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Barellan

Coordinates: 34°17′0″S 146°34′0″E / 34.28333°S 146.56667°E / -34.28333; 146.56667
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barellan
Town
Barellan, looking along Burley Griffin Way towards Griffith.
Barellan, looking along Burley Griffin Way
towards Griffith.
Barellan is located in New South Wales
Barellan
Barellan
Coordinates: 34°17′0″S 146°34′0″E / 34.28333°S 146.56667°E / -34.28333; 146.56667
CountryAustralia
StateNew South Wales
LGA
Location
Government
 • State electorate
 • Federal division
Population
 • Total276 (2021 census)[3]
Postcode
2665
CountyCooper

Barellan /bɑːˈrɛlən/ is a small town in Narrandera Shire in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. On Census night 2021, Barellan had a population of 276.[3] It is a quiet Riverina wheat town on the Burley Griffin Way, with characteristic silos, and functions primarily as a service centre for the surrounding agricultural area.

History

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An aerial view of Barellan in February 2014.

The name of Barellan is an Aboriginal expression that literally means the meeting of the waters.[4]

The railway reached Barellan in 1908 and a post office was opened on 1 April 1909.[5]

The Commercial Hotel, "a typically large and rather gracious hotel with an impressive upper verandah", was built in 1924.[6]

Barellan was also the first town to have a Country Women's Association (CWA) rest house (CWA Rest House), built in 1924, the same year as the hotel.[7]

In 2009, Barellan celebrated its centenary.

Demography

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Until recently, the population numbers have remained relatively constant, evidenced as follows:

Selected historical census data for Barellan
Census year 2001[8] 2006[9] 2011[10] 2016[11]
Population Estimated residents on Census night 359 366 328 334

Heritage listings

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Barellan has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Evonne Goolagong

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Barellan is notable as the childhood home of the tennis player Evonne Goolagong (now Evonne Goolagong Cawley). There is a small plaque honouring her in the main street. Evonne Goolagong was born in nearby Griffith on 31 July 1951 and attended Barellan Primary School. Although Aboriginal people faced widespread discrimination in rural Australia at this time, Evonne was able to play tennis in Barellan from childhood thanks to Bill Kurtzman, a kindly resident, who saw her peering through the fence at the local courts and encouraged her to come in to play. Goolagong left Barellan to attend Willoughby Girls High School in Sydney where she developed her tennis-playing skills.

The Big Tennis Racquet

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See also: Australia's big things

A 13.8 metres (45 ft) long replica of a tennis racquet used by Evonne Goolagong has been built in Evonne Goolagong Park. Goolagong unveiled the exact scale model of the wooden Dunlop racquet during Barellan's centenary celebrations on 3 October 2009.[13]

Barellan Central School

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Barellan has a central school that goes from kindergarten to year 12 and has 100[14] enrolled students. Barellan is part of the RAP (Riverina Access Partnership) which allows the year 11 and 12 students to complete their HSC. It comprises students from Hillston Central, Ardlethan Central and Ariah Park Central in video conferencing. In 2010, Oaklands Central and Urana Central Schools entered the Partnership and has a local light bulb collector that gets old fluorescent tubes .[15]

Sport

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Rugby League

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The Barellan Rams compete in the Group 17 Rugby League competition. They were Clayton Cup winners as the best local team in the state in 1999 and 2002.

Australian Rules Football

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The Barellan "Kangaroos" competed in the Central Riverina Football League from 1973 to 1981, then joined the Riverina Football League in 1982, but were relegated to the Riverina District Football League in 1983, after finishing on the bottom.

In 1984, the Riverina District Football League changed its name back to the Farrer Football League and Barellan competed in this league from 1984 to 1992, when they joined the Northern Riverina Football League in 1993 and had a great run of success with senior football premierships in – 1994, 95, 96, 97, 98 and 2011.

The Barellan United "Two Blues" re-joined the Farrer Football League in 2015, with a Seniors and Reserves team, alongside their netball teams.

Netball

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The Barellan United Football and Netball Club, or "Two Blues" have 5 netball teams playing in the FFNL; A Grade, A Reserve Grade, B Grade, C Grade and 17s.[16]

Tennis

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Barellan has four all-weather tennis courts located on Mulga Street. This is also the location of the Evonne Goolagong-Cawley Wall, a place where as a young tennis player, Evonne Goolagong-Cawley would spend hours hitting a ball against the wall.[17]

[edit]
  • Evonne Goolagong Park, Barellan
    Evonne Goolagong Park, Barellan
  • Big Tennis Racket prior to unveiling, 3 October 2009, Barellan
    Big Tennis Racket prior to unveiling, 3 October 2009, Barellan
  • The Commercial Hotel at Barellan
    The Commercial Hotel at Barellan

References

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  1. ^ Travelmate Archived 24 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Barellan (urban centre and locality)". Australian Census 2021. Edit this at Wikidata
  3. ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Barellan (L)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 4 November 2022. Edit this at Wikidata
  4. ^ Barellan, NSW Aussie Towns
  5. ^ "Post office list". Phoenix Auctions history. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Barellan Walkabout". Australian Travel Guide. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 1 September 2006.
  7. ^ O'Keeffe K., Semmler C., Semmler J. (2009). Barellan & Moombooldool : the last hundred years.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (9 March 2006). "Barellan (L)". 2001 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 5 January 2015. Edit this at Wikidata
  9. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Barellan (L)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  10. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Barellan (L)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 5 November 2012. Edit this at Wikidata
  11. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Barellan (L)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 5 November 2012. Edit this at Wikidata
  12. ^ "CWA Rest House". New South Wales State Heritage Register. Department of Planning & Environment. H01876. Retrieved 18 May 2018. Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
  13. ^ Dennis Passa, NSW town makes a racquet for Goolagong', Brisbane Times, 3 October 2009
  14. ^ Barellan Central School
  15. ^ Riverina Access Partnership
  16. ^ www.playhq.com https://www.playhq.com/netball-australia/org/afl-riverina-netball-league/ffnl-netball-2025/70494467. Retrieved 18 November 2025. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. ^ Service, NSW Department of Customer (23 February 2023). "Evonne Goolagong-Cawley Wall | NSW Government". www.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
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Media related to Barellan at Wikimedia Commons

Preceding station Former services Following station
Garoolgan
towards Roto
 Temora–Roto Line Moombooldool
towards Temora
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