Bowraville

Postcode: 2449

Bowraville is a town of more than 2500 people in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia in Nambucca Shire. The town was gazetted in 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 1950s, however, Bowraville began to decline in popularity and wealth. Nowadays, 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. Demographic of bowraville of it population almost 34% are aboriginal origin.

Also, this town was the birthplace of bassist Tim Hannaford and place where Melbourne Storm rugby league player Greg Inglis played junior rugby league.

In the early years of its existence Bowraville was primarily a timber town. It grew to meet the needs of the local timber cutters and so by the 1870s it boasted two hotels a number of general stores, a blacksmiths shop, a tailor, local post office, a school and a number of churches. By the 1880s, while timber was still dominant, the district was also an important dairy and pig raising area. However it is still true that timber remains the predominant industry. People who are interested need only to take a short walk down the hill from the Bowra Hotel to see the size and scale of the local timber mills.

The town has remained relatively static throughout the 20th century but by the 1960s this area of the New South Wales coast was attracting people interested in alternative life styles. Today this alternative lifestyle is apparent in the rather sophisticated, alternative movie house in the main street and the window advertisements for drug rehabilitation, masseurs and alternative type activities. The area has seen the development of such activities as macadamia farms, avocado growing and even deer and ostrich farming. The towns main street has been carefully recreated (much of it had been destroyed by a series of bush fires) so that it maintains a certain old world charm.

For more information about this town, click here