Federal is a village 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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is located in the

Byron Shire Byron Shire is a Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area located in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. The shire is located adjacent to the ''Coral Sea'' about south of the Queensland border. The ...

local government area. It is approximately from the regional centre of

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah'') is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of New South Wales, Australia (in Bundjalung Country). It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjac ...

. It is to

Minyon Falls The Minyon Falls is a plunge waterfall on Repentance Creek in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. The waterfall descends more than over the huge rhyolite cliffs which were once part of the Tweed Volcano. The water flow erod ...

which is within the

Nightcap National Park The Nightcap National Park is a national park situated within the Nightcap Range in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. The park was created in April 1983 and is situated north of . The park was established following cam ...

. It is on the lands of the

Widjabal The Wiyabal (also Widjabal, possibly from confusion of the letter in the older spelling ''Wijabal'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of New South Wales. They may be a clan of the Bundjalung people. Country Norman Tindale assign ...

of 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 ...

, who are the

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

of this land. It stands on land that was a part of The Big Scrub, 75,000 hectares of lowland

subtropical rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropical rainforests or ...

which was cleared for agricultural use; this clearing also dispossessed many of the Bundjalung people. At the , Federal had a population of 712. At the , the population was 784, with a median age of 47.

History

The village is one of the older in the area and it was originally known as Jaspar (or Jasper), until it was cleared for the use of agriculture in the 19th century with farmers moving to the area in 1882. Some of the first European settles were William Risley and William John Bate who were led there by a cedar-getter named Daniel Withers. When still known as Jaspar, The Federal Butter Factory was built there, this factory was a part of a dairy co-operative and was constructed around 1893. Its name is thought to have been proposed by members of the co-operative in support of the

Federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Wester ...

. The village was renamed Federal when a post office was built by the factory in 1899 and the name changed in common use but was not formally changed until 1906 after petitioning to the government. Over the last years, Federal has seen settlers revitalise new services and endures as a quaint village for its rural lifestyle.

References

{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Northern Rivers