Binalong ( ) is a village in the
Southern Tablelands
The Southern Tablelands is a geographic area of New South Wales, Australia, located south-west of Sydney and generally west of the Great Dividing Range.
The area is characterised by high, flat country which has generally been extensively cl ...
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, 37 km north-west of
Yass in
Yass Valley Shire. At the , Binalong and the surrounding area had a population of 550.
History
Original inhabitants
The
indigenous people
There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
of the district were part of the
Ngunnawal people. The first Europeans recorded as visiting the area were the exploratory party of
Hamilton Hume
Hamilton Hume (19 June 1797 – 19 April 1873) was an early explorer of the present-day Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria. In 1824, along with William Hovell, Hume participated in an expedition that first t ...
in 1821.
The name of the town is believed to derive either from an Aboriginal word meaning "under the hills, surrounded by hills, or towards a high place" or from
Bennelong
Woollarawarre Bennelong ( 1764 – 3 January 1813) was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal Australian people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia. Bennelong served as an interlocutor between ...
, the name of a noted Aboriginal Man.
European settlement
Binalong lay beyond the border of the
Nineteen Counties which was the formal legal extent of European settlement in New South Wales. However,
squatters
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 wer ...
settled in the district prior to the formal establishment of squatting districts in 1839.
From 1847 there was a court of petty sessions. The same year a local entrepreneur applied successfully to the Commissioner of Police for a grant to build an inn to provide accommodation and victuals for the visiting magistrate and police witnesses, and the Swan Inn was established close to the courthouse. The town was gazetted in 1850.
In 1853,
Cobb and Co
Cobb & Co was the name used by several independent Australian coach businesses. The first company to use 'Cobb & Co' was established in 1853 by American Freeman Cobb and his partners. The name grew to great prominence in the late 19th century ...
was established in Melbourne as a coaching company, and upon eventually expanding their operations into New South Wales, entered into an agreement with the Swan Inn to provide staging services for coaches, drivers and passengers travelling along the adjacent road to the goldfields at
Lambing Flat or Young. The town flourished as a coaching stop. The Swan Inn became known as "The Cobb and Co".
Consolidation
The public school was established in 1861. The
original railway station opened in 1875 and was replaced by the
current structure on an island platform when the railway was deviated and duplicated in 1916. The 1916 signal box is now closed. The
original station remains as a private house on the road to Yass.
The Swan Inn closed following the building of the railway and the establishment of other hostelries closer to the railway station. It reopened in the mid-1980s as a restaurant and continues under the name The Black Swan. A motel was built on the adjoining block of land.
Contemporary
In March 2025, a Binalong cafe made international news for their fundraising efforts for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, including from a self-declared "tariff" on U.S. owned products.
Notable residents
*
Michael Boddy, an English-Australian actor and writer, and spouse of Janet Dawson
*
Janet Dawson MBE, an Australian artist and spouse of Michael Boddy
* The presence of gold meant also that there were
bushranger
Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in The bush#Australia, the Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia ...
s in the area. The grave of
John Gilbert is near the town in the former police paddock. He was a member of the Gardiner-Hall gang and shot by police in 1865.
*
Gillian Mann, English/Australian artist
* The family of the poet
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, (17 February 18645 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author, widely considered one of the greatest writers of Australia's colonial period.
Born in rural New South Wales, Paterson worke ...
moved to the Binalong district in 1869 when he was five years old. He attended the primary school in Binalong but later went to
boarding school in Sydney returning home in the holidays. The district features in a number of his poems, for example
''Pardon, the son of Reprieve''. Paterson's father is buried in the local cemetery.
*
John Nagel Ryan inherited his father's states, comprising 30,000 acres in the Boorowa-Binalong district. In 1883 he was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council
*
Bruce Smeaton, an Australian composer
Gallery: around Binalong
BinalongNSWStore.JPG, General store
New Binalong station.jpg, New Binalong Railway Station, now closed, on 1916 alignment
StPatrickskatoliskakyrka Binalong.jpg, St Patrick's Catholic Church
Binalong Motor Museum.jpg, Binalong Motor Museum
References
External links
Banjo Paterson's account of the place where he spent his childhood
Binalong Public School
{{authority control
Towns in New South Wales
Southern Tablelands
Yass Valley Council