Boomi is a town in north western

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 ...

. The town is in the

Moree Plains Shire Moree Plains Shire is a local government area in the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. The northern boundary of the Shire is located adjacent to the border between New South Wales and Queensland. The Shire is located adja ...

local government area, north west of the state capital,

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 ...

, on the border on the New South Wales side of the MacIntyre River. Boomi is west of the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

town of

Goondiwindi Goondiwindi () is a rural town and locality in the Goondiwindi Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. In the , Goondiwindi had a population of 6,355 people. Geography Goondiwindi is on the MacInt ...

and north of Moree in New South Wales. At the

2016 census Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...

, Boomi and the surrounding farming area had a population of approximately 200.

History

Gamilaraay (Gamilaroi, Kamilaroi, Comilroy) is a language from South-West Queensland and North-West New South Wales. The Gamilaraay language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Balonne Shire Council, including the towns of Dirranbandi, Thallon, Talwood and Bungunya as well as the border towns of Mungindi and Boomi extending to Moree, Tamworth and Coonabarabran in NSW.

Climate

The average annual rainfall has been but the recordings show that the pattern over the years has not been consistent. The. climate varies from long hot summers, when the temperatures can reach and storms begin the summer rain often resulting in floods, to the winter months, which produce light rain and only occasionally result in floods. Cold nights in winter can go down to causing frequent frosts, but the days are pleasant on the whole. Spring and autumn are short.

Geography

The feature of the area is its flatness, referred to as the "black soil plains", but really it has a mixture with grey/brown loam, interspersed with sand ridges. It is a flood-prone region with the McIntyre River falling one foot per mile (19cm per kilometre) between Goondiwindi and

Mungindi Mungindi is a town and locality on the border of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland, Australia. The town is within Moree Plains Shire in New South Wales. Within Queensland, the locality is split between the Shire of Balonne (the western part) ...

as it flows in a south-westerly direction. A flood peak at Goondiwindi can be expected a week later at the Kanowna gauge, seventy miles (113 kilometres) downstream. The McIntyre River has many tributaries; floods, flows and diversions affect and benefit the rich grazing and farming land. The plains were once lightly forested with mainly gum,

coolibah ''Eucalyptus coolabah'', commonly known as coolibah or coolabah, is a species of tree found in eastern inland Australia. It has rough bark on part or all of the trunk, smooth powdery cream to pink bark above, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves ...

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

, wilga,

belah Belah is a suburb of Carlisle in the City of Carlisle district, in the county of Cumbria, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The I ...

myall Myalls are any of a group of closely related and very similar species of ''Acacia'': * ''Acacia binervia ''Acacia binervia'', commonly known as the coast myall, is a wattle native to New South Wales and Victoria. It can grow as a shrub or as a t ...

Cypress pine Cypress-pine is the common name used for three closely related genera of conifers in the cypress family Cupressaceae: *'' Callitris'' (Australia) *'' Actinostrobus'' (Australia) *''Widdringtonia ''Widdringtonia'' is a genus of coniferous tree ...

and leopardwood trees. Many of these early timbers were used for buildings and fences. The region is renowned for its good

merino sheep The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the breed ...

with 21

micron The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

wool and quality beef cattle. Although this is marginal, graziers have been able to diversify into farming. Large scale clearing has become broadacre farming, producing premium grade

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

and fodder crops. Wildlife of the area,

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus s ...

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...

s and birds are bountiful and the rivers are a haven for fishing, especially

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

and yellow belly.

Rivers

Rivers and tributaries play important roles in the layout of the Boomi area. The headwaters of the McIntyre River system rise in the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

between

Guyra Guyra is a town situated midway between Armidale and Glen Innes on the Northern Tablelands in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is within Armidale Regional Council and at the 2016 census, it had a population of 1,983. M ...

and

Stanthorpe Stanthorpe is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Stanthorpe had a population of 5,406 people. The area surrounding the town is known as the Granite Belt. Geography Stanthorpe lies on the New ...

, and flow north west towards Goondiwindi, then veering west. The Boomi region is situated on the

side of the McIntyre River between Goondiwindi, Queensland with

Boggabilla Boggabilla is a small town in the far north of inland New South Wales, Australia in Moree Plains Shire. At the , the town had a population of 551, of which 63% identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. The name Boggabilla c ...

adjoining and Mungindi downstream, straddling the border. In earlier years the MacIntyre River was known as the Barwon River at the source of the

Boomi River The Boomi River, an anabranch of the Barwon River and part of the Macintyre catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the north–western slopes region of New South Wales, flowing downstream into the South Downs region of Quee ...

, but now reference is made to the Barwon River after the confluence with the Weir River. The Weir River rises in south east Queensland and parallels the Barwon River for a short distance, north of the Boomi region from Bonanga, spilling over into the Barwon River, during flood flows, which it eventually joins, towards Mungindi. The Gnoura Gnoura Creek branches out of the Boomi River at Boronga, running west before it flows into the Barwon River on Barra. The Boomi River is a tributary of the McIntyre and Barwon River junction. It meanders downstream, flowing back into the Barwon River south of Mungindi. The Whalan Creek begins in the Boggabilla area, out of the McIntyre River. It then flows in a stream which, at times, forms into low swamps before becoming a larger waterway and running into the

, before the Boomi River meets the Barwon River. Within these tributaries there are many lagoons, channels and gullies which are small, but carry a large volume of water during flood time: this is a river region. In most cases the tributaries provide the necessary stock and domestic water, supplemented on some holdings by bore drains or dams.

References

External links