Newton Boyd

Newton Boyd is a rural locality in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. There once was a village of the same name. At the 2021 census, the population was 21.[2]

Newton Boyd
New South Wales
Newton Boyd is located in New South Wales
Newton Boyd
Newton Boyd
Coordinates29°45′14.0″S 152°15′11.3″E
Population21 (2021 census)[1]
Postcode(s)2370
Elevation353 m (1,158 ft)
Location
LGA(s)Clarence Valley, Glen Innes Severn
CountyGresham
ParishNewton Boyd, Henry
State electorate(s)Clarence, Glen Innes
Federal division(s)Page, New England

Location

The area now known as Newton Boyd lies within the traditional lands of Baanbay people,[3] a group of Gumbainggir.[4][5]

The rural locality of Newton Boyd consists of the valleys of the Henry River and its tributary Bruisers Creek, much of the upper part valley of the Mann River, a part of the valley of the Boyd River, and mountainous land adjoining those valleys.[6]

The Henry River and, below its confluence with the that river, the Mann River, form the boundary between the Clarence Valley and Glenn Innes Severn local government areas,[7] and consequently, the Newton Boyd locality is divided between those two local government areas.

Name and early years of colonial settlement

The area was said to be called Begann, in the local language.[8]

The first use of the name Newton Boyd was as the name of a squatter run taken up by Alexander Boyd, by dispossessing the local people of their land. The name was in use by 1845,[9] and Boyd occupied the land, until 1849,[10] giving the area its colonial settler name.

Despite being occupied by colonial settlers, there were still around 200 local Aboriginal people living in the area, in the 1870s,[11] and some acts of violence between the two communities.[12] An Aboriginal man, Billy Buchan, who had worked as a stockman at Newton Boyd, and died in 1915, recalled two massacres of Aborigines, by vengeful colonial settlers, in northern New South Wales.[13]

Village

The village of Newton Boyd, officially a town, was located on both sides of a road crossing of the Henry River upstream of its confluence with the Mann River.[14] A site of 1,440 acres was reserved for a village in 1866, 70 chains east of the woolshed of the Newton Boyd run.[15]

In the time before the railway was built to Glen Innes, the old road from Grafton, via Dalmorton and Newton Boyd, completed around 1869, was the main route for transport to and from the Northern Tablelands.[16][17] A hotel was nearing completion at the crossing of the Henry River by September 1871.[11] In August 1871, a site was reserved for the town of Newton Boyd.[18] By late 1874, the hotel and a blacksmith's shop were the only buildings in the town, with the same person serving as both innkeeper and blacksmith.[19] In 1875, a contract was awarded for a bridge across the Henry River at Newton Boyd.[20]

Local Aboriginal people supplied the hotel with fish that they caught in the river, in exchange for alcohol. A local free selector supplied the hotel with other produce.[19]

In October 1918, the settlement hosted a visit by General Pau and others of a visiting French mission.[21]

During the early 1920s, some larger holdings in the area were sub-divided and converted to dairy farming, and a cheese factory opened at Newton Boyd. A sawmill opened around the same time,[22][23] and timber getting in the nearby forests was also an occupation for residents of Newton Boyd.[24] There was also some gold mining in the area,[25][26] and, in 1918, there was a molybdenite mine about two miles from the village.[27] Despite these sources of employment, Newton Boyd never grew into a large settlement.

The hotel, by then known as the Rosemount Hotel, was badly damaged by fire in January 1941, and its licence was surrendered in late 1941. By then, the population, within a five mile radius was said to be less than 25.[28] Newton Boyd had a school from January 1896 to December 1974.[29] The village had a post office.[30] There was also a war memorial hall, opened, in September 1924, by Governor de Chair, who also unveiled the village's war memorial.[31]

In 1924 and 1959, the area of the town was reduced by the closure of some streets.[32][33] In 1968, Newton Boyd was mentioned only as a hamlet.[34]

Present day

There is little left of the village now, other than its war memorial.[35] The roll of honour from the Newton Boyd hall is now at a museum in Glen Innes.[36] The portion of the main road through the village site is still known as Clarence Street, and it provides the link between Old Grafton Road (from the Glenn Innes end) and Old Glen Innes Road (from the Grafton end).[37]

