Bellingen is a small town (pop 2,721) on Waterfall Way on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately halfway between the major Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane. It is the seat of Bellingen Shire and has a mixture of valley, plateau and coastal environments.
The township lies on the Bellinger River; the different spelling is most likely the result of a misinterpretation of some poor handwriting. The name Bellingen was first mentioned by Clement Hodgkinson as the traditional name for the area, and is believed to come from „Baalijin“, the Gumbaynggir people’s name for the Quoll (a native marsupial). He refers to the river as the „Bellingen River“ in his 1845 book, „Australia From Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay“.
The Bellinger Valley including Bellingen was first settled by Kooris – the Gumbaynggir People – long before European settlement. Bellingen was originally known as Boat Harbour, changing its name to Bellingen in 1870. In the 1830s, Bellingen was…