Boggabilla is located on the southern bank of the Macintyre River, north of Moree. The Newell Highway passes through Boggabilla and is met by the Bruxner Way at a junction in the centre of town. Surrounding localities include Toomelah Station 15 km (9.3 mi) to the east, while the larger town of Goondiwindi is 9 km (5.6 mi) northwest, across the border in Queensland.
The Boggabilla region is situated roughly on the border of two large language groups of Aboriginal Australians, the Bigambul and the northern clans of the Gamilaraay. British colonisation had a devastating effect on these people, with many being killed in frontier conflict and the Bigambul language now being extinct.[3][4]
The first British to enter the region were squatter pastoralists who started to take land in the early 1840s. Around 1843, George Yeomans and Otto Baldwin formed the Boggabilla pastoral station. They and their stockmen skirmished with the local Aboriginal men over occupation of the land and it wasn't until the arrival of the government funded Native Police force under Commandant Frederick Walker in 1849 that armed Aboriginal resistance around Boggabilla was put down.[5][4]
The township of Boggabilla was formed and allotments were first offered for sale in 1863.[6]
Boggabilla used to have a railway service, but this has been cut back to North Star, New South Wales, where the last silo is located. Also, an airport and shuttle services are available to Sydney from Moree located 110 km south of Boggabilla. Daily bus services run both north and south.
^Tindale, Norman (1974). Aboriginal tribes of Australia: their terrain, environmental controls, distribution, limits and proper names. Canberra: ANU Press.
^ abCollins, Patrick (2002). Goodbye Bussamarai, The Mandandanji Land War, Southern Queensland 1842-1852. St Lucia: UQP. ISBN0702232939.