Balranald

Balranald is a town and local government area (see Balranald Shire) in the Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. At the the population was 1,159.The town of Balranald is located where the Sturt Highway crosses the Murrumbidgee River in a remote, semi-desert area. Although it is part of New South Wales, Balranald receives Victorian television stations, with a range of Sydney and Melbourne newspapers available. Balranald was featured heavily in 2010-2015 Australian tourism ads, displaying the natural flora of the region with over 30 subspecies of shrubs native to Balranald and its surrounds.HistoryBalranald is located in Mutthi Mutthi traditional country. The area has a long history before non-indigenous settlement and a strong indigenous culture continues to this day.Township beginningsIn about 1847–48 George James McDonald, the Commissioner for Crown Lands for the Lower Darling District, arrived at the site of the present-day township with a police escort. Commissioner McDonald had chosen the site as his base, and he and his entourage set up their camp under canvas. In 1848 Leighton Robinson and Thomas Duggan established a general store at Balranald and during the same year a public-house, the Balranald Inn, was erected by a Mr Robertson.