Boddington
If you are just looking for a tour of the Boddington Gold Mine, please call 08 9791 4143
Boddington is just under two hours’ drive from Perth, nestled on the banks of the picturesque Hotham River and surrounded by undulating hills. It is the ideal location for a day drive or a pleasant overnight stay.
A relatively young town, Boddington was originally gazetted in 1912. The name Boddington comes from Henry Boddington a shepherd who grazed his sheep on the banks of the Hotham River in the late 1800’s. A pool in the Hotham River, which Henry frequently camped at had been named Boddington Pool by the early settlers. Henry Boddington later settled in the Great Southern Town of Wagin.
Rustic Boddington snuggles cosily between rolling hills of forests and farms on the banks of the picturesque Hotham River, around an hour and a half easy drive from Perth via Albany Highway, or around an hour from Mandurah. Boddington links conveniently with Dwellingup, Pinjarra and North Dandalup for a most attractive one-day scenic drive.
Combining old fashioned country charm with farming and mining prosperity, around half of Boddington Shire is State Forest (predominantly jarrah and marri) – ideal for hiking, camping, picnics, birdwatching and wildflowers in Spring.
Boddington is a prosperous area with agriculture, bauxite mining, blue gum plantations, viticulture, orchards, fish and marron farms and one of the world’s largest producing gold mines providing income and employment. Half the Shire of Boddington comprises State Forest. The town is an excellent base from which to go hiking, wildflower sighting, bird watching or picnicking.
The Bibbulmun Track (a world class 1,000 kilometre walking trail) passes through the Boddington Shire. Some of the area’s tourist attractions include: Boddington Gold Mine Viewing Platform, Bacchus – Lord of the Grapes statue, Tullis Bridge, Hotham River Foreshore and Long Gully Bridge.
Boddington is located 123 kilometres south east of Perth in the heart of a timber and sheep district. In recent times the nature of the district has changed as a result of the establishment of the Worsley Alumina Project and the Boddington Gold Mine.
The Boddington area was settled in the mid-1860s and grew slowly to become well known for its wool and wheat production. The town itself was gazetted in 1912 (it was named after a local shepherd, Henry Boddington) when the railway line arrived in the district to meet a demand which had been created by the local timber industry.
The local Road Board was first established at Marradong to the south but after the arrival of the railway the Road Board was moved to Boddington in 1920. It became a Shire Council in 1961. The town declined slowly and by 1969 the railway had been closed and it had retreated to being a typical small service area for the surrounding district. Its recent revitalisation saw the establishment of a bauxite mining in 1979 and, most importantly, the establishment of the Boddington Gold Mine in 1986. These two events turned a small rural community into a thriving mining town in less than a decade.
