Bowral, New South Wales
Encyclopedia

Attractions

Bowral is perhaps the best known of the towns and villages of the Southern Highlands, and in recent years has become the commercial centre of the Wingecarribee Shire. Bowral is known for its boutique
Boutique
A boutique is a small shopping outlet, especially one that specializes in elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewelry. The word is French for "shop", via Latin from Greek ἀποθήκη , "storehouse"....

s, antique stores, gourmet restaurants, and rich coffee culture
Coffee culture
Coffee culture describes a social atmosphere or series of associated social behaviors that depends heavily upon coffee, particularly as a social lubricant. The term also refers to the diffusion and adoption of coffee as a widely consumed stimulant by a culture...

.

Bowral is home to the Bradman Museum, which is dedicated to the achievements of cricketer Sir Donald Bradman
Donald Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...

. Occasionally, the Australian Cricket Team
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

 play a friendly game at the Bradman Oval
Bradman Oval
Bradman Oval is situated at Bowral in the southern highlands area of New South Wales, Australia. It was named after cricketer Don Bradman, who lived locally and played at the ground in the 1920s. His ashes are scattered on and near the Oval....

, which is located adjacent to the museum.

Bowral is also the setting for "Tulip Time", a Spring celebration where over 100,000 tulips and 25,000 flowers are planted in the town centre. Held every September and October, Tulip Time has become one of Australia's leading floral festivals. In Spring, the town is also very popular with gardening enthusiasts who come to view some of the world's most beautiful formal gardens designed by landscape luminaries such as Paul Sorensen
Paul Sorensen
Paul Sorensen was an American film, theater and television actor who appeared in literally hundreds roles during his career, including The Brady Bunch and Dallas. He was frequently cast in Westerns or as a police officer....

, who designed the gardens of Invergowrie.

Bowral lies at the heart of the Southern Highlands BOOKtrail, Australia's first booktown project.

Bowral is also home to a few vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

s and cellar door
Cellar door
The English compound noun cellar door is commonly used as an example of a word or phrase which is beautiful in terms of phonaesthetics with no regard for semantics...

s and is within a close proximity to Mittagong
Mittagong, New South Wales
Mittagong is a town located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. At the 2006 census, Mittagong had a population of 7,460 people. The town can be seen as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. The town is close to Bowral, Berrima,...

 which is the winery
Winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of...

 and cellar door
Cellar door
The English compound noun cellar door is commonly used as an example of a word or phrase which is beautiful in terms of phonaesthetics with no regard for semantics...

 centre of the Southern Highlands
Southern Highlands, New South Wales
The Southern Highlands, also locally referred to as the Highlands, is a geographical region and district in New South Wales, Australia and is 110 km south-west of Sydney. The entire region is under the local government area of the Wingecarribee Shire...

.

The population swells during winter, when thousands of visitors book into the local hotels and B&Bs
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...

 to enjoy winter getaways. Bowral is home to a number of manor houses and hotels dating back to the 19th century which have served as retreats for the elite gentry
Gentry
Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....

 of Sydney.
Bowral is overshadowed by Mount Gibraltar
Mount Gibraltar
Mount Gibraltar is a small mountain between Bowral and Mittagong in New South Wales, Australia-Facts and Figures:The mountain is locally known as 'The Gib', and is in the form of a ridge, rather than an obvious conical peak. The western extremity of the ridge is commonly pointed out as the mountain...

, which rises to 863 metres (2,831.4 ft) above sea level and has lookouts over Bowral and neighbouring villages and towns such as Mittagong
Mittagong, New South Wales
Mittagong is a town located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. At the 2006 census, Mittagong had a population of 7,460 people. The town can be seen as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. The town is close to Bowral, Berrima,...

, Moss Vale
Moss Vale, New South Wales
Moss Vale is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. It has a population of 7,339 and is sited on the Illawarra Highway, which connects to Wollongong and the Illawarra coast via Macquarie Pass...

 and the ranges near Bundanoon
Bundanoon, New South Wales
Bundanoon is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. In 2006, Bundanoon had a population of 2,035 people...

