Broadwater is a small town which sits within the Richmond Valley and

City of Lismore The City of Lismore is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. The seat of the local government area is Lismore, New South Wales, Lismore, a major regional centre of th ...

local government areas, in the

Northern Rivers Northern Rivers is the most northeasterly Regions of New South Wales, region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between north of the state capital, Sydney, and encompasses the catchments and fertile valleys of the Clarence Ri ...

region of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. It is from the regional centre of

Casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

and from Lismore. The traditional owners of this region are the

Bundjalung people The Bundjalung people, also spelled Bunjalung, Badjalang and Bandjalang, are Aboriginal Australians who are the original custodians of a region from around Grafton, New South Wales, Grafton in northern coastal New South Wales to Beaudesert, Que ...

. In 2021, the town had a population of 524 people. Material was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
It is on the Pacific Highway and it is adjacent to the

Broadwater National Park Broadwater is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 577 km northeast of Sydney. A wide range of various vegetation, coastal rainforests, swamps, open eucalyptus forests are a great refuge for many species of migratory birds. Broa ...

History

The history of Broadwater has largely revolved around its

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

mill. In 1863 Henry Cook and Alexander MacDonald became the first people to select land in the area. To begin with, sugar was grown and crushed on the small private farms in the region. The CSR opened the town's sugar mill in 1880. In the early days

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

was grown as far up the

Richmond River The Richmond River is a river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may ...

as the town of Bexhill and was carried to the mill on punts. In 1978 CSR sold the mill to the newly formed New South Wales Sugar Milling Cooperative, which established its head office at Broadwater. The nearby Riley's Hill Dock began operation in the late 19th century and many punts, river boats and larger vessels were built in the dry dock there. One of its last major jobs was the restoration of the ferry '' South Steyne'' in the 1980s. Today Broadwater is the centre of the region's highly mechanised

sugar industry The sugar industry subsumes the production, Sugar refinery, processing and marketing of sugars (mostly sucrose and fructose). Globally, about 80% of sugar is extracted from sugar cane, grown predominantly in the tropics, and 20% from sugar beet, ...

, which is still a major employer. In recent years the area has also seen an influx of new settlers, attracted by its peaceful rural lifestyle.

Population

In the 2021 Census, there were 524 people in Broadwater. 81.1% of people were born in Australia and 85.7% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 43.7%, Catholic 17.9% and Anglican 11.5%.

Gallery

File:Cane burns.jpg, Sugar cane burns before harvesting for the Broadwater mill, 2007 File:Cane harvester at work.jpg, A cane harvester collects cane for the mill, 2007 File:Cane harvester.jpg, A stationary harvester, 2007 File:Broadwater Church - panoramio.jpg, A wooden church in Broadwater, 2013

References

{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Northern Rivers Richmond Valley Council