Bowraville, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Bowraville is a small town
in the Mid North Coast hinterland of New South Wales
, Australia
in Nambucca Shire.
The town invites some tourists with such things as a folk museum, a war museum, a historic theatre, and other historic features. It also invites new residents with its scenic beauty and idyllic lifestyle. The Bowraville Jockey Club holds regular race meetings, and this also invites visitors from neighbouring towns and afar.
On 5 November 2011 Bowraville was honoured as the Winner of the Cultural Heritage Award and came third overall in the Tidy Towns Awards by Keep Australia Beautiful - Tidy Towns. Website: http://www.kabnsw.org.au/programs/TidyTowns.aspx
Melbourne Storm
rugby league player Greg Inglis
played junior rugby league for the Bowraville Tigers.
and Ngaku
people have inhabited the area for thousands of years, and today almost 34% of the population are still of Aboriginal origin. The Gumbaynggirr lands cover an area of the Mid North Coast from the Nambucca River
to as far north as the Clarence River
(Grafton
), west to Armidale and eastward to the Pacific
coast, making the Gumbaynggirr tribe one of the largest in NSW. The area was mostly subtropical rainforest
until the arrival of Europeans.
The word Bowra comes from the Gumbaynggirr place name, Bawrrung, which possibly means cabbage tree palm
. Other definitions given have been 'bullrout fish', 'scrub turkey' or 'bald head'. Originally named Bowra, the ville was added to the name in the 1870s to avoid confusion with the Southern Highlands town of Bowral
.
In March 1841 Clement Hodgkinson
explored the upper reaches of the Nambucca
and Bellinger River
s. He was the first European to make contact with the local Aboriginal communities. The township grew up in the 1850s and 1860s.
The town was gazetted in 1870 and Bowraville Post Office opened on 1 August 1870., and became the main centre of the Nambucca Valley. Its early industries were mainly timber and dairy, and the town eventually came to inherit the Nambucca Shire Council chambers. From about the 1960s, however, Bowraville began to decline in popularity and wealth.
. The first timber-getter into the area was Mr William Scott (after whom Scotts Head
is named). The most popular timber was by far red cedar
, of which there are now few trees left. Hoop pine
was also popular. Like many Australian timber towns of this era, the town thrived for several decades, and by the 1870s boasted two hotels, several general stores, a blacksmith's, tailor, post office, a school and a number of churches.
and pig raising
area. Timber began to decline as the dominant industry by the early 20th Century, as the supply became rarer.
Many jobs have been lost in recent years with the decline of the timber industry however agriculture has diversified from the traditional core of dairy farming to include beef cattle. The area has also seen the development of such activities as macadamia
farms, avocado growers, agro forestry, bush foods, alpacas and organic vegetables.
The town remained relatively static throughout the 20th Century but by the 1980s this area of the New South Wales coast was attracting people looking for a better lifestyle. Today this is apparent in venues like the beautifully restored historical theatre in the main street.
The local community brought the theatre back to life, through volunteer work and fund raising. The restored foyer was opened at the end of 2002 and on Friday 29 August 2003, the Bowraville Theatre re-opened its doors. The indigenous community held a smoking ceremony
and performed a welcome dance.
Like many businesses in country towns at the time of its construction, the theatre operated as a racially divided business. Aborigines had to buy their tickets separately, enter the theatre by a separate side entrance, sit in inferior seating below an interior partition and were permitted to do so only after the program had begun. As a result, the theatre was a stop-off on the 1965 Freedom Ride
which saw students from Sydney University tour regional NSW to highlight racism against Aboriginal people.
2CS-FM (106.3), Star FM (105.5 & 105.1), 2MC-FM (106.7), Triple J (91.5 & 96.3), 2NVR FM (105.9)
The Nambucca Valley's community radio station, 2NVR 105.9FM, focuses on the Macksville, Bowraville, Nambucca Heads and surrounding communities.
Newspapers
Midcoast Observer, Hibiscus Happynings, Guardian News and coffs coast advocate
Television
ABC, ABC2, SBS, SBS NEWS, PRIME COFFS HARBOUR (SEVEN), SOUTHERN CROSS TEN (TEN), NBN (WIN, NINE)
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in the Mid North Coast hinterland of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in Nambucca Shire.
The town invites some tourists with such things as a folk museum, a war museum, a historic theatre, and other historic features. It also invites new residents with its scenic beauty and idyllic lifestyle. The Bowraville Jockey Club holds regular race meetings, and this also invites visitors from neighbouring towns and afar.
