Dangelong is a rural locality in the
Snowy Monaro Regional Council
The Snowy Monaro Regional Council is a local government area located in the Snowy Mountains and Monaro regions of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 through a merger of the Bombala, Cooma-Monaro and Snowy River sh ...
local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-east of
Cooma. It had no people or a very low population recorded at the 2021 census.
The eastern boundary of the locality is formed by the
Numeralla River, and the confluence of that river with its tributary, Dangelong Creek lies in the locality.
The area now known as Dangelong lies on the traditional lands of
Ngarigo people. The name, Dangelong, is probably derived from an Aboriginal word, as rendered by colonial settlers, that was applied to an early squatting run in the area.
John Mackenzie established 'Dangelong' station, a vast squatting run of 44 square miles (11,396 hectares), when he occupied land taken from
Ngarigo people, as a
squatter
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 ...
. He began a grazing operation at Dangelong, which had twenty-six residents and ten
slab huts, by 1839.
He chose to reside, with his family, on other land that he owned at
Nerriga.
One of Mackenzies's sons—probably his eldest son, Andrew—managed 'Dangelong', during the time that it was controlled by Mackenzie. In 1848, as a result of Mackenzie's insolvency and subsequent bankruptcy, the 'Dangelong' run leasehold, by then of 15,000
acres
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ya ...
, passed to another early landholder,
William Bradley. The station was later part of the extensive Monaro landholdings of the Wallace family.
During the 1870s, the squatter run was opened to
selection, resulting in its subdivision into smaller properties, although the 'Dandelong' station still existed and retained some of the land.
The area once had more residents and farm dwellings, and its residents made use of the nearest (former) settlement at
Rock Flat. There was a school at Dangelong for most of the interval from May 1873 to December 1918.
There was some small scale mining of reef gold, just outside the eastern boundary of the modern-day locality, during the late 19th century.
The area is mainly cleared for grazing, with some forested land on the higher ground along its eastern side. The Dangelong station homestead buildings, dating from the 1860s, are still in use.
References
{{Snowy Monaro Regional Council
Localities in New South Wales
Snowy Monaro Regional Council