Bombala is a town in the Monaro region of south-eastern

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, in Snowy Monaro Regional Council. It is approximately south 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 Mounta ...

, and south of the town of

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega with the Riverina. At the , Cooma had a ...

. The name derives from an Aboriginal word meaning "Meeting of the waters". The town lies on the banks of the Bombala River. At the , Bombala had a population of 1,387.

History

The Bombala area was inhabited by the Ngarigu Aboriginal people prior to the first European settlers arriving in the 1830s. Captain Ronald Campbell established a large property in 1833 that he named 'Bombalo'. More European settlers arrived in the Bombala area in the 1840s during which time the small township developed. Bombala had a post office by 1849 and had a number of large commercial and public buildings by the mid 1850s. Bombala was proposed in 1903 by

King O'Malley King O'Malley (2 July 1858? – 20 December 1953) was an American-born Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 1917, and served two terms as Minister for Home Affairs (1910–1913; 1915–16). He is remember ...

as the site of the parliamentary seat of Australia. It was considered as a location because it was halfway between the two cities of Sydney and Melbourne. The proposal was ultimately rejected in favour of

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. The site proposed for the capital city was a little to the west of the town of Bombala, on the right bank of the Bombala River. The town of Bombala would have been a part of a new federal territory. The town lies on the banks of the Bombala River and principal industries of the area include grazing and timber. Tourism is also growing in importance to the local economy. There is also a small amount of specialty producers with meat rabbits,

lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...

and many herbs being grown in the district. Delegate is situated 36 km west of Bombala and The Snowy River March which commenced from Delegate in 1916 went via Bombala to Goulburn. The timber industry has slowly begun to overtake many of the historic properties surrounding Bombala, such as the more-than-150-year-old property of Aston, south-west of the township. The area is known for possibly the largest population of

Platypus The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or mono ...

in New South Wales and is promoted as Platypus Country. The Holy Transfiguration Monastery is a male monastic community of the

Russian Orthodox Church Abroad The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...

. Founded in 1982, the monastic community presided over by Abbott Hieromonk Sergius, abides in the pristine and rugged valley of the MacLaughlin River situated between

and Bombala. The Facebook page "Bombala History in Photos" contains a wealth of information about the town's history. On January 15, 2022, a tornado touched down in the vicinity of the town.

Heritage listings

Bombala has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Goulburn-Bombala railway:

Bombala railway station Bombala railway station is a heritage-listed former railway station on the Bombala railway line at Bombala, Snowy Monaro Regional Council, New South Wales, Australia. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 A ...

* 91 Main Road:

Crankies Plain Bridge Crankies Plain Bridge is a heritage-listed road bridge that carries Main Road across the Coolumbooka River in Bombala, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by John McDonald and built in 1892 by the New South Wales Public Works Departm ...

Population

In the 2016 Census, there were 1,387 people in Bombala. 85.1% of people were born in Australia and 89.9% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were Anglican 34.6%, Catholic 23.8% and No Religion 20.3%.

Geography and climate

Situated at 705 metres above sea level on the eastern edge of the Monaro Tablelands, Bombala is known for its cold winters with frequent

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a g ...

and occasional

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughou ...

—however due to its

downwind Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

position on 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 ...

, winters are relatively warm and dry for its latitude and snowfall insignificant. A few kilometres to the east, the land slopes downwards to the

South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...

, a flat coastal plain where summers are warmer and winter temperatures much milder. Examples are towns such as Bega and

Merimbula Merimbula is a town on the Merimbula Lake, located on the Far South Coast or Sapphire Coast of New South Wales, Australia. At the , the population was 3,544. The population within 10 km of the Merimbula Post office is over 18,000 people ...

, both about 80 kilometres east of Bombala. According to

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

scheme, Bombala has 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 ...

(''Cfb''). Most rain in the area falls as either

thunderstorms A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are somet ...

in summer, or with cold fronts in winter. Extreme temperatures have ranged from 40.7 °C (105.6 °F) to −10.0 °C (14.0 °F).

Transport

The railway reached Bombala in 1921 and closed in 1986. being an extension of the line from

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in the south-eastern region of New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the ...

to Cooma. The line was and still is known as the

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 Bombala line. During the 1970s, service was provided by a small rail bus, taking 4 hours to cover the between Cooma and Bombala. The Monaro Highway (now route B23) which runs from

to Cann River (Victoria) passes through Bombala. Other major roads include Mt Darragh Rd which connects to

Pambula Pambula is a town in Bega Valley Shire on the far south coast of New South Wales, Australia south of Sydney via the Princes Highway. At the , Pambula had a population of 970 people. History The area was populated by the Thaua Aboriginal peop ...

and

on the NSW South Coast. The nearest airport with regular air services is at

, to the east.

Notable residents

* Minard Crommelin MBE (1881-1972), postmistress and environmental conservationist, born at Aston Station, near Bombala. * Michael Farrell (1965-), contemporary poet and magazine editor, born in Bombala. * Sir Alexander George William "Bill" Keys AC, OBE, MC (1923-2000), long-serving president of the Returned and Services League (RSL), grew up in Bombala. *

Dick Tooth Richard Murray Tooth (21 September 1929 – 5 August 2020) was an Australian rugby union footballer of the 1950s. He represented the Wallabies in ten Test matches and nineteen total appearances and was Australian captain on two occasions. He res ...

(1929-), former Australian rugby union representative, born in Bombala.
William Farmer Whyte
(1877-1958), journalist and author
Charles Henry Kerry
(1857-1928), photographer
Wilfred Alexander de Beuzeville
(1884-1954), forester

References

External links

Bombala Railway Station
{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Snowy Monaro Regional Council Proposed sites for national capital of Australia