It is acknowledged that the town of Baradine is located on the lands of the Kamilaroi people. The word Baradine means ‘red wallaby’.
The surveyor-general John Oxley was the first European to visit the region on his 1818 expedition to explore the course of the Macquarie River. Following shortly on the heels of John Oxley came squatters seeking grass for their growing numbers of sheep and cattle. Andrew Brown, acting as agent for James Walker of Wallerawang, took up the run Baradean, obtaining a licence to depasture his stock there in 1837. It was upon this run that the town Baradine was later gazetted as a reserve in 1862 with the first blocks being sold in 1865. Baradine, situated at the confluence of the Bugaldie and Baradine Creeks was located on the road from Coonabarabran to Walgett and Bourke. By 1866 about 30 people were living in the village. With the growth in population came the demand for services and a post office was established in 1867 and a public school in 1876. By 1885 the town had 80 people and a courthouse and police station.
Although it was originally intended that Lachlan Street would become the commercial centre of the town, most of the commercial premises built prior to World War I were located in Narren street, as was the public school. After World War I the construction of the Memorial Hall and other buildings located in or facing Wellington Street led the way for further commercial development in that street.
As the forest industries in the Pilliga developed after World War I Baradine grew accordingly as timber getters and sleeper cutters used the town as a base. The town also rapidly developed as a commercial centre following the construction of the Wallerawang to Gwabegar railway line which reached the town in 1923. Following State government decisions in the early Twenty First Century to lock up much of the Pilliga for conservation the town’s reliance on the timber industry has disappeared and now is focused towards being a service centre for the surrounding agricultural district and on tourism.
CLICK HERE for Baradine Heritage Trail brochure(PDF, 5MB)