Illabo (pron. ILL a boh) is a locality in the

South West Slopes The South Western Slopes, also known as the South West Slopes, is a region predominantly in New South Wales, Australia. It covers the lower inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range, extending from north of Dunedoo through central NSW and into ...

part of the

Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...

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. It is situated about southwest of Bethungra and northeast of

Junee Junee () is a medium-sized town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town's prosperity and mixed services economy is based on a combination of agriculture, rail transport, light industry and government services, and in par ...

. At the 2016 census, Illabo had a population of 144.

History

Illabo Post Office opened on 1 July 1879. A railway station on the Main South railway served the town between 1878 and the 1970s. A grain silo remains in use. The town name is said to derive from an Aboriginal word meaning "where", but other sources derive it as a clipping of

billabong In Australian English, a billabong ( ) is a small body of water, usually permanent. It is usually an oxbow lake caused by a change in course of a river or creek, but other types of small lakes, ponds or waterholes are also called billabongs ...

Noted residents

* George Main, a chairman of the

Australian Jockey Club Australian Turf Club (ATC) owns and operates thoroughbred racing, events and hospitality venues across Sydney, Australia. The ATC came into being on 7 February 2011 when the Australian Jockey Club (AJC) and the Sydney Turf Club (STC) merged. The ...

, and his wife Mary had a grazing property "Retreat", at Illabo, where they bred racehorses and ran sheep. The

George Main Stakes The King Charles III Stakes (formerly known as the George Main Stakes), is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race run under Weight for Age conditions, over a distance of 1600 metres at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, Australia in S ...

was named for him. *Their daughter Jean Main married

Clive Caldwell Clive Robertson Caldwell, (28 July 1911 – 5 August 1994) was the leading Australian flying ace, air ace of World War II. He is officially credited with shooting down 28.5 enemy aircraft in over 300 operational sorties, including an List of a ...

in 1940 and lived in Illabo for several years after Caldwell became one of Australia's leading fighter aces of WWII and was known as "Killer Caldwell", a household name throughout Australia. * Hugh Main, George's brother, also a horse breeder but much better known as the local MLA 1920–1938, had an adjacent property, part of "Retreat", and has been referred to as "Retreat East", and may have been at least in part, in the Bethungra district.

Notes and references

External links

Community website
IllaboPublicSchool

{{authority control Towns in the Riverina Junee Shire Main Southern railway line, New South Wales