NSWMining
Boolaroo
A Broken Hill smelter brought a township to the banks of Cockle Creek.
1896Smelter built and township sold
WHAT STARTED IT
The Sulphide Corporation chose Cockle Creek in 1896 to treat ore from Broken Hill’s Central Mine because the district had abundant coal, timber, water and railway access, with the creek opening onto Lake Macquarie. The Boolaroo Estate, cut from William Brooks’s 1839 grant, went on sale beside the works.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Fifty-five allotments sold at the first township sale in October 1896, and a provisional school, a shop and a post office followed as smelter workers settled. The works dominated the town for more than a century, supplying its electric light from 1920, until production ended in 2003.
TURNING POINTS
1896Fifty-five lots at Boolaroo township sell for £2,300 beside the smelting works under construction.
1897A provisional school opens, becoming a public school in 1900.
1899Watkins Bridge is built across Cockle Creek.
1901Boolaroo post office opens on 1 March.
2003The smelter, by then run by Pasminco, closes on 12 September after 106 years.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A small Lake Macquarie suburb that grew from about 1,000 to 1,600 residents between the 2016 and 2021 censuses.