Boisdale is a town in the Central Gippsland region of Victoria,

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 ...

, located on Briagolong Road, north of

Maffra Maffra is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Wellington local government area and it is the second most populous city of the Shire. It relies mainly on dairy farming and other agricu ...

, in the

Shire of Wellington The Shire of Wellington is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the eastern part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 44,019. It includes the towns of Heyfield, Rosedale, Maffra, S ...

. At the 2016 census, Boisdale and the surrounding area had a population of 275. It is a small town in the heart of

Gippsland Gippsland () is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of east of th ...

's dairying distinct. Boisdale includes not only the town itself, but the area surrounding the town, comprising mostly dairy and vegetable farms. It is situated approximately 9 km north of the larger town of

. Boisdale is 176 km east of Australia's second largest city,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, the capital of Victoria.

History

Boisdale was the run of pioneer grazier Lachlan Macalister and was named after the village on the island of

South Uist South Uist (, ; ) is the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. At the 2011 census, it had a usually resident population of 1,754: a decrease of 64 since 2001. The island, in common with the rest of the Hebrides, is one of the ...

in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islan ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. In the 1840s and 1850s, Boisdale was the local headquarters of the

Native Police Australian native police were specialised mounted military units consisting of detachments of Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal troopers under the command of European officers appointed by British colonial governments. The units existed in va ...

in the

region. This force would set out from their barracks, patrol the area and conduct punitive raids on various clans of the

Gunai people The Kurnai () people Aboriginal Australian nation of south-east Australia. They are the Traditional owners, Traditional Custodians of most of present-day Gippsland and much of the southern slopes of the Victorian Alps. The Kurnai nation is comp ...

. Macalister's run, being the immediate area around the barracks, was one of the sites of mass aboriginal fatalities due to the Native Police. Boisdale Post Office opened on 24 September 1889. From 1889, the Briagolong railway line ran through Boisdale, with a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in the town that existed primarily for freighting sugar beet and firewood. The line, and thus the railway station, closed in 1952. Boisdale has a primary school, Boisdale Consolidated School, a local post office, general store, mechanic, sporting facilities and the Boisdale Hall, which dates back over a century in age. The town in conjunction with neighbouring township Briagolong has an

Australian Rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

football team Boisdale-Briagolong competing in the

East Gippsland Football League The East Gippsland Football League is an Australian rules football League in the East Gippsland region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. History The East Gippsland FL in its present incarnation began in 1974 with the merger of the G ...

References

External links

Australian Places - Boisdale
Towns in Victoria (state) Shire of Wellington {{Gippsland-geo-stub