![Superb parrot boorowa welcome sign](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Superb_parrot_boorowa_welcome_sign.JPG)
Boorowa () is a farming village in the
Hilltops Region in the
south west slopes
The South Western Slopes, also known as the South West Slopes, is a region predominantly in New South Wales, Australia. It covers the lower inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range, extending from north of Dunedoo through central NSW and into ...
of
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 located in a valley southwest 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 ...
around above sea-level. The town is in
Hilltops Council
Hilltops Council is a local government area in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. This area was formed on 12 May 2016 from the merger of Boorowa Council, Harden Shire and Young Shire. The local government area covers muc ...
local government area
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...
.
History
Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was part of the lands occupied by the
Wiradjuri
The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, ...
Nation with the
Gandangara
The Gundungurra people, also spelt Gundungara, Gandangarra, Gandangara and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. Their traditional lands include present day Goulburn, Wollondilly Shire ...
Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
. It is believed that the name 'Burrowa', the original spelling, derives from the local Aboriginal language and refers to a native bird, the plains turkey
Australian bustard
The Australian bustard (''Ardeotis australis'') is a large ground dwelling bird which is common in grassland, woodland and open agricultural country across northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It stands at about high, and its wingspan is ...
.
The first European to travel through what is now Boorowa Shire was surveyor
George Evans in 1815. Unofficial occupation of the district began in 1821 with Irishmen Rodger Corcoran and Ned Ryan, both former convicts who had received their '
ticket of leave
A ticket of leave was a document of parole issued to convicts who had shown they could now be trusted with some freedoms. Originally the ticket was issued in Britain and later adapted by the United States, Canada, and Ireland.
Jurisdictions ...
' from the Governor. The first land grant in the general area was issued to
Thomas Icely
Thomas Icely (3 November 179713 February 1874) was an early colonial New South Wales landholder and stockbreeder. As a nominee Legislative Councillor from 1843, to 1853, and from 1855, until the establishment of responsible government in 1856, h ...
in 1829. A mill was operating on the future town site of Boorowa by 1837, along with an inn and several houses.
Governor Gipps
Sir George Gipps (23 December 1790 – 28 February 1847) was the Governor of the British colony of New South Wales for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship oversaw a tumultuous period where the rights to land were bitterly conte ...
proposed the creation of a village named 'Burrowa' in 1842, to be located 9 km north-east of the present site at Kings Plains which had been surveyed in 1828. However, that spot proved unsuitable and the village was established on its present site in 1843. The early years in the district saw lawlessness and mayhem as a result of long running boundary disputes, theft of livestock and arson, even murders; the cause being remoteness and lack of law and order. Bushrangers roamed the surrounding unsettled wild mountainous land, making raids into the town and stations of the district.
Squatters
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
took up large tracts of land in the Boorowa area but the introduction of the
Robertson Land Acts
The Crown Lands Acts 1861 (NSW) (or Robertson Land Acts) were introduced by the New South Wales Premier, John Robertson, in 1861 to reform land holdings in New South Wales and in particular to break the Squattocracy's domination of land tenure. ...
in 1861 resulted in a new land grab where large numbers of settlers, particularly '
ticket of leave
A ticket of leave was a document of parole issued to convicts who had shown they could now be trusted with some freedoms. Originally the ticket was issued in Britain and later adapted by the United States, Canada, and Ireland.
Jurisdictions ...
' men, applied for a '
selection
Selection may refer to:
Science
* Selection (biology), also called natural selection, selection in evolution
** Sex selection, in genetics
** Mate selection, in mating
** Sexual selection in humans, in human sexuality
** Human mating strategie ...
' of land with low cost land parcels available.
The district was given over to farming, although it received a push along when gold was found at
Carcoar
Carcoar is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Blayney Shire. In 2016, the town had a population of 200 people. It is situated just off the Mid-Western Highway 258 km west of Sydney and 52 km south-wes ...
, Browns Creek and
Kings Plains
Kings or King's may refer to:
*Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings
*One of several works known as the "Book of Kings":
**The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts
**The ''Shahnameh'' ...
.
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
mines were established although
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
and
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
were also extracted.
Samuel Marsden
Samuel Marsden (25 June 1765 – 12 May 1838) was an English-born priest of the Church of England in Australia and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand. Marsden was a prom ...
's copper mine operated until 1900.
The town'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 ...
team competed for the
Maher Cup The Maher Cup was an Australian rugby league (originally rugby union) challenge cup contested between towns of the South West Slopes and northern Riverina areas of New South Wales between 1920 and 1971. The main teams involved were Cootamundra, Tum ...
during the 20th century.
At the , Boorowa had a population of 1,211 people which had grown to 1,641 in the
and 1,888 in the
2021 census.
