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Bookham New South Wales
Entering Bookham
Bookham
Population:	121[1]
Postcode:	2582
Coordinates:	34°47′21″S 148°38′16″E / 34.78917°S 148.63778°E / -34.78917; 148.63778Coordinates: 34°47′21″S 148°38′16″E / 34.78917°S 148.63778°E / -34.78917; 148.63778
Elevation:	607 m (1,991 ft)
Location:	308 km (191 mi) from Sydney 149 km (93 mi) from Wagga Wagga 29 km (18 mi) from Jugiong 20 km (12 mi) from Bowning [2]
LGA:	Yass Valley Council
County:	Harden
State District:	Burrinjuck

Bookham is a small village in the Southern Tablelands and Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia in Yass Valley Shire. It is about 29 km west of Yass on the Hume Highway. At the 2006 census, Bookham had a population of 121 people.^[1]

Bookham Memorial Hall

The general grazing area which now encompasses the village of Bookham was originally collectively called Bogolong and childhood memories of the races at Bogalong Racetrack inspired Banjo Paterson to write his poem Old Pardon the Son of Reprieve.^[3]

The name change came about in 1839 when Lady Jane Franklin — wife of John Franklin, Lieut-Governor of Van Diemen's Land between 1837 and 1843, became the first woman European woman to travel overland from Port Phillip to Sydney and stayed in the area in 1839.^[4]

Shortly after a design for the village at Cumbookambookinah near Bogolong was drawn up and that name was shortened either through general usage or by design to the current name of Bookham.^[5]

Bookham Post Office opened on 1 September 1864 and closed in 1993.^[6]

There are two churches: the Uniting Church (c. 1926) and the Catholic Church, St Columbas, (c. 1910) still standing in the town.^[7]

References