Moogara Explained

Type:town
Moogara
State:tas
Coordinates:-42.7833°N 200°W
Pushpin Label Position:right
Lga:Derwent Valley
Region:South-east
Postcode:7140
Pop:49
Pop Year:2016 census
Pop Footnotes:[1]
Stategov:Lyons
Fedgov:Lyons
Location1:New Norfolk
Dist1:14
Dir1:W
Near-Nw:Uxbridge, Bushy Park
Near-N:Bushy Park
Near-Ne:Plenty
Near-E:Glenfern, Mount Lloyd
Near-W:Uxbridge, Styx
Near-Sw:Lonnavale
Near-S:Lonnavale
Near-Se:Mount Lloyd

Moogara is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of Derwent Valley in the South-east LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about west of the town of New Norfolk. The 2016 census has a population of 49 for the state suburb of Moogara.[1]

Geography

It is situated approximately 37km (23miles) from Hobart (direct line), Moogara used to be a bustling hamlet with 100 families, some of which had up to 16 children, it had its own school, general store, saw mills and farms.[2] While Moogara's population is not as high as it once was, it is still home to several families some of which are direct descendants of those who originally settled in the area. The Plenty River forms much of the eastern boundary.

History

Moogara is a confirmed locality.[3]

It was named by Barney McGuire. He named it Moogara as it is Aboriginal for "Journey of one day" as it took him this long to walk from Plenty to select his property.[4]

Moogara's hub was the post office, which began business on 11 November 1911 under Mrs H. Simco. On 1 September 1924 it was taken over by Amos McGuire; it was run by the McGuire family until it closed on 31 January 1970. Emma Townsend (née McGuire) was the last postmistress; Emma and husband Norman lived where the old post office was located until 1999.[5] [6]

Road infrastructure

Route C610 (Moogara Road) passes through from north-east to north-west.[3] [7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2016 Census Quick Stats Moogara (Tas.) . . 23 October 2017 . quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au . Australian Bureau of Statistics . 13 September 2020 .
  2. The Mercury (Hobart), 1984-12-13
  3. Web site: Placenames Tasmania – Moogara . . Placenames Tasmania . 13 September 2020 . Select “Search”, enter "1129A", click “Search”, select row, map is displayed, click “Details”.
  4. Gazetteer of Tasmanian place names / Nomenclature Board of Tasmania
  5. The Mercury (Hobart), 1970-01-01
  6. Web site: Premier Postal History . Post Office List . Premier Postal Auctions . 16 June 2012.
  7. Web site: Tasmanian Road Route Codes . https://web.archive.org/web/20170801112712/http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/Route%20Descriptions%20V3.6.pdf . dead . 2017-08-01 . . May 2017 . Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water & Environment . 13 September 2020 .