. Near some of the lookouts are picnic and barbecue areas. The mountain also serves as residential area and bushland reserve.

Schools

Schools in Bowral:
  • Bowral High School
    Bowral High School
    Bowral High School is a secondary public school in Bowral, New South Wales, Australia. The school is one of two major public high schools in the Southern Highlands, the other being Moss Vale High School...

  • Bowral Public School
  • Chevalier College
    Chevalier College
    Chevalier College is a Catholic co-educational school in Bowral, New South Wales conducted by the priests and brothers of the international religious order, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart...

     (Burradoo)
  • Oxley College
    Oxley College (Burradoo, NSW)
    Oxley College is an independent, co-educational, secondary day school, founded on Christian principles.The college takes its name from the early Australian explorer John Oxley and nestles at the foot of a hill named after him...

     (Burradoo)
  • Southern Highlands Christian School (East Bowral
    East Bowral, New South Wales
    East Bowral is modern suburb in the town of Bowral of the Southern Highlands, New South Wales, Australia. It is 1-2 km east of the CBD of Bowral.- Attractions :East Bowral is home to a locally reputable Scottish tavern known as the Scottish Arms...

    )
  • St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School

Churches

Churches in Bowral:
  • St. Simon's and St. Jude's Anglican Church
  • St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church
  • St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
  • Bowral Uniting Church of Australia
  • Bowral Church of Christ, Scientist
  • Bowral Baptist Church
  • Bowral Salvation Army

Past and present notable residents of Bowral

  • Jimmy Barnes
    Jimmy Barnes
    James Dixon Swan , better known as Jimmy Barnes, is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer-songwriter. His father Jim Swan was a prizefighter and his older brother John Swan is also a rock singer. It was actually John who had encouraged and taught Jim how to sing as he wasn't really interested at...

    : singer and band member of Cold Chisel
    Cold Chisel
    Cold Chisel is a rock band that originated in Adelaide, Australia. It is one of the most acclaimed Australian rock bands of all time, with a string of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s and huge sales that continue to this day, although its success and acclaim was almost completely restricted to...

  • Noeline Brown
    Noeline Brown
    Noeline Brown is an Australian actor and comedian. She has appeared in many films, television shows, plays and radio programs....

    : journalist, radio presenter and socialite
  • Sir Donald Bradman
    Donald Bradman
    Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...

    : Australian cricketer
  • Ita Buttrose
    Ita Buttrose
    Ita Clare Buttrose, AO, OBE is an Australian journalist and businesswoman. She was the founding editor of Cleo, a high-circulation magazine aimed at women aged 20 to 40 that was ground-breakingly frank about sexuality , and later as the editor of the more sedate Australian Women's Weekly...

    : journalist and businesswoman
  • Richard Carleton
    Richard Carleton
    Richard George Carleton was a multi-Logie Award winning Australian television journalist.-Education:Carleton was born in Bowral, New South Wales...

    : journalist and reporter, most notably for 60 Minutes
    60 Minutes
    60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....

    . Born in Bowral
  • Bryce Courtenay
    Bryce Courtenay
    Arthur Bryce Courtenay AM is a South-African-born naturalized Australian novelist and one of Australia's most commercially successful authors.-Background and early years:...

    : South African novelist
  • P. L. Travers
    P. L. Travers
    Pamela Lyndon Travers OBE was an Australian novelist, actress and journalist, popularly remembered for her series of children's novels about the mystical and magical nanny Mary Poppins...

    : author of Mary Poppins
    Mary Poppins
    Mary Poppins is a series of children's books written by P. L. Travers and originally illustrated by Mary Shepard. The books centre on a magical English nanny, Mary Poppins. She is blown by the East wind to Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane, London and into the Banks' household to care for their...

