| Boorowa New South Wales | |
|---|---|
 Marsden Street | |
  Boorowa | |
| Coordinates | 34°26′S148°43′E / 34.433°S 148.717°E /-34.433; 148.717 |
| Population | 1,888 (SAL2021)[1] |
| Established | 1843 |
| Postcode(s) | 2586 |
| Elevation | 490 m (1,608 ft) |
| Location |
|
| LGA(s) | Hilltops Council |
| State electorate(s) | Goulburn |
| Federal division(s) | Hume |
Boorowa (/buːroʊwə/) is a farming village in theHilltops Region in thesouth west slopes ofNew South Wales,Australia.[2]
It is located in a valley 340 kilometres (210 mi) southwest ofSydney around 490 metres (1,610 ft) above sea-level. The town is inHilltops Councillocal government area.
Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was part of the lands occupied by theWiradjuri Nation with theGandangaraAboriginal Australians. It is believed that the name 'Burrowa', the original spelling, derives from the local Aboriginal language and refers to a native bird, the plains turkeyAustralian bustard.[citation needed]
The first European to travel through what is now Boorowa Shire was surveyorGeorge Evans in 1815.[citation needed] Unofficial occupation of the district began in 1821 with Irishmen Rodger Corcoran and Ned Ryan, both former convicts who had received their 'ticket of leave' from the Governor. The first land grant in the general area was issued toThomas Icely in 1829. A mill was operating on the future town site of Boorowa by 1837, along with an inn and several houses.[citation needed]
Governor Gipps proposed the creation of a village named 'Burrowa' in 1842, to be located 9 km north-east of the present site at Kings Plains which had been surveyed in 1828. However, that spot proved unsuitable and the village was established on its present site in 1843. The early years in the district saw lawlessness and mayhem as a result of long running boundary disputes, theft of livestock and arson, even murders; the cause being remoteness and lack of law and order. Bushrangers roamed the surrounding unsettled wild mountainous land, making raids into the town and stations of the district.[3]
Squatters took up large tracts of land in the Boorowa area but the introduction of theRobertson Land Acts in 1861 resulted in a new land grab where large numbers of settlers, particularly 'ticket of leave' men, applied for a 'selection' of land with low cost land parcels available.[citation needed]
The district was given over to farming, although it received a push along when gold was found atCarcoar, Browns Creek andKings Plains.Gold mines were established althoughcopper andiron were also extracted.Samuel Marsden's copper mine operated until 1900.[citation needed]
The town'srugby league team competed for theMaher Cup during the 20th century.
At the2011 census, Boorowa had a population of 1,211 people[4] which had grown to 1,641 in the2016 census[5] and 1,888 in the2021 census.[6]
Boorowa residents and the local member of parliament lobbied the Government to direct the new southern main line progressing towardsGoulburn to pass through the town. However the towns ofYass andMurrumburrah won the debate. The next best option was a branch line to the town and this lobbying lasted 40 years before the line was eventually constructed, opening for traffic on 10 October 1914.
The arrival of therailway spurred development. Burrowa's name was then changed to "Boorowa". Boorowa replacedCarcoar as the major service centre to local farmlands. It became a municipality in 1888. By the turn of the century a butter factory and freezing works were major employers in the town. Passenger trains ceased in 1980 and theBoorowa railway line fromGalong to Boorowa closed in 1987.[7]
The post office was ordered to discontinue use of the name "Burrowa" in 1914,[8] but the two spellings were used interchangeably throughout the area for many years[9] and the town's newspaper stubbornly retained the old spelling on its masthead untilJanuary 1951.
The main infrastructure achievements over the 180 years that connected Boorowa to the rest of the Colony included the first Post Office and mail service in 1835, theelectric telegraph in 1866, voice telephone in 1906, electric street lighting in the 1920s by the towns own generator, later the town and consumers were connected to theBurrinjuck Hydro electricity system in 1938.[7]
The town is located on theBoorowa River, a tributary of theLachlan River. TheMurrumbidgee River drains the southern portion of the Boorowa district. The soil in the area is rich volcanic soil washed down over millennia from an extinct volcano known as Mount Canemumbola.[7]
Boorowa experiences anoceanic climate (Köppen:Cfb,Trewartha:Cfbk), with warm summers and cool winters.[10]
| Climate data for Boorowa Post Office, New South Wales, Australia (1947–1969 temperatures, precipitation 1882–present); 488 m AMSL | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 29.5 (85.1) | 28.9 (84.0) | 26.6 (79.9) | 21.1 (70.0) | 15.9 (60.6) | 12.7 (54.9) | 11.9 (53.4) | 13.3 (55.9) | 17.4 (63.3) | 20.1 (68.2) | 23.0 (73.4) | 27.4 (81.3) | 20.7 (69.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 21.1 (70.0) | 21.0 (69.8) | 18.5 (65.3) | 13.4 (56.1) | 9.4 (48.9) | 7.2 (45.0) | 6.0 (42.8) | 7.2 (45.0) | 10.2 (50.4) | 13.1 (55.6) | 15.2 (59.4) | 19.1 (66.4) | 13.5 (56.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 12.7 (54.9) | 13.0 (55.4) | 10.3 (50.5) | 5.7 (42.3) | 2.9 (37.2) | 1.6 (34.9) | 0.0 (32.0) | 1.0 (33.8) | 3.0 (37.4) | 6.1 (43.0) | 7.4 (45.3) | 10.8 (51.4) | 6.2 (43.2) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 50.7 (2.00) | 42.8 (1.69) | 47.7 (1.88) | 46.7 (1.84) | 46.7 (1.84) | 55.4 (2.18) | 52.7 (2.07) | 55.1 (2.17) | 50.6 (1.99) | 56.9 (2.24) | 50.5 (1.99) | 53.0 (2.09) | 608.8 (23.98) |
| Average rainy days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 3.9 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 6.4 | 7.0 | 7.3 | 6.0 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 4.2 | 61.6 |
| Source:Australian Bureau of Meteorology (1947–1969 temperatures, precipitation 1882–present)[11] | |||||||||||||
Media related toBoorowa, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons