Boomi is a town in north western

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 ...

. The town is in the Moree Plains Shire local government area, north west of the state capital,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, on the border on the New South Wales side of the

MacIntyre River The Macintyre River, a perennial river that forms part of the Border Rivers group, is part of the Barwon catchment of the Murray-Darling basin, located in the Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, and the So ...

. Boomi is west of the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

town of

Goondiwindi Goondiwindi () is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Goondiwindi Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. In the , the locality of Goondiwindi had a population of 6, ...

and north of Moree in New South Wales. At the 2016 census, Boomi and the surrounding farming area had a population of approximately 200.

History

Gamilaraay (Gamilaroi, Kamilaroi, Comilroy) is a language from South-West Queensland and North-West New South Wales. The Gamilaraay language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Balonne Shire Council, including the towns of Dirranbandi, Thallon, Talwood and Bungunya as well as the border towns of Mungindi and Boomi extending to Moree, Tamworth and Coonabarabran in NSW.

Climate

The average annual rainfall has been but the recordings show that the pattern over the years has not been consistent. The. climate varies from long hot summers, when the temperatures can reach and storms begin the summer rain often resulting in floods, to the winter months, which produce light rain and only occasionally result in floods. Cold nights in winter can go down to causing frequent frosts, but the days are pleasant on the whole. Spring and autumn are short.

Geography

The feature of the area is its flatness, referred to as the "black soil plains", but really it has a mixture with grey/brown loam, interspersed with sand ridges. It is a flood-prone region with the McIntyre River falling one foot per mile (19 cm per kilometre) between Goondiwindi and Mungindi as it flows in a south-westerly direction. A flood peak at Goondiwindi can be expected a week later at the Kanowna gauge, downstream. The McIntyre River has many tributaries; floods, flows and diversions affect and benefit the rich grazing and farming land. The plains were once lightly forested with mainly gum, coolibah,

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...

, wilga, belah, myall, Cypress pine and leopardwood trees. Many of these early timbers were used for buildings and fences. The region is renowned for its good

merino sheep The Merino is a list of sheep breeds, breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monop ...

with 21

micron The micrometre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a uni ...

wool and quality beef cattle. Although this is marginal, graziers have been able to diversify into farming. Large scale clearing has become broadacre farming, producing premium grade

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

, oats,

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

and fodder crops. Wildlife of the area, pigs,

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

s and birds are bountiful and the rivers are a haven for fishing, especially

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

and yellow belly.

Rivers

Rivers and tributaries play important roles in the layout of the Boomi area. The headwaters of the McIntyre River system rise in 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. It runs roughl ...

between Guyra and Stanthorpe, and flow north west towards Goondiwindi, then veering west. The Boomi region is situated on the

side of the McIntyre River between Goondiwindi, Queensland with Boggabilla adjoining and Mungindi downstream, straddling the border. In earlier years the

was known as the Barwon River at the source of the Boomi River, but now reference is made to the Barwon River after the confluence with the Weir River. The Weir River rises in south east Queensland and parallels the Barwon River for a short distance, north of the Boomi region from Bonanga, spilling over into the Barwon River, during flood flows, which it eventually joins, towards Mungindi. The Gnoura Gnoura Creek branches out of the Boomi River at Boronga, running west before it flows into the Barwon River on Barra. The Boomi River is a tributary of the McIntyre and Barwon River junction. It meanders downstream, flowing back into the Barwon River south of Mungindi. The Whalan Creek begins in the Boggabilla area, out of the McIntyre River. It then flows in a stream which, at times, forms into low swamps before becoming a larger waterway and running into the Boomi River, before the Boomi River meets the Barwon River. Within these tributaries there are many lagoons, channels and gullies which are small, but carry a large volume of water during flood time: this is a river region. In most cases the tributaries provide the necessary stock and domestic water, supplemented on some holdings by bore drains or dams.

References

External links