Boggabri ( ) is a small

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in north-eastern

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 ...

. It is part of

Narrabri Shire Narrabri Shire is a local government area in the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Namoi River and the Newell and Kamilaroi Highways. It was formed on 1 January 1981 from the amalgamat ...

and lies between

Gunnedah Gunnedah is a town in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia and is the seat of the Gunnedah Shire local government area. In the the town recorded a population of 9,726. Gunnedah is situated within the Liverpool Plains, a fertile agricultur ...

and

Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. At ...

on the

Kamilaroi Highway Kamilaroi Highway is a state highway located in the north-western region of New South Wales, Australia, and links via and to . The highway is named after the Kamilaroi Indigenous Australian people who live in the area. Route The highway be ...

. At the , the town had a population of 856 people. The original town site was south and settled in the 1830s, but was relocated after a flood washed it away in the 1850s. ''Boggabri'' comes from

Gamilaraay The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...

''bagaaybaraay'', literally "having creeks". It is likely a reference to the

Namoi River The Namoi River, a major perennial river that is part of the Barwon catchment of the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes districts of New South Wales, Australia. The Namoi River rises on the west ...

, which passes through Boggabri. Boggabri's main tourist attraction is Gin's Leap. Its name derives from the story of an Aboriginal girl who was promised to an elder of her tribe, the Kamilaroi, and ran away with a young man from a neighbouring tribe. The couple were pursued and, seeing no escape, jumped from the cliff to their deaths. Dripping Rock is another natural attraction featuring water that seeps through sedimentary rock and drips down a high wall. The water cascades down into a rock pool below after good rain creating a local waterfall. There are two primary schools in Boggabri: Boggabri Public School and Sacred Heart Primary School. The town is also home to the Boggabri John Prior Health Service and Prior House Frail Aged Care Home, both named after resident Dr John Prior OAM (1922–2014), who served as the community's sole doctor for half a century and is believed to be New South Wales' longest serving GP.

Boggabri railway station Boggabri railway station is located on the Mungindi line in New South Wales, Australia. It serves the town of Boggabri, opening on 11 July 1882 when the line was extended from Gunnedah. It served as the terminus of the line until it was extend ...

is situated on the Mungindi line, 515 km from

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 ...

. The station opened in 1882 consists of a station building on a single side platform, a passing loop and small goods yard. Currently a single daily Xplorer diesel railmotor operating between Sydney and Moree serves the station. The churchman

Roland St John Roland Tyrwhitt St John (16 December 1914 – 3 October 1991) was Registrar of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane from 1946 to 1974. The diocese comprised some 300 churches and covered an area of half a million square kilometers, reaching north t ...

MBE and his barrister brother

Edward St John Edward Henry St John QC (pr: Sinj'n) (15 August 191624 October 1994) was a prominent Australian barrister, anti-nuclear activist and Liberal politician in the 1960s. His political career came to a controversial end after he criticised the Pr ...

QC MP were born at Boggabri when their father was Anglican rector there. In 1946, Boggabri's

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

club player, Trevor Eather, was selected to play for the Australian national team. The local team is the Boggabri Kangaroos.

Mahla Pearlman Mahla Liane Pearlman (2 June 1937 – 2 December 2011) was an Australian lawyer and chief judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales from 1992 to 2003. Early life and education Pearlman was born in Boggabri, New South Wales, ...

AO (2 June 1937 – 2 December 2011) was the first woman to become chief judge of any jurisdiction within the NSW legal system. She was born at Boggabri to a local farming family, the Pearlmans. Her grandfather Abraham Pearlman had come to Boggabri as a shopkeeper, becoming a farmer in 1905 on the acquisition of the property Herzlton.

Population

According to the 2016 census of population, there were 856 people in Boggabri. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 13.2% of the population. * 85.6% of people were born in Australia and 87.5% of people spoke only English at home. * The most common responses for religion were Anglican 34.0%, No Religion 21.8% and Catholic 18.8%.

References

External links

Boggabri Information GuideKamilaroi HighwayVisit NarrabriBoggabri website and directoryBoggabri Business Chamber
{{Wikivoyage-inline, Boggabri Towns in New South Wales North West Slopes Narrabri Shire