Burragorang

For thousands of years before British colonisation, the Burragorang area was inhabited by the Gandangara (or Gundagurra) people, who lived in the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands region of New South Wales.{{cite web |title=Gandangara /Gundungurra |url=https://native-land.ca/maps/territories/gundungurra/ |publisher=Native Land Digital |access-date=2024-03-01}}{{cite web |title=Burragorang Valley |url=https://historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au/south-west/location/burragorang-valley |website=A History of Aboriginal Sydney |access-date=2024-03-01}}{{cite web |title=The Burragorang |date=22 July 2021 |url=https://www.oatleyflorafauna.org.au/index.php/2021/07/22/the-burragorang/ |publisher=Oatley Flora & Fauna Conservation Society |access-date=2024-03-01}}

In 1827, European graziers entered Burragorang with John Lacey being one of the first to take up land.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31761008 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Sydney Monitor |volume=III |issue=176 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=22 November 1828 |accessdate=12 July 2025 |page=2 (AFTERNOON) |via=National Library of Australia}} Irish Catholic emancipist farmers like Patrick Carlon later settled in the valley during the 19th century. In 1877, a Catholic mission called St Joseph's was established to house and employ the remnant local Gandangara people.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70616853 |title=Aboriginal Settlement of St. Joseph, Burragorang. |newspaper=Australian Town And Country Journal |volume=XVII |issue=424 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 February 1878 |accessdate=12 July 2025 |page=39 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Coal mining commenced in 1878 and, up to the 1960s, the area was a major supplier of coal.{{cite web |title=Burragorang Valley Miners Memorial |url=https://www.camdenhistory.org.au/Burragorang%20Valley%20Miners%20Memorial.pdf |website=Camden History |access-date=2024-03-01}} Lead and silver were also mined in the valley until about 1927.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

With the boom in Sydney's population after World War II, the Warragamba Dam was constructed between 1948 and 1960{{Cite web |url=http://www.sca.nsw.gov.au/dams-and-water/major-sca-dams/warragamba-dam |title=Sydney Catchment Authority |access-date=28 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130305074841/http://www.sca.nsw.gov.au/dams-and-water/major-sca-dams/warragamba-dam |archive-date=5 March 2013 |url-status=dead }} on the Warragamba River, inundating the Burragorang Valley, creating Lake Burragorang. Consequently, the town of Burragorang and others like it in the valley were lost under water.

The area around Burragorang and Nattai had been home to numerous collieries from the 1920s to the 1990s, such as the Nattai-Bulli, Oakleigh, Wollondlly, Nattai North and Valley collieries. It is estimated 72 million tonnes of coal was mined in the Burragorang-Nattai region. The area also had deposits of oil shale, and some mining of shale occurred.{{Cite news |date=1930-03-24 |title=PETROLEUM SHALE |pages=2 |work=Goulburn Evening Penny Post |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104429815 |access-date=2022-09-19}}{{Cite news |date=1931-05-02 |title=SHALE OIL |pages=14 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16774355 |access-date=2022-09-19}}

The ABC programme, A Drowned Valley,{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/abcmyphoto/|title=#ABCMyPhoto - ABC News|website=www.abc.net.au|accessdate=16 October 2020}} by ABC Open producer, Sean O'Brien, documented former residents' memories of living in the valley before its inundation.

The Burragorang Valley has some scenic lookouts over the valley and lake.{{cite web|title=McMahon's Point ride|url=http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/Cycling-trails/McMahons-Point-ride-Wentworth-Falls|website=NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service|accessdate=12 August 2016}}{{cite web|title=Burragorang lookout and picnic area|url=https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/Lookouts/Burragorang-lookout-and-picnic-area|website=NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service|accessdate=12 August 2016}}

File:IMG-20200714-WA0027.jpg

The name Burragorang derives from the language of the indigenous Gandangara people, perhaps from the word "burro", which means "kangaroo", or perhaps from "booroon", which means "small animal", and the word "gang", which means to hunt. Therefore, Burragorang is believed to mean "place to hunt kangaroo" or "place to hunt small animals".{{cite web |title=Burragorang State Recreation Area |url=http://www.stonequarry.com.au/nature/burragorang.html |website=The Wollondilly Region of New South Wales |publisher=Geoff. A. Hinde and Furry Software Pty Ltd |access-date=2024-02-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010222165040/http://www.stonequarry.com.au/nature/burragorang.html |archive-date=2001-02-22}}

However, another reference claims that Burragorang is a Gandangara word which means "home or place of the giant Kangaroo". In a Gandangara creation story, two gods (bulla bulan) pursued a giant kangaroo down the Wollondilly River where it hid in a waterhole creating the Burragorang Valley. The name Burragorang is derived from Burrubug garabang meaning "the great kangaroo's place" (of escape).{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=William |title=My Recollections |date=1914 |publisher=Camden News Office |location=Camden |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-520883949}}{{cite web |title=The Lost Valley – Burragorang |url=https://wild.com.au/people/the-lost-valley/ |website=Wild |date=29 March 2018 |publisher=Adventure Entertainment International Pty Ltd |access-date=2024-02-29}}

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Category:Localities in New South Wales

Category:Wollondilly Shire

Category:Resumed localities in Australia