The flat plains and dramatic skies of the Riverina

Booroorban
Tiny community based around the Royal Mail Hotel
Situated in the middle of the Old Man Plain beneath some well-established peppercorn trees, the remarkable Royal Mail Hotel constitutes the historical, social, physical and even genealogical centre of the small community of Booroorban, 774 km west of Sydney via the Hume, Sturt and Cobb Highways.

Genealogical? The few families that still live in the area surrounding the hotel are all descended from Samuel Porter who built the hotel in 1868. They are a very closely-knit community who are very much an integral part of the fabric which makes up this interesting old building. The exterior is little altered and the interior sensitively restored. There are open log fires, tennis courts and warm hospitality.

Historical? Booroorban's origins are tied to the hotel, which was a staging post on the Cobb & Co. run between Hay and Deniliquin. It is the last remaining coaching inn on that route. Passengers disembarked to refresh themselves while the horses were exchanged for a fresh team kept in the stables, still intact, at the rear of the hotel. The through-traffic also consisted of bullock trains which carried wool to Echuca and Bendigo and returned with goods for the locals. At that time the area was known as Pine Ridge. By 1885 there were two hotels, a school, post office, general store, some other public buildings and about 200 residents. That year it was proclaimed as the village of Booroorban.

The hotel's Headless Horseman Bar, with its painting of the subject, is named after a legend associated with the area. Drovers around Black Swamp in the middle of last century told of a horseman who appeared suddenly at a campsite, mounted on a trotting cob, a cloak about his shoulders but with no head, spooking the animals and causing stampedes. It was said to be the ghost of a drover who died at the swamp. One story has it that a Moulamein butcher took advantage of the tale. Dressing himself in a cloak thrown over a wooden frame on his shoulders, which gave the appearance of headlessness, he is said to have hived off small numbers of others' cattle for his own profit. Other versions depict stampedes, mass theft and the droving of the booty across the border for sale in Victoria. One version has him shot and killed; another has him never caught. A Cobb & Co. driver claims he carried the wounded thief to the hospital where he died and that he later saw the headless body of the same man on his horse. It thus seems unclear whether the thief took advantage of an existing myth or whether the myth arose from his activities. Contradictions abound. Just what the substance of the legend is, there is no doubt that it exists and a roadsign marker has been established in its honour a few kilometres south of Booroorban at Black Swamp.

Things to see:  

Royal Mail Hotel
Samuel Porter who built the hotel in 1868. The exterior is little altered and the interior sensitively restored. It was a staging post on the Cobb & Co. run between Hay and Deniliquin. It is the last remaining coaching inn on that route. Passengers disembarked to refresh themselves while the horses were exchanged for a fresh team kept in the stables, still intact, at the rear of the hotel.

	Hotels
	Royal Mail Hotel Cobb Hwy Booroorban NSW Telephone: (02) 6993 0694
	Restaurants
	Royal Mail Hotel Cobb Hwy Booroorban NSW Telephone: (02) 6993 0694