Railway
Boorowa residents and the local member of parliament lobbied the Government to direct the new southern main line progressing towards
Goulburn
Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...
to pass through the town. However the towns of
Yass
Yass may refer to:
People
* Catherine Yass (born 1963), painter
* Yazz, a British pop singer from the 1980s and 1990s
* Jeff Yass (born 1956), options trader, managing director and one of the five founders of the Philadelphia-based Susquehanna I ...
and
Murrumburrah
Murrumburrah is a township in New South Wales, Australia, part of a twin town with Harden. The town is in Hilltops Council local government area in the South West Slopes area of NSW. It is on the Burley Griffin Way, the major link from the R ...
won the debate. The next best option was a branch line to the town and this lobbying lasted 40 years before the line was eventually constructed, opening for traffic on 10 October 1914.
The arrival of the
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
in 1874 spurred development. Burrowa's name was then changed to "Boorowa". Boorowa replaced
Carcoar
Carcoar is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Blayney Shire. In 2016, the town had a population of 200 people. It is situated just off the Mid-Western Highway 258 km west of Sydney and 52 km south-wes ...
as the major service centre to local farmlands. It became a municipality in 1888. By the turn of the century a butter factory and freezing works were major employers in the town. Passenger trains ceased in 1980 and the
Boorowa railway line from
Galong to Boorowa closed in 1987.
The post office was ordered to discontinue use of the name "Burrowa" in 1914, but the two spellings were used interchangeably throughout the area for many years and the town's newspaper stubbornly retained the old spelling on its masthead unti
January 1951
Infrastructure
The main infrastructure achievements over the 180 years that connected Boorowa to the rest of the Colony included the first Post Office and mail service in 1835, the
electric telegraph
Electrical telegraphs were point-to-point text messaging systems, primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most widely used of a number of early messaging systems ...
in 1866, voice telephone in 1906, electric street lighting in the 1920s by the towns own generator, later the town and consumers were connected to the
Burrinjuck Hydro electricity system in 1938.
Environment
The town is located on the
Boorowa River
Boorowa River, a perennial stream that is part of the Lachlan catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the central–western region of New South Wales, Australia.
Location and features
The river rises about north of Yass a ...
, a tributary of the
Lachlan River
The Lachlan River is an intermittent river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Southern Tablelands, Central West, and Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia.
The Lachlan River ...
. The
Murrumbidgee River
The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...
drains the southern portion of the Boorowa district. The soil in the area is rich volcanic soil washed down over millennia from an extinct volcano known as Mount Canemumbola.
Climate
Boorowa experiences an
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(
Köppen: ''Cfb,''
Trewartha: ''Cfbk''), with warm summers and cool winters.
Notable people
*
Frederick Ashton
Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue.
Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositi ...
(1866−1941)circus proprietor
* Eric Bryce (1932−2007)music teacher and composer
*
Marguerite Ludovia Dale (1883−1963)feminist and playwright
*
Thomas Jenkins (born 2001)rugby league player
* Francis McGrath (1866-1947) jockey and racehorse-trainer
*
James Morrison (born 1962) — jazz musician
* John Quinn (1862−1937)sheepdog expert and veterinary surgeon
*
Karen Webb
Karen Leanne Webb, () is an Australian police officer, who replaced Mick Fuller as the Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force in February 2022. Webb is the first woman appointed to this office.
Early life and career
Webb was born ...
Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force
*
John Willcock
John Collings Willcock (9 August 1879 – 7 June 1956) was the 15th Premier of Western Australia, serving from 1936 until 1945. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party.
Early life
John Willcock was born at Frogmoor (now Frogmore), New So ...
(1879−1956)engine driver and 15th
Premier of Western Australia
The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...
Events
* Boorowa's agricultural show is held in March.
* October long weekend - The "Running of the Sheep" down the main street of Boorowa during the Irish Woolfest.
Gallery
File:Booroowa Anzac War Memorial.jpg, Anzac War Memorial, Marsden Street Boorowa, constructed in 1933
Image:Boorowa court house.JPG, Boorowa Court House, constructed in 1884
Image:Boorowa Hotel.JPG, Boorowa Hotel, constructed in 1880
Image:Boorowa main street.JPG, Boorowa main street
Image:Boorowa Museum.JPG, Boorowa Museum
Image:Boorowa Post Office 002.JPG, Boorowa Post Office, constructed in 1876
Image:Boorowa Roman Catholic Church.JPG, Roman Catholic Church, constructed in 1877
Image:Burrowa News office.jpg, Burrowa News & Printing Works, Pudman Street
Footnotes
External links
Hilltops Council web siteVisit Hilltops Region Tourist InformationBoorowa Irish Woolfest
{{authority control
Southern Tablelands
Towns in New South Wales
Hilltops Council