Boddington, Western Australia

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Boddington
state = wa

---

caption = Hotham River at Boddington
lga = Shire of Boddington
postcode = 6390
pop = 1,386
est =
stategov = Wagin
fedgov = Pearce
dist1 = 123
location1= Perth
near-nw = Bannister
near-n = Bannister
near-ne = Ranford
near-w = Bannister
near-e = Crossman
near-sw = Crossman
near-s = Crossman
near-se = Crossmancoord|-32.802|116.471|type:city(926)_region:AU-WA_scale:50000|format=dms|display=title

Boddington is a town and shire in the Peel region of Western Australia, located convert|120|km|mi|0 south-east of Perth. The town sits on the road from Pinjarra to Williams on the Hotham River.

History

The town owes its name to an early settler, Henry Boddington, who was a farmer and shepherd in the 1860s and 1870s and leased land in the area in 1875, later moving to Wagin. His name became associated with a pool in the Hotham River at which he frequently camped. The original settled locality was called Hotham, 2 km west of the town at what is now the end of Farmers Avenue, named for the Farmer family, and a post office and school were established.

When the Hotham Valley Railway was being constructed in 1912 to meet demand created by the local timber industry, a townsite was chosen adjacent to the town, and subsequently gazetted. The town was built in the 1920s, with a school, hospital, council offices, post office, shops and agricultural hall. A railway bridge was built over the upper reaches of the Murray River in 1949, then known as "Asquith Bridge", and was used for carting railway timber to the Banksiadale Sawmill.

The area declined slowly over time, and the Dwellingup fires of 1961 devastated the local timber industry. By 1969, the railway had been closed and Boddington became a typical small service area for the surrounding district. However, the establishment of bauxite mining in 1979 to service Western Australia's alumina production at Worsley, Kwinana and Wagerup, and the opening of the Boddington Gold Mine in 1987 created a thriving mining town. [LandInfo WA|c|B|2007-03-25] [cite web|url=http://www.boddington.wa.gov.au/history|title=History|author=Shire of Boddington|accessdate=2006-10-14] [cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/Western-Australia/Boddington/2005/02/17/1108500208016.html|title=Travel - Boddington|author="The Sydney Morning Herald"|accessdate=2006-10-14]

Present day

Boddington is located convert|11|km|mi|0 off Albany Highway and convert|123|km|mi|0 southeast of Perth in the Darling Scarp. It has a population of about 1,000 and is the centre of a sheep and timber district as well as a service centre for the nearby bauxite and gold mines. It contains a TAFE centre, and each year in November hosts a four-day street carnival. In addition, a district high school (1920), National Australia bank, shopping facilities, accommodation (hotel, motel, caravan park), council offices and a telecentre are located within the town.

District

A Royal Historical Society plaque near the town marks the grave of a local Aboriginal named Quency Dilyan who helped explorers Alexander Forrest and H.S. Ranford during their expeditions in the area. Several scenic drives and bushwalking tracks have been set up by the shire council through state forests and wildflower country.

Boddington Gold Mine

The nearby Boddington gold mine (32°44'15.99"S 116°21'34.76"E), 17 km northwest of Boddington and presently owned by Newmont Mining (67%) and AngloGold (33%), commenced operations in 1987. It ceased mining operations on 30 November 2001 after the known gold oxide resource had been processed.

A bedrock resource (19.57 MOz) was subsequently identified, and expansion of the facility to allow mining and processing of basement rock was approved in 2002. Construction began in May 2006. [Boddington Gold Mine website. Accessed 15 October 2006. Also [http://www.slopeindicator.com/stories/boddington-gold-mine.html] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.boddington.wa.gov.au/ Shire of Boddington]
* [http://www.bgm.com.au Boddington Gold Mine homepage]