Boolaroo is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

and former town of

Greater Newcastle Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

city of Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area (LGA) in the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city on 7 September 1984. It is adjacent to the city of Newcastle and is part of the Greater Newcastle area. ...

, in

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Geography

The suburb is located from Sydney and is southwest of Newcastle's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

in Lake Macquarie's West Ward. Boolaroo borders a number of well-known towns and suburbs within the Lake Macquarie Region, including

Warners Bay Warners Bay is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia, and is located from Newcastle's central business district on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie. It is often regarded as a part of the Greater Newcastle distri ...

and Speers Point, and, for a small strip of land, fronts onto Lake Macquarie itself.

History

The Aboriginal people, in this area, the

Awabakal The Awabakal people , are those Aboriginal Australians who identify with or are descended from the Awabakal tribe and its clans, Indigenous to the coastal area of what is now known as the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Their traditional te ...

, were the first people of this land. The Aboriginal meaning of Boolaroo is 'place of many flies' or 'place of may flies.' It was founded as a village in 1829 and proclaimed a town in 1896. The Boolaroo Jockey Club ran race meetings in the town from 1907 to 1931. It was the

epicentre The epicenter (), epicentre, or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Determination The primary purpose of a s ...

of the

1989 Newcastle earthquake The 1989 Newcastle earthquake was an intraplate earthquake that occurred in Newcastle, New South Wales, on Thursday 28 December. The shock measured 5.6 on the Richter scale and was one of Australia's most serious natural disasters, killing 13 pe ...

. The suburb's boundaries were defined on 31 May 1991, and amended on 10 September 2001. It is unclear when Boolaroo was redesignated from a town to a suburb.

Demographics

In the 2016 census, Boolaroo recorded a population of 1,039 people, 50.5% female and 49.5% male. The median age of the Boolaroo population was 42 years, 4 years above the national median of 38, with 88.0% of people living in Boolaroo were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were England 1.9%, New Zealand 1.7%, Philippines 1.0%, Scotland 0.4% and Wales 0.4%. 94.0% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were 1.1% Tagalog, 0.4% Mandarin, 0.3% French, 0.3% Italian and 0.3% Serbo-Croatian/Yugoslavian, so described. In the 2021 census, Boolaroo recorded a population of 1,636 people, 52.0% female and 48.0% male. The median age of the Boolaroo population was 39 years, 1 year above the national median of 38, with 85.6% of people living in Boolaroo were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were England 2.4%, New Zealand 1.3%, South Africa 0.7%, India 0.6%, and Scotland 0.4%. 90.5% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were 0.6% German, 0.6% Afrikaans, 0.4% Hindi, 0.3% Arabic, and 0.3% Gujarati.

Amenities

Boolaroo previously housed a lead/zinc smelter, owned by the former

Pasminco Pasminco was an Australian mining company founded in 1988. It was placed in voluntary administration in September 2001 with its assets sold in stages until 2004 when the remaining assets were spun-off to Zinifex. History Pasminco was establi ...

(now

Zinifex Zinifex was an Australian company that operated lead and zinc mines, refineries and a lead smelter. It was established in April 2004, when the assets of Pasminco were spun-off. In 2008 it merged with Oxiana to form OZ Minerals. History In S ...

) however the site has been cleared since the smelter ceased operations on 12 September 2003. Boolaroo is home to several churches, of various denominations, as well as Boolaroo Public School, a library, a cinema (which was partially destroyed in the 1989 Newcastle earthquake) and a number of shops, including a small supermarket and a military disposal store.

Transport

Within Boolaroo is the

Cockle Creek railway station Cockle Creek railway station is located on the Main Northern line in New South Wales, Australia. It serves the City of Lake Macquarie suburb of Boolaroo. The station is on the eastern side of Cockle Creek and a balloon loop exists west of the ...

, a small station on the

Central Coast & Newcastle Line The Central Coast & Newcastle Line (CCN) is an regional rail, intercity rail service that services the Upper North Shore, Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast and Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle regions. It connects the two large ...

References

External links

History of Boolaroo
(Lake Macquarie City Library) {{City of Lake Macquarie suburbs Suburbs of Lake Macquarie