Yerrinbool, New South Wales

Yerrinbool railway station is served by the NSW TrainLink Southern Highlands Line. In 2018, a group of community volunteers established the Railway Garden as a rest area for travellers and a meeting place for locals and tourists to enjoy.

The Yerrinbool General Store, across the road from the station, closed in 2014. Community facilities include a community hall, fire station, public toilets, an Anzac memorial and Yerrinbool Oval, which contains a skate park, soccer field and grassed sports area. Located on the northern outskirts of the town is the Tennessee Orchard, the main crop being apples.

Yerrinbool's sporting field is home ground for the joint Yerrinbool-Bargo soccer team, the Yerrinbool-Bargo Bushrangers.[http://www.ybsc.com.au/ Yerrinbool-Bargo Soccer Club] The Bushrangers are part of the Highlands Soccer Association[http://www.hsa.org.au/ Highlands Soccer Association Inc] and field a team in the Highlands Competition.

The village is home to the Yerrinbool Bahá’í Centre of Learning, a Haziratu'l-Quds of the Baháʼí Faith, which includes a library, assembly hall, classrooms, meeting rooms, dining hall and a number of small accommodation buildings for people using the facilities for Bahá’í studies, for meetings by other organisations, or as a pilgrims' hostel.{{cite web |url=http://www.ybcl.org.au/about/ |title=Who We Are: Yerrinbool Bahá’í Centre of Learning (YBCL) |access-date=2020-10-16}} See Baháʼí Faith in Australia.

File:Yerrinbool aerial.jpg

Yerrinbool is distinguished as the town with the "Welcome to the Southern Highlands" sign, as it is the first town of the Southern Highlands on the Hume Highway coming from Sydney.

Yerrinbool can also be distinguished by the Tennessee Orchard Sign, which has a large, round red apple on it. The bright sign can be seen when traveling past the village on the Hume Highway.

The name Yerrinbool is an Aboriginal word for the Wood Duck{{cite web |url=https://www.nswrail.net/library/station_names.php |title=NSW Railway Station Names and Origins |editor-first=Rolfe |editor-last=Bozier |website=NSWRail.net |access-date=11 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930040414/https://www.nswrail.net/library/station_names.php |archive-date=30 September 2018 |url-status=live}} — a common species around the ponds of Yerrinbool. Prior to settlement, Yerrinbool was known as "Little Forest".Bayley, W. A. 1975. Picton-Mittagong Main Line Railway. p. 8 Bulli: Austrail. {{ISBN|0-909597-15-4}}

On 13 July 1919, Yerrinbool railway station, along with the now closed Aylmerton Station, was officially open for use on the Main South Line.{{cite web |url=https://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Yerrinbool&line=NSW:main_south:0 |title=Yerrinbool Station |editor-first=Rolfe |editor-last=Bozier |website=NSWRail.net |access-date=11 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201401/http://www.nswrail.net/locations/show.php?name=NSW:Yerrinbool&line=NSW:main_south:0 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=live}} It was built on the new train line between Mittagong and Picton to replace what is known today as the disused Picton Loop Railway Line. The newer line was built to ease steep grades of the original line, which caused heavy train traffic at Picton Station. With the line and station now operating, the village was laid out, with two early land sales of Yerrinbool Station Estate on 6 October 1919 {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15874681 |access-date=1 June 2013 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=6 October 1919 |title=Advertising}} and 1 January 1920.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15851401 |access-date=1 June 2013 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=10 January 1920 |title=Real Estate Report}}

Yerrinbool Post Office opened on 1 December 1919 upon the arrival of the railway, and closed in 1977.{{Cite web |last=Phoenix Auctions History |title=Post Office List |publisher=Premier Postal Auctions |url=http://www.phoenixauctions.com.au/cgi-bin/wsPhoenix.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=NSW&filter=*Yerrinbool* |access-date=20 January 2021}} The Yerrinbool General Store was built and opened in 1921 along with a saw-mill, which has since been demolished.

On 20 August 1922, a school was opened with 30 students enrolled. However, the school building was burnt down in a fire in the 1970s and was not rebuilt. The community hall was built in March, 1938 by local voluntary labour.

The Yerrinbool Baháʼí School was first opened in May 1937 as a Baháʼí Summer School, providing a reading room and retreat for practitioners of the Baháʼí Faith. It is known as the Yerrinbool Baháʼí Centre of Learning.{{cite web |url=http://www.ybcl.org/college/campus.htm |title=Yerrinbool Baháʼí School History |access-date=2008-07-14}} {{Dead link|date=October 2020|fix-attempted=yes}}

According to the census in 1954, Yerrinbool had 50 dwellings with a population of 150. At the {{CensusAU|2016}}, Yerrinbool had a population of 1,164,{{Census 2016 AUS|id=SSC14510|name=Yerrinbool |access-date=11 July 2017|quick=on}} while at the 2021 census, 1,196 people were recorded.{{Cite web |title=2021 Yerrinbool, Census All persons QuickStats |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/SAL14528 |access-date=2022-08-24 |website=Australian Bureau of Statistics}}

Yerrinbool has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Avon Dam Road or fire trails: Nepean Dam (reservoir){{cite NSW SHR|5051477|Nepean Dam|hr=01368|fn=H08/00193; 125181; 13/03104|access-date=18 May 2018}}

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{{commons category|Yerrinbool, New South Wales}}

• [http://www.thesouthernhighlands.com.au/towns/history History of the Northern Towns; Yerrinbool]

{{Southern Highlands Villages / Towns}}

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Category:Towns of the Southern Highlands (New South Wales)

Category:Hume Highway

Category:Wingecarribee Shire