Produced Platypus Country Visitors

Information Centre

P.O. Box 105

Bombala NSW 2632

Phone: (02) 6458 4622

Updated June 2016

Ando

An active, connected Community with a focus on

farming innovation in the wool, prime lamb and beef cattle

industries.

The Rural Fire Service plays an active role in

the local community and is in the process of

updating its facilities.

Ando Community Hall is the hub of the

community and is unique because it is

owned and managed by the community.

The Ando Pottery Group meets every

Monday at the Ando Hall, and have a very

successful Arts and Crafts Sale on the last

Sunday in November each year.

Jincumbilly Siding is a prominent reminder

of the days when trains still ran across the

Southern Monaro.

The Snowy River Way, provides a convenient

sealed link to Dalgety, Berridale, Jindabyne

and then to the ski resorts of the Snowy

Mountains.

The Way It Was…

By 1855 William Bradley, the most influential landholder in the Southern Monaro, held an unbroken chain of stations from Cooma to Bibbenluke. “Bibbenluke”, a property of some 76,000 acres became the head station from which managers like H.T Edwards could oversee the surrounding properties.

Around 1862, a Greek sailor, Ghikas Boulgaris (Jigger Bulgary), who had been sentenced to transportation to Australia for robbing a British merchant ship in the Mediterranean in 1827, was pardoned and took up a free selection of land on the Bibbenluke estate, which he called “Ando”. In January, 1863, H.T. Edwards wrote to his employer, William Bradley, and was scathing of Jigger Bulgary’s actions, and suggests that his 420 acres “ be completely closed in and his grazing rights completely destroyed.”

By the 1890’s nearly all the arable land in the Colony of NSW had been alienated from the Crown and was being used to graze livestock. In an effort to promote the growing of grain, a Land Board was formed to repurchase land voluntarily offered for sale and subdivide it for closer settlement. Plans were also formulated for compulsory resumption.

And today…

The majority of holdings in the Ando locality are utilised for traditional farming practices. Some holdings have been purchased for softwood plantation production.

Innovative farming practices such as the raising of organic lambs are also found in the area.

Ando Primary School was opened in 1913 and closed in 2012. During its almost 100 years of operation it provided a high quality education to numerous students and was a focus for community activities.

Prior to the acquisition of part of Bibbenluke Station in 1910, there were only six blocks made available for closer settlement in the Bibbenluke area. In 1911 the government purchased 16,210 acres of Bibbenluke Estate and divided it into 31 blocks ranging in size from 740 acres to 260 acres. The Bibbenluke closer settlement became the agricultural community and locality of Ando with the first farm being purchased in 1911.

While farming was not as attractive as it had been at the turn of the century due to rabbit plagues, cost of fencing and the cost of building a house, the farms were taken up with the last one being purchased on 15th December, 1915. Many of these “home maintenance areas” proved to be inadequate for farming purposes and many of the farmers took advantage of the private subdivision of the remainder of “Bibbenluke” to acquire extra acreage.

While the closer settlement areas were originally conceived to encourage grain production in the long term, this was not achieved. However it is interesting to note that in the 1940’s an agricultural machinery co-operative was set up to assist farmers with grain production.

(compiled from “Bombala, Hub of the Southern Monaro” by Claire Schofield)