On 5 November 2011 Bowraville was honoured as the Winner of the Cultural Heritage Award and came third overall in the Tidy Towns Awards by Keep Australia Beautiful - Tidy Towns. Website: http://www.kabnsw.org.au/programs/TidyTowns.aspx
Melbourne Storm
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
rugby league player Greg Inglis
Greg Inglis
Greg Inglis is an Australian professional rugby league player for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative outside back, Inglis joined the Rabbitohs in 2011 after much controversy.Inglis is a versatile back, having played in several...
played junior rugby league for the Bowraville Tigers.
History
The Indigenous GumbaynggirrGumbaynggirr
Gumbaynggir are an Australian Aboriginal group of the Coffs Harbour, New South Wales area. The Gumbaynggirr lands cover an area of the Mid North Coast from the Nambucca River to as far north as the Clarence River , west to Armidale and eastward to the Pacific coast, making the Gumbaynggirr tribe...
and Ngaku
Dunghutti
The Dunghutti are the indigenous Australian people from around Kempsey, New South Wales.Boxer Dave Sands was a Dunghutti....
people have inhabited the area for thousands of years, and today almost 34% of the population are still of Aboriginal origin. The Gumbaynggirr lands cover an area of the Mid North Coast from the Nambucca River
Nambucca River
The Nambucca River is a river, about in length, on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia.The region drained by the Nambucca River consists of the coastal plain to the Great Dividing Range. Taylors Arm and Nambucca Creek meet just before Macksville. The river estuary is located at...
to as far north as the Clarence River
Clarence River
Clarence River may refer to:* Clarence River , in northern New South Wales, Australia* Clarence River , rises in the Yukon Territory of Canada and crosses the border several times into the U.S. state of Alaska...
(Grafton
Grafton, New South Wales
The city of Grafton is the commercial hub of the Clarence River Valley. Established in 1851, Grafton features many historic buildings and tree-lined streets. Located approximately 630 kilometres north of Sydney and 340 km south of Brisbane, Grafton and the Clarence Valley can be reached...
), west to Armidale and eastward to the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
coast, making the Gumbaynggirr tribe one of the largest in NSW. The area was mostly subtropical rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
until the arrival of Europeans.
The word Bowra comes from the Gumbaynggirr place name, Bawrrung, which possibly means cabbage tree palm
Livistona australis
The Cabbage-tree Palm is in the Arecaceae family. It is a tall, slender palm growing up to about 25 m in height and 0.35 m diameter. It is crowned with dark, glossy green leaves on petioles 2 m long. It has leaves plaited like a fan; the cabbage of these is small but sweet...
. Other definitions given have been 'bullrout fish', 'scrub turkey' or 'bald head'. Originally named Bowra, the ville was added to the name in the 1870s to avoid confusion with the Southern Highlands town of Bowral
Bowral, New South Wales
-Attractions:Bowral is perhaps the best known of the towns and villages of the Southern Highlands, and in recent years has become the commercial centre of the Wingecarribee Shire. Bowral is known for its boutiques, antique stores, gourmet restaurants, and rich coffee culture.Bowral is home to the...
.
In March 1841 Clement Hodgkinson
Clement Hodgkinson
Clement Hodgkinson was a notable English naturalist, explorer and surveyor of Australia. He was Victorian Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey from 1861 to 1874.- Exploration in New South Wales :...
explored the upper reaches of the Nambucca
Nambucca River
The Nambucca River is a river, about in length, on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia.The region drained by the Nambucca River consists of the coastal plain to the Great Dividing Range. Taylors Arm and Nambucca Creek meet just before Macksville. The river estuary is located at...
and Bellinger River
Bellinger River
The Bellinger River is a river on the mid north coast of New South Wales. Clement Hodgkinson was the first person to explore the area in March 1841....
s. He was the first European to make contact with the local Aboriginal communities. The township grew up in the 1850s and 1860s.
The town was gazetted in 1870 and Bowraville Post Office opened on 1 August 1870., and became the main centre of the Nambucca Valley. Its early industries were mainly timber and dairy, and the town eventually came to inherit the Nambucca Shire Council chambers. From about the 1960s, however, Bowraville began to decline in popularity and wealth.
