Boobera Lagoon is a permanent water hole in Moree Plains Shire,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia, approximately 20 kilometres west of

Goondiwindi Goondiwindi () is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Goondiwindi Region, Queensland, Australia. It is on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. In the , the locality of Goondiwindi had a population of 6, ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. It is located at . It lies several kilometres south of the

Macintyre River The Macintyre River, a perennial river that forms part of the Border Rivers group, is part of the Barwon catchment of the Murray-Darling basin, located in the Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, and the So ...

, which forms the border between

(to the north) and

, and is just north of the Mungindi -

road. Its outflow, which connects to the river, is named Boobera Watercourse. The

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

is 7 kilometres in length and supports a wide variety of aquatic and bird life. The Indigenous people of the area believe the lagoon is the resting place of Garriya, the

Rainbow Serpent The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the Creator deity, creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many List of Australian Aboriginal group names, different Aborigina ...

, an important figure in

dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...

legend. The lagoon was particularly significant to the

Bigambul The Bigambul people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Tablelands and Border Rivers regions of New South Wales and Queensland. Name In the traditional language, the name of this group is derived from the Bigambul word or wh ...

and

Kamilaroi The Gamilaroi, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous Australians, Indi ...

people, who held the third stage of their joint male initiation ceremonies at this site. Today Boobera Lagoon is recognised as a culturally significant site and motorised water sport is prohibited on the Lagoon. Quiggin, Robynne "Boobera Lagoon" 5(6) ''Indigenous Law Bulletin'' 4 (2001). http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/2001/9.html#fn19

References

{{reflist Lakes of New South Wales Lagoons of Australia