Area profile
A quick snapshot of Bland Shire, drawn from official ABS estimates and the NSW Government's council data. The shire's seat and largest town is West Wyalong, which sits at the junction of the Newell Highway (Melbourne to Brisbane) and the Mid Western Highway (Sydney towards Adelaide) — the reason the town is a well-known stop for anyone crossing inland NSW. West Wyalong and its older twin Wyalong grew out of an 1890s goldfield; today the shire's economy runs on broadacre cropping and grazing, gold mining, transport and wholesale distribution, with the villages of Ungarie, Weethalle, Barmedman, Tallimba, Mirrool and Naradhan spread across a shire of more than 8,500 square kilometres.
New to these terms? Read them in plain English
- Local Government Area (LGA)
- The official area a council governs.
- Estimated Resident Population (ERP)
- The official population count for an area.
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
- The national statistics agency behind population figures.
The area at a glance
- Population (ERP, 2023-24)
- 5,454ABS Estimated Resident Population, per OLG time-series data.
- Area
- 8,557.7 km²
- Population density
- Under 1 person per km² (about 0.6)
- Region
- Riverina, NSW — on the boundary between the Riverina and the Central West
- Council classification
- Large Rural (OLG group 10)
- Main centres
- West Wyalong (council seat) and Wyalong, plus Ungarie, Weethalle, Barmedman, Tallimba, Mirrool and NaradhanWest Wyalong holds Council's administration office, the library, the visitor information centre and the shire's main landfill and Community Recycling Centre. A selection of localities is listed below.
- Local economy
- Agriculture, mining, transport, tourism and wholesale distributionCouncil and Wikipedia describe these as the shire's major economic activities. Bland is one of NSW's larger cereal-growing areas (wheat, barley, oats, triticale, cereal rye, chickpeas and field peas) alongside sheep and cattle. Evolution Mining's Cowal Gold Operations, near Lake Cowal about 32 km from West Wyalong, has operated in the shire for 20 years; in July 2026 Council and Evolution Cowal signed a Voluntary Planning Agreement under which the company's annual contributions to the shire total $710,000 for community infrastructure, community initiatives and road maintenance.
- Traditional custodians
- Wiradjuri peopleCouncil's acknowledgement names the Wiradjuri people as traditional custodians of the land. Council, Riverina Local Land Services and the West Wyalong Aboriginal Land Council are working on a project to re-awaken Wiradjuri place names across the shire.
Suburbs & postcodes
- West Wyalong2671
- Wyalong2671
- Ungarie2669
- Weethalle2669
- Tallimba2669
- Naradhan2669
- Barmedman2668
- Mirrool2665
On the map
The shaded area is the official Local Government Area boundary.
The suburb list and postcodes are a selection of the localities in the Bland Shire LGA. The shaded area on the map is the official Local Government Area boundary (OpenStreetMap administrative boundary for Bland Shire Council). The shire was proclaimed in 1906 and takes its name from William Bland; it is one of the few NSW councils whose name is not that of its main town, which is why residents search for West Wyalong rather than Bland.
Sources — check it yourself
Figures are current as at the dates shown and may change — always confirm with the linked source. See the notice at the bottom of the page for full details and how to report a correction.