Boonoo Boonoo

With just 16 recorded residents, Boonoo Boonoo (pronounced Bunna Bunnoo) would have to be one of the smallest townships in NSW. But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in attractions. As with many of the small townships surrounding Tenterfield, Boonoo Boonoo was a gold rush town from the mid-1850s; there’s even a Ballad of Boonoo Boohoo, penned by an anonymous writer and published in the Tenterfield Star, trying to entice daytrippers to the area in about 1920. This is the ballad of Boonoo Boonoo, Where men are many, but women are few, Where life with the bush is one long battle, The local talk is always cattle. Where twice a week the mailman calls, Heralds the mail from Wilson’s ‘fall’. Gold was hard to find at Boonoo Boonoo, so pioneers turned their hand to cattle and to this day, the area is mainly grazing country. Just a 45-minute drive to Tenterfield, Boonoo Boonoo is nestled next to Basket Swamp National Park and is on the edge of Boonoo Boonoo National Park. Girraween National Park lies to the north. While property is rarely on the market in this tightly held hamlet, you can “glamp” in style in a bubble tent nearby, at Mirumiru. Take a break at Robinsons Cabin, a well equipped hut in Boonoo Boonoo National Park where twitchers often spy honeyeaters, kookaburras and an assortment of parrots. There’s a walking track to Boonoo Boonoo Falls Lookout, where you can take a dip in one of the rock pools. Take a river walk near Boonoo Boonoo and see if you can spot one of the many platypus swimming, or maybe watch as wallabies and kangaroos come to graze at the open paddocks nearby. There are no shops or facilities at Boonoo Boonoo; just peace and quiet. All close to the bustling border town on Tenterfield, with its shops, museums, cafes and galleries.