Binalong

Binalong New South Wales
Central Binalong looking towards the post office and the Hotel Binalong
Binalong
Coordinates	34°40′00″S 148°39′00″E
Population	543 (2016 census)
Postcode(s)	2584
Location	37 km (23 mi) NW of Yass
LGA(s)	Yass Valley Shire
State electorate(s)	Goulburn
Federal division(s)	Eden-Monaro

The general store at Binalong

Binalong is a small town in New South Wales, Australia. It is 37 km north-west of Yass.

History

The Aboriginal people who lived in the area were part of the Ngunnawal people. The first Europen to visit the area was Hamilton Hume in 1821. The name of the town is believed to come from either an Aboriginal word meaning 'towards a high place' or from 'Bennelong', the name of a famous Aborigine.

Binalong was outside the legal limits of European settlement in New South Wales. However farmers settled in the area before the law changed to allow settlement in 1839. From 1847 there was a police camp at Binalong and a court. The old Cobb and Co inn was built at that time as a staging post for Cobb and Co coaches.

The town was officially listed in 1850. It was an important stop on the way for people going to look for gold at Lambing Flat. The school was started in 1861. Gold also meant that there were bushrangers in the area. The grave of John Gilbert is near the town in the field where the police kept their horses. He was a member of Frank Gardiner's gang and later Ben Hall's gang. He was shot dead by police in 1865.

Railway

The first railway station opened in 1875. The railway arrived in 1876. The current building was put up when the railway line was moved in 1916. The station and the signal box are now closed.

Banjo Paterson

The family of the poet Banjo Paterson moved to the Binalong area in 1869 when he was five years old. He went to the primary school in Binalong but later went to boarding school in Sydney. He only came home in the holidays. Binalong features in a number of his poems, for example, Pardon, the son of Reprieve Archived 2008-11-22 at the Wayback Machine. Paterson's father is buried in the local cemetery.

Other websites

• Banjo Paterson's story of the place where he spent his childhood Archived 2008-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
• Binalong Public School
• History of Binalong Archived 2007-03-12 at the Wayback Machine