Ben Lomond, New South Wales
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Ben Lomond is a village in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia with a population of approximately 120 families. Ben Lomond is located off the New England Highway between Armidale and Glen Innes. It is located in Guyra Shire with part of the surrounding district in Glen Innes Severn Shire and Inverell Shire. Its primary industries are agriculture and tourism. The name Ben Lomond is from Ben Lomond in Scotland, the area with European settlement in the 1800s by English, Irish, and Scottish settlers.
During the construction of the railway line (opened in 1888), Ben Lomond was a vibrant community boasting modest local industry, several schools (although only one was a state school), and several sporting teams. With the closure of the railway line and the bypassing of the town by the New England Highway, the population has dwindled in recent years.
Ben Lomond Public School, located on Inn Road, has shrunk in recent years from thirty students in the mid nineties to a current enrollment of a little over 10 students. The lack of jobs in the immediate area, drought, as well as the proximity to Glen Innes and Guyra has been a factor in this change in school size.
Ben Lomond is serviced by a general store providing the majority of day to day needs as well as farming equipment as well as three Churches (Catholic, Anglican, and Presbyterian).
Ben Lomond Village is at 1400m elevation, the highest village in northern NSW. As such, even though located only a few hours drive from the NSW/Queensland border, it receives occasional falls of snow in winter. Overlooking the village are The Two Brothers with a peak elevation of 1508m.
In more recent years the village has formed something of a local rivallry with neighbouring Glen Innes in the form of an annual inter-town friendly cricket match. Whilst at a substantial size disadvantage, Ben Lomond have won three of the games so far, and drawn the other. Games are played on the Ben Lomond Recreational Ground, which once played host to regular games but is seldom used outside of the fixture.
Ben Lomond is home to several tourist attractions, including home stays, the longest hand cut railway cutting in Australia, the highest passenger railway station in the southern hemisphere (at the time of the construction of the railway), and various historical sites in and around the village.
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