The land in the valley bottoms within the locality is mostly cleared for agriculture, and mainly used for grazing. Much of the higher, forested areas are either part of Nymboyda National Park or Gibraltar Range National Park.[6]

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Newton Boyd (State Suburb)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  2. "2021 Newton Boyd, Census All persons QuickStats | Australian Bureau of Statistics". abs.gov.au. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  3. "Map showing the distribution of the Aboriginal tribes of Australia [cartographic material]". Trove. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  4. "Map of Indigenous Australia". Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. 10 November 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  5. "Aboriginal Australians near Newton Boyd, New South Wales, ca. 1848 [picture]". Trove. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  6. "Satellite View - Newton Boyd · New South Wales 2370, Australia". Google Maps. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  7. "Glen Innes Severn Shire · New South Wales, Australia". Google Maps. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  8. "Science of man and journal of the Royal Anthropological Society of Australasia, Vol. 12 No. 11 - Aboriginal Names and Meanings". Trove. 1 March 1911. p. 214. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  9. "CLARENCE RIVER". Sydney Morning Herald. 9 April 1845. p. 3. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  10. "TRANSFER OF RUNS". Moreton Bay Courier. 18 August 1849. p. 4. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  11. "The Tourist". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. 23 September 1871. p. 935. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  12. "The Newton Boyd Murder". Evening News. 2 November 1875. p. 5. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  13. "DEATH OF BILLY BUCHAN". Richmond River Express and Casino Kyogle Advertiser. 27 August 1915. p. 7. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  14. "Town of Newton Boyd and suburban lands [cartographic material] : Land Districts of Glen Innes & Grafton". Trove. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  15. "RESERVES FROM CONDITIONAL PURCHASE". New South Wales Government Gazette. 3 August 1866. p. 1777. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  16. "Early-Day Link With Newton Boyd". Glen Innes Examiner. 6 January 1945. p. 3. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  17. "THE NEWTON BOYD ROAD". Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser. 17 October 1868. p. 2. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  18. "SITE FOR TOWN OF NEWTON BOYD". New South Wales Government Gazette. 18 August 1871. p. 1822. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  19. "Notes of a Visit to Newton Boyd". Australian Town and Country Journal. 10 October 1874. pp. 13, 14. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  20. "Government Gazette Tenders and Contracts". New South Wales Government Gazette. 20 July 1875. p. 2132. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  21. "THE FRENCH MISSION IN QUEENSLAND AND N.S.W." Sydney Mail. 9 October 1918. p. 8. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  22. "DAIRY FARMING". Farmer and Settler. 8 June 1923. p. 11. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  23. "NEWTON BOYD". Glen Innes Examiner. 26 April 1923. p. 4. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  24. "THE TIMBER-GETTER'S FAMILY". Sydney Mail. 9 April 1930. p. 16. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  25. "GOLD AT NEWTON BOYD". Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder. 2 July 1926. p. 4. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  26. "MINING AT NEWTON BOYD". Daily Examiner. 10 August 1916. p. 4. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  27. "NEWTON BOYD". Daily Examiner. 6 June 1918. p. 4. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  28. "HEARING ADJOURNED". Daily Examiner. 27 November 1941. p. 6. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  29. "Newton Boyd". nswgovschoolhistory.cese.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  30. "RAIN GOES: GRAFTON ROAD OPENED LATE YESTERDAY". Glen Innes Examiner. 16 July 1954. p. 1. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  31. "Governor at Newton Boyd". Glen Innes Examiner. 22 September 1924. p. 6. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  32. "ALTERATION OF THE DESIGN OF THE TOWN OF NEWTON BOYD". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 17 October 1924. p. 4828. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  33. "ALTERATION OF DESIGN OF THE TOWN OF NEWTON BOYD". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. 28 August 1959. p. 2659. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  34. "Walkabout, Vol. 34 No. 11, On the Move, The Gwydir Highway". Trove. 1 November 1968. p. 37. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  35. "Newton Boyd War Memorial | Monument Australia". monumentaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  36. "Newton Boyd Honour Roll | Monument Australia". monumentaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  37. "Close satellite view - Newton Boyd · New South Wales 2370, Australia". Google Maps. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
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