  • G. F. J. Dart
    G. F. J. Dart
    Gerald Francis John "Jack" Dart OBE was a teacher, educational philosopher and playwright who was Headmaster of Ballarat Grammar School in Victoria, Australia from 1942 until 1970. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1971 for services to education and was a founding...

    : headmaster of Ballarat Grammar School 1942-1970
  • Lorrae Desmond
    Lorrae Desmond
    Lorrae Desmond, MBE is a Australian singer, entertainer, and character actress, with a career spanning over 50 years...

    : actor (A Country Practice
    A Country Practice
    A Country Practice is an Australian television drama series. One of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, it ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping,...

    ). Born in Mittagong
  • Peter Garrett
    Peter Garrett
    Peter Robert Garrett, AM, MP , is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and politician.Garrett was lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil from 1973 until its disbanding in 2002...

    : current Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts
    Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts (Australia)
    The current Australian Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities is Tony Burke, who took over from Peter Garrett . The Minister and department change took effect in the Second Gillard Ministry on 14 September 2010...

     and band member of Midnight Oil
    Midnight Oil
    Midnight Oil , were an Australian rock band from Sydney originally performing as Farm from 1972 with drummer Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James and keyboard player/lead guitarist Jim Moginie...

  • Geoff Jansz
    Geoff Jansz
    Geoff Jansz is a Sri Lankan-born Australian chef and television presenter.Formerly a pharmacist, graduating with a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Sydney in 1984, Jansz instead turned to things epicureal and opened a restaurant in Picton, New South Wales...

    : celebrity television chef
  • James Kemsley
    James Kemsley
    James Lawrence Kemsley OAM was an Australian cartoonist who drew Jimmy Bancks' original creation, Ginger Meggs.-Childhood:...

    : cartoonist, creator of Ginger Meggs
    Ginger Meggs
    Ginger Meggs, a popular long-run Australian comic strip, was created in the early 1920s by Jimmy Bancks. The strip follows the escapades of a red-haired prepubescent mischief-maker who lives in an inner suburban working-class household....

  • Graham Kennedy
    Graham Kennedy
    Graham Cyril Kennedy, AO was an Australian radio, television and film performer, often called Gra Gra and The King of Australian television.-Childhood:...

    : "The King" of Australian Television
  • Geoff Morrell: artist, actor Blue Heelers
    Blue Heelers
    Blue Heelers is an Australian police drama series which depicted the lives of police officers stationed at the fictional Mount Thomas police station in a small town in Victoria.- Overview :...

  • Alex Murray-Leslie: artist and musician, singer and band member of Chicks On Speed
    Chicks on Speed
    Chicks on Speed is a multi-national musical ensemble, formed in Munich in 1997, when members Melissa Logan, Kiki Moorse and Alex Murray-Leslie met at the Academy of Fine Arts....

  • Craig Reucassel
    Craig Reucassel
    Craig Bruce Reucassel is a television and radio comedian from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser...

    : popular television satirist
  • Genevieve Turner: journalist
  • Toby Lawson : ABC personality and expert rugby commentator
  • Arthur Upfield
    Arthur Upfield
    Arthur William Upfield was an Australian writer, best known for his works of detective fiction featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte of the Queensland Police Force, a half-caste Aborigine....

    : author of the Boney detective novels, lived in Bowral until his death in 1964
  • Anthony Hird: Author of "The Linford Wristy Chronicles"
  • Billy Birmingham
    Billy Birmingham
    Billy Birmingham is an Australian humourist and sometime sports journalist, most noted for his parodies of Australian cricket commentary in recordings under The Twelfth Man name. He was the writer of the comedy hit Australiana which was made famous by performer Austen Tayshus...

    : Comedian, aka "The 12th Man"
  • Mark 'Cal' Callaghan: Lead singer of GANGgajang
  • Nathan Hindmarsh
    Nathan Hindmarsh
    Nathan William Hindmarsh is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who captains the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League and the Australian Prime Minister's XIII...

    : Parramatta Eels Captain [NRL]

External links

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