Braidwood, New South Wales

Braidwood is located within the Yuin Nation, on Walbanga Country. The Walbanga People speak dialects of the Thurga (Durga/Dhurga) language.[4]

The Walbanga Peoples relied on the plentiful supply of vegetables available in the tablelands, such as the tubers of the yam daisy, wattle-seeds, and orchid tubers. In September to May, fish and crayfish were eaten, while possums and larger grazing animals were hunted year round. The Walbanga People and neighbouring groups made annual trips in December and January from to the Bogong Mountains and Snowy Mountains to roast and eat bogong moths (Agrotis infusa).[5]

The lives of the Walbanga People were forever changed by the arrival and early colonisation of Europeans in the 1820s. There were reports of the loss of water, fish and native animals essential to the First Nations's diet after the arrival of the settlers. The settlers also brought exotic diseases, particularly smallpox, the influenza epidemic in 1846-7 and syphilis, which devastated the First Nation's people in the region, likely including the Walbanga People. The Walbanga and surrounding populations culture and traditional life was considered to have been destroyed by 1850. Bogong moth ceremonies, intertribal meetings and corroborees also ceased in the region.[5]

In 1872, First Nation's Peoples from the south coast and the highlands areas met in a large ceremonial gathering on the Braidwood goldfields, where they also held discussions about strategies to gain back access to their land. After the gathering, the local police officer, Martin Brennan, was approached by 62 members of the gathering, led by 'Jack Bawn and Alick' who asked for his assistance, and Brennan recorded the following: "I asked Jack what they wanted. He replied, 'We have come to you to intercede for us in getting the Government to do something for us... I have assisted the police for many years, and we want to get some land which we can call our own in reality, where we can settle down, and which the old people can call their home.'..."

On 29 March 1873, Brennan sent the government a comprehensive report detailing the experiences, circumstances and the aspirations of the group. Shortly afterwards he received instructions to name forty acres of Crown Lands in whatever location Jack Bawn desired as an Aboriginal Reserve. However, Jack Bawn and his people were blocked from occupying the surveyed land due to the hostility from surrounding white farmers, but they continued to urge Brennan to press Authorities for the land. Brennan also recorded the following statement in regards to the First Nation's Peoples of the Braidwood and Coast Districts "...whose aspirations at all times were to be allowed some land which they might call their own...; which they might cultivate unmolested for the use of themselves and their families; and where the aborigines of the surrounding districts might meet periodically for the purpose of holding coroborees and other exhilarating games."[6]

As of the 2016 Census, there were less than 100 First Nations' Australians living in the Braidwood Region.[7]

European explorers reached the district in 1822 (Kearns, Marsh and Packer). The area was first settled by Europeans in the 1820s, and the town was surveyed in 1839. The village was located near the headwaters of the Shoalhaven River. The settlement was built with the labour of convicts, and many of the buildings they built around the region are still standing.

The Braidwood District Historical Society Museum

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

• Braidwood and Its Setting[12]
• Monkitee Street: Bedervale[13]
• Wallace Street: Braidwood District Historical Society Museum[14]
• Wallace Street: Mill Complex[15]
• 119 Wallace Street: Albion Hotel[16]

Braidwood has an oceanic climate (Cfb) with mild to warm summers and cold winters with frequent morning frost. Due to its position on the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range and its proximity to the Tasman Sea, summer temperatures are generally cooler than in nearby Bungendore and Goulburn which lie further inland at a similar altitude. Braidwood's greater exposure to moist easterly winds also yields a wetter climate relative to Bungendore and Goulburn. Warm to hot summer days are usually tempered by afternoon and evening easterly breezes.[17]

At the 2021 census, Braidwood had a population of 1,720. 78.0% of people were born in Australia and 85.9% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 40.5%, Catholic 21.0% and Anglican 16.6%.[1]

Braidwood is served by local newspaper, the Braidwood Times,[19] which is owned by Australian Community Media.

Braidwood is home to community radio station 2BRW. Operating under the name 'Braidwood Community Radio', the station can be heard on 88.9 FM.[20] For commercial radio, Braidwood is in the Goulburn broadcast licence area[21] with 2GN heard on 1368 AM and Eagle FM on 93.5 FM. These stations have studios in Goulburn.

The town falls under the Southern NSW television licence area with stations transmitting from a tower on Mount Gillamatong, adjacent to the township.[22]

• Deuchar Gordon, Australian pastoralist and president of the Australian Club
• Judith Wright, Australian poet and conservationist and Aboriginal rights campaigner
• John Chapman, Army Officer

• Ralph Hush
• Christopher Eipper
• Quong Tart

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Braidwood, New South Wales.

• Braidwood Show Society Inc. website
• Braidwood businesses, where to eat or stay
• Braidwood Central School website
• Heritage information about various buildings in Braidwood
• NSW Heritage listing for Braidwood Archived 23 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
• Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council website
• The Braidwood Times Newspaper