanctuary Bargo is home to animal reserves like the

, established by

Thistle Harris Thistle Yolette Harris (29 July 1902 – 5 July 1990), also known as Thistle Stead, was an Australian botany, botanist, educator, author and conservation movement, conservationist. Biography She was one of three daughters born to Charles Tho ...

in the 1960s, which offers bushland walks on well-maintained walking tracks, flora and fauna awareness programs, a small cafe, and a walk-in animal pen featuring wallabies. Mermaid Pools and the Potholes Mermaid Pools and the Potholes are located on the

Bargo River The Bargo River, a watercourse of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, is located in the Southern Highlands and Macarthur districts of New South Wales, Australia. Course The Bargo River rises in the southern slopes of Southern Highlands, north of ...

and are open to the public for swimming. Historically, Mermaid Pools was a local sacred aboriginal site for women. It is believed to be protected by spirits. In addition, the Potholes, which are located near Mermaid Pools, have been a local communal gathering point for summer swimming since early European settlers and continue to be an attraction for local residents. The Bargo Brush is a rare shrub found only in abundance in the Bargo area and commonly found around Mermaid Pools. Storybook Alpacas Bargo is home to Storybook Alpacas offering visitors the chance to visit an

alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can successfu ...

farm with farm visits. Australian Wildlife Sanctuary Located on Remembrance driveway the wildlife sanctuary (temporarily closed) is home to a variety of native animals including wombats, wallabies, pademelons, quokkas, potoroos, bettongs, lizards, pythons, turtles, emu, parrots, black swans and others.

Organisations

Wollondilly AFL Club Australian Football was established in Bargo in 1982 at the Bargo Sportsground. Firstly with the Wollondilly Junior Australian Football Club - The Cygnets with teams from U9's - U15's competing in the Greater West Sydney Competition. Then followed in 1989 Wollondilly Senior Australian Football Club - The Knights fielding First Grade and Reserve teams in the South Coast AFL Competition. In 2014 Wollondilly Senior Australian Football Club moved into the Sydney AFL Competition, competing in Division 4. Both Junior & Senior clubs now play home games at Hannaford Oval, Wilton. Yerrinbool-Bargo Bushrangers Bargo is home to the Yerrinbool-Bargo Bushrangers football team. The team was established by a group of men in the Pub one night, the Bushrangers now have teams from Under 6 to All Age Men & Women competing in the Highlands Competition. Notably, the Yerrinbool-Bargo coalition soccer team is one of the only local soccer teams where two places of different regions and councils form a coalition;

Yerrinbool Yerrinbool is a Northern Village of the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in the Wingecarribee Shire, and is accessible from the Hume Highway (via Bargo or Alpine) and is about a drive from nearby Mittagong. It is to Hill To ...

is of the Southern Highlands and

Wingecarribee Shire Wingecarribee Shire is the local government area of the Southern Highlands in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Wingecarribee Shire is around southwest of the Sydney central business district and is part of regional Capital Country ...

whilst Bargo is part of the

and Macarthur Region. Bargo Rural Fire Brigade Bargo Rural Fire Brigade was established 1939. From its humble beginnings, the brigade's few handtools and drum of water have been constantly upgraded to its present-day Pumper, Heavy Tanker and Light Tankers, housed in the purpose-built Village Two category building on the outskirts of the township. The brigade's services include fighting structure fires and bush fires in the local area and attending vehicle accidents on the Hume Highway where passes through Wilton,

Pheasants Nest Pheasants Nest is a small village in the Macarthur (New South Wales), Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia, in Wollondilly Shire. It has a north bound and south bound Roadhouse (facility), roadhouse on the Hume Highway. At the , Pheasan ...

and

. Bargo Fire Brigade assists with out-of-area disasters, for example, the 1994 Sydney Bushfires, the Sydney Hail Storm of 1999, the bushfires of the Christmas period 2001/2002, and 2007 Gosford storm damage. The Brigade celebrated its 70th year of operation on 26 December 2009. Bargo Yanderra Tennis Association has recently upgraded facilities with new court surfaces and is currently running an interclub competition between Thirlmere tennis club and Bargo. Ladies social competition are usually run on a Tuesday during school terms.

Food and shops

*IGA *Hector's Takeaway *Bargo Bakery *BWS Bargo *Friendly Grocer *MFC Bargo *Charcoal Chickens *Bargo Butchers *Post Office *Newsagent *Chemist *Hairdressers *Pub *Bargo Motors Used Car Dealership, RMS Authorized Inspection station & mechanical repair centre *BP Petrol station *The Local Italian Restaurant *Bimbo's Roadhouse (Bargo Pie Shop)

In popular culture

W. A. Bayley observed:

"The whole road was a nightmare with its succession of bogs where
bullock Bullock may refer to: Animals * Bullock (in British English), a castrated male bovine animal of any age * Bullock (in North America), a young bull (an uncastrated male bovine animal) * Bullock (in Australia, India and New Zealand), an ox, an adu ...
waggons sank to their axles. Drivers cut saplings to
corduroy Corduroy is a textile with a distinctively raised "cord" or wale texture. Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel (bare to the base fabric) between them. Both velvet and corduroy derive from fu ...
sections of the road and threw stones into bogholes. Teams on unbogged waggons were attached to teams on bogged vehicles to help pull them free; sometimes only to see them sink again! A waggon could take a couple of days from Bargo River to
Mittagong Mittagong () is a town located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town acts as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. Mittagong is situated at an elevation of . The town ...
, camping the night anywhere around
Yerrinbool Yerrinbool is a Northern Village of the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in the Wingecarribee Shire, and is accessible from the Hume Highway (via Bargo or Alpine) and is about a drive from nearby Mittagong. It is to Hill To ...
, then called Little Forest, before the steep climb of Catherine Hill which would then be attacked with fresh bullocks in the morning... The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' of 2 June 1865 reported that it had not been uncommon to see all the types of vehicles 'stuck fast or rather half buried in the numerous sloughs ... filled with mud .'

A verse of the Australian folk song '' Stringybark and Greenhide'' (''circa'' 1865) celebrates the bad reputation among

bullock Bullock may refer to: Animals * Bullock (in British English), a castrated male bovine animal of any age * Bullock (in North America), a young bull (an uncastrated male bovine animal) * Bullock (in Australia, India and New Zealand), an ox, an adu ...

drivers of the Bargo roads: "If you travel on the road, and chance to stick in Bargo,
To avoid a bad capsize, you must unload your cargo;
For to pull a dray about, I do not see the force on,
Take a bit of greenhide, and hook another horse on."

References

External links

Bargo Volunteer Rural Fire Brigade

Storybook Alpacas, Bargo
{{Authority control Towns in New South Wales Towns in the Macarthur (New South Wales) Wollondilly Shire