Bogan Gate is a small village in

Parkes Shire Parkes Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Central West, New South Wales, Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Broken Hill railway line and the Newell Highway ...

of the Central West of

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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 ...

. At the , Bogan Gate and the surrounding area had a population of 307. Bogan Gate is derived from the local Aboriginal word meaning "the birthplace of a notable headman of the local tribe". The village lies in wheat and sheep growing country and is on the Sydney - Broken Hill rail line, and it is the junction for the Bogan Gate–Tottenham Branch line. Attractions include the annual Bogan Gate Arts Festival and golf tournaments at the local nine-hole Bogan Gate Golf Club.

History

19th century

Explorer

John Oxley John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1784 – 25 May 1828) was an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He served as Surveyor General of New South Wales and is perhaps best known for his two exp ...

passed through the area in 1817. An early reference to the name Bogan Gate is in the ''New South Wales Government Gazette'' for 19 May 1876. Tenders were called for the conveyance of mail to Bogan Gate in May 1877. Bogan Gate Post Office opened on 15 December 1896. The arrival of the railway line late in the 19th century transformed Bogan Gate and agriculture in the region. The western line from Sydney reached

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

and

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

in 1893. When it reached the Bogan Gate area in 1896, the settlement moved south to relocate near the railway station. Land for the township was surveyed in 1897 and a public school was built the following year. The railway station was at the heart of the community and busiest during the

shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...

and harvest times. The railway made it possible to grow commercial wheat crops in the area. Previously the high cost of transport had made the crop uneconomic in western New South Wales. Also significant in expansion of wheat growing in the region was the practice of share farming, introduced into New South Wales from the United States in 1893.

20th century

The town had a spurt of growth in the years immediately after the railway station opened. By 1903, Bogan Gate had a

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

with 67 students, a police station, post office, sawmill, general store, butcher, baker, blacksmith and two hotels; the Bogan Gate Hotel (built 1899), which had 17 rooms, and the Railway Hotel. Bogan Gate had a population of 300 when the Shire of Goobang came into existence in 1906. By the 1920s, there was a general store employing 11 people,

stock and station agencies In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

, a bank, a doctor's surgery and another hotel. The

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

forced many residents to move in search of work to larger towns and cities. An explosives testing ground was established near Bogan Gate during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The site was used by the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

and

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

to store munitions for decades. As of 2014, the former Defence site was leased to several companies.

21st century

Modern Bogan Gate has a public hall, school, police station, churches, hotel/motel/general store garage and a take-away food store. Recreational facilities include Burrawang Park, a craft shop in the old railway station, a nine-hole golf course and night-lit tennis courts. A festival, that included a competition to find “Australia’s Biggest

Bogan Bogan ( ) is Australian slang for a person whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour are considered unrefined or unsophisticated. Depending on the context, the term can be pejorative or self-deprecating. The prevalence of the term bogan ...

,” was held in the town in July 2019.''Forbes Champion-Post'', 18 July 2019
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Notable residents

* William Keast (1872-1938), politician *

Lu Rees Lucy Frances Harvey "Lu" Rees (19 September 190123 January 1983) was an Australian bookseller, book collector and children's literature advocate. She founded the National Centre for Australian Children's Literature Life and career Rees was bor ...

(1901-1983), bookseller and book collector * Jim Taylor (1920-2005), politician * Ian Walsh (1933-2013), rugby league player

References

External links

Parkes Shire's entry on Bogan GateThe Bogan Gate "Gate"A bogan gate, a type of gate roughly made from droppers and fencing wire

Gallery

File:BoganGatePostOffice.JPG, Bogan Gate Post office File:BoganGateCWARooms.JPG, Bogan gate CWA Rooms File:Bogan Gate Police Station.JPG, Bogan gate Police Station File:Bogan Gate Rural Fire Service Shed.JPG, Bogan gate Rural Fire Service File:Bogan Gate CWA RSL & Red Cross Building 002.JPG, Bogan Gate RSL CWA and Red Cross rooms File:Bogan Gate General Store.JPG, General Store at Bogan gate File:Bogan Gate Park 001.JPG, Bogan gate park File:Bogan Gate Uniting Church 001.JPG, Uniting Church File:Bogan Gate Anglican Church 001.JPG, Anglican Church File:BoganGateRomanCatholicChurch.JPG, Roman Catholic Church File:Bogan Gate Pioneer Monument 001.JPG, Bogan Gate Pioneer Monument File:Bogan Gate War Memorial 005.JPG, Bogan Gate War Memorial File:Bogan Gate Public Hall 001.JPG, Bogan Gate Public Hall File:Bogan Gate Public School 001.JPG, Bogan Gate Public School File:Bogan Gate Uniting Church 001.JPG, Bogan Gate Uniting Church {{authority control Towns in New South Wales Towns in the Central West (New South Wales)