Balmoral () is a Northern Village of the Southern Highlands area 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 the northernmost village in Wingecarribee Shire. Balmoral Village lies mostly on the eastern side of Wilson Drive. The main street is Railway Parade. The village does not have a Post Office or shops. It has a well-maintained Village Hall, including a children's play area, and a tennis court. The village also has
NSW Rural Fire Service brigade
There is also an active Balmoral Village Association to run events and raise money for the little community. Balmoral is formerly a station on the alignment of the

Main Southern railway line The Main Southern Railway (or Great Southern Railway) is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs from Sydney to Albury, near the Victorian border. The line passes through the Southern Highlands, Southern Tablelands, South West ...

, and is known variously as 'Big Hill Lower Siding' (1878), 'Bargo' (1881), and 'Balmoral' (1888). On the

New South Wales Government Railways New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in the colony, and then the state, of New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. History The NSWGR built ...

Secretariat map, the locality is identified as Balmoral Private Village. In 1919, the Picton–Mittagong Deviation opened. The Loop Line continued to operate until 1978, and is now disused. The Balmoral station building was re-erected adjacent to the old school house (built in 1893) and the Loopline Pottery is on the same property. The town is served on weekdays by the Bowral to Picton

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a regional train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and into Australian Capital Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria (state), Victoria, Queensland and South Australia ...

bus service that runs to the towns served by the old Main South railway alignment, between

Mittagong Mittagong () is a town located in the Southern Highlands (New South Wales), Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town acts as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. Mittagong is si ...

and Picton. In December 2019, Balmoral was affected by the

2019–20 Australian bushfire season The 201920 Australian bushfire season commenced with serious uncontrolled fires in June 2019. , fires this season have burned an estimated , destroyed over 5,900 buildings (including 2,779 homes) and killed at least 34 people. An estimated o ...

when it was struck twice by fires. New South Wales Premier

Gladys Berejiklian Gladys Berejiklian (; born 22 September 1970) is an Australian businesswoman and former politician who served as the 45th premier of New South Wales and the leader of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party from 2017 to 2021. Berejikl ...

claimed in a press conference that there was "not much left" of the town, which was disputed by the firefighters involved in efforts to save Balmoral. An early estimate of the damage was that 18 houses, which made up more than 10% of the town, had been destroyed in the fires.

Population

At the 2021 census, 469 people were living in Balmoral. In the , there were 426 people in Balmoral. 82.6% of people were born in Australia and 93.9% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion in Balmoral were Anglican 30.9% and No Religion 25.8%.

Gallery

File:Balmoral Village Entry.jpg File:Balmoral Village Notices.jpg File:Balmoral Rural Fire Station.jpg File:Balmoral Village Hall.jpg File:Balmoral Tennis Courts.jpg File:Balmoral Abandoned Railway.jpg

References

Towns of the Southern Highlands (New South Wales) Natural disaster ghost towns {{Wingecarribee-geo-stub