Bowral, New South Wales

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Bowral
New South Wales

Bowral Railway Station

Population:

10,971 (2006 census)

Postcode:

2576

Elevation:

662 m (2,172 ft)

Location:

118 km (73 mi) SSW of Sydney

LGA:

Wingecarribee Shire

State District:

Goulburn

Federal Division:

Hume

Mean Max Temp	Mean Min Temp	Rainfall
25.4 °C ^{78 °F}	1.9 °C ^{35 °F}	912.0 mm ^{35.9 in}

Bowral is a town located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. It was previously known by the name Bowrall^{[citation needed]}.

Bowral is perhaps the best known of the towns and villages that comprise the Southern Highlands, and in recent years has become the commercial centre of the Wingecarribee Shire. Bowral is home to the world famous Bradman Museum which celebrates not only the achievements of Bowral's favourite son, Sir Donald Bradman, but also a wealth of world sporting information and memorabilia. Bowral is also the setting for "Tulip Time", a Spring celebration where over 100,000 tulips and 25,000 flowers are planted in the town centre. Held every September to October, Tulip Time has become one of Australia's leading floral festivals. Bowral lies at the heart of the Southern Highlands BOOKtrail, Australia's first booktown project.

The population of Bowral is 10,971 (Census 2006) and growing rapidly^{[citation needed]} due to the completion of the M5 freeway from Sydney and linking to Canberra. It has a station on CityRail's Southern Highlands line.

The population swells during winter, when thousands of visitors book into the local hotels and B&Bs to enjoy romantic fires and secluded winter getaways^{[citation needed]}. Spring is also very popular with gardening enthusiasts who come to view some of the world's most beautiful formal gardens designed by landscape luminaries such as Paul Sorensen who designed the gardens of Invergowrie.

Bowral is overshadowed by Mount Gibraltar which is 861m above sea level.

The town was the home of Arthur Upfield, the author of the Bony detective novels, until his death in 1964. Upfield lived in Jasmine Street. It was also the hometown of popular television satirist Craig Reucassel.