Timber Industry
White settlement began in the area with the timber-gettersLumberjack
A lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
. The first timber-getter into the area was Mr William Scott (after whom Scotts Head
Scotts Head, New South Wales
Scotts Head is a coastal village of the Nambucca Shire Local Government Area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, approximately from the Pacific Highway and from Sydney, it stretches southwards from just south of the mouth of the...
is named). The most popular timber was by far red cedar
Toona ciliata
Australian Red Cedar , Toona ciliata is a forest tree in the family Meliaceae which grows throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia. In Australia its natural habitat is now extensively cleared subtropical rainforests of New South Wales and Queensland...
, of which there are now few trees left. Hoop pine
Araucaria cunninghamii
Araucaria cunninghamii is a species of Araucaria known as Moreton Bay Pine, or Hoop Pine. Other less commonly used names include Colonial Pine, Richmond River Pine, Queensland Pine, Alloa, Ningwik, or Pien, the wood is sometimes called Arakaria)...
was also popular. Like many Australian timber towns of this era, the town thrived for several decades, and by the 1870s boasted two hotels, several general stores, a blacksmith's, tailor, post office, a school and a number of churches.
Agriculture
By the 1880s the district was also an important dairyDairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agricultural, or an animal husbandry, enterprise, for long-term production of milk, usually from dairy cows but also from goats and sheep, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy factory for processing and eventual retail sale.Most dairy farms...
and pig raising
Domestic pig
The domestic pig is a domesticated animal that traces its ancestry to the wild boar, and is considered a subspecies of the wild boar or a distinct species in its own right. It is likely the wild boar was domesticated as early as 13,000 BC in the Tigris River basin...
area. Timber began to decline as the dominant industry by the early 20th Century, as the supply became rarer.
Many jobs have been lost in recent years with the decline of the timber industry however agriculture has diversified from the traditional core of dairy farming to include beef cattle. The area has also seen the development of such activities as macadamia
Macadamia
Macadamia is a genus of nine species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, with a disjunct distribution native to eastern Australia , New Caledonia and Sulawesi in Indonesia ....
farms, avocado growers, agro forestry, bush foods, alpacas and organic vegetables.
The town remained relatively static throughout the 20th Century but by the 1980s this area of the New South Wales coast was attracting people looking for a better lifestyle. Today this is apparent in venues like the beautifully restored historical theatre in the main street.
Bowra Theatre
The Bowraville Theatre has become a popular tourist attraction on the Mid North Coast hinterland. Built in 1940 as a picture theatre, it was derelict for many years but now operates as a performance space for the local theatre group, writers group, choir, and in its traditional role as a cinema.The local community brought the theatre back to life, through volunteer work and fund raising. The restored foyer was opened at the end of 2002 and on Friday 29 August 2003, the Bowraville Theatre re-opened its doors. The indigenous community held a smoking ceremony
Smoking ceremony
A smoking ceremony is an ancient custom among Indigenous Australians that involves smoldering various native plants to produce smoke which they believe has cleansing properties and the ability to ward off bad spirits....
and performed a welcome dance.
Like many businesses in country towns at the time of its construction, the theatre operated as a racially divided business. Aborigines had to buy their tickets separately, enter the theatre by a separate side entrance, sit in inferior seating below an interior partition and were permitted to do so only after the program had begun. As a result, the theatre was a stop-off on the 1965 Freedom Ride
Freedom Ride (Australia)
The Freedom Ride of 1964 and 1965 was a significant event in the history of civil rights for Indigenous Australians.Inspired by the Freedom Riders of the American Civil Rights Movement, students from Sydney University formed a group called the Student Action for Aboriginals, led by Charles Perkins...
which saw students from Sydney University tour regional NSW to highlight racism against Aboriginal people.
Racecourse
Bowraville boasts a popular horse racing track that sees an ever increasing interest from the local area as well as from further afield. The race meetings attract large registered betting interest and many who just come for the spectacle of events such as the Bowra Cup.Local media
Radio Stations2CS-FM (106.3), Star FM (105.5 & 105.1), 2MC-FM (106.7), Triple J (91.5 & 96.3), 2NVR FM (105.9)
The Nambucca Valley's community radio station, 2NVR 105.9FM, focuses on the Macksville, Bowraville, Nambucca Heads and surrounding communities.
Newspapers
Midcoast Observer, Hibiscus Happynings, Guardian News and coffs coast advocate
Television
ABC, ABC2, SBS, SBS NEWS, PRIME COFFS HARBOUR (SEVEN), SOUTHERN CROSS TEN (TEN), NBN (WIN, NINE)