Area profile
A quick snapshot of Lachlan Shire, drawn from official ABS estimates and the NSW Government's council data. This is one of the largest and least densely populated local government areas in NSW: about 6,100 people across nearly 15,000 km² of central west plains, Wiradjuri country, strung along the Lachlan River. Condobolin is the council seat and largest town; Lake Cargelligo and Tottenham are the other two towns, with villages at Albert, Burcher, Tullibigeal, Fifield and Derriwong. Note that Lachlan Shire is a different council from Upper Lachlan Shire Council (Crookwell and Gunning, in the Southern Tablelands).
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)
- 6,113ABS Estimated Resident Population, per OLG time-series data. Council's own About Council page says over 6,090 people live in the shire, 2,579 of them in Condobolin.
- Area
- 14,968.3 km²Council's About Council page rounds this to 14,973 km².
- Population density
- ~0.4 people per km²About one person for every two and a half square kilometres — among the lowest densities of any NSW council.
- Region
- Central west NSW — the Lachlan Valley, Wiradjuri country
- Council classification
- Large Rural (OLG group 10)
- Main centres
- Condobolin (council seat), Lake Cargelligo, Tottenham; villages of Albert, Burcher, Tullibigeal, Fifield and DerriwongCouncil maintains a second administration office and library at Lake Cargelligo and a library at Tottenham.
- What the economy runs on
- Agriculture — one of the state's largest grain-producing areas, plus sheep, wool and beefCouncil describes a small but successful light-manufacturing sector in Condobolin and Lake Cargelligo, supported by council-established industrial estates, with tourism, intensive industries and renewable energy as emerging sectors. Council manages about 4,000 km of roads, roughly 1,000 km of them sealed.
- Roads
- ~4,000 km of local roads (about 1,000 km sealed)Council warns that unsealed roads in the shire are not all-weather roads and can become impassable when wet.
Suburbs & postcodes
- Condobolin2877
- Lake Cargelligo2672
- Tottenham2873
- Tullibigeal2669
- Burcher2671
- Fifield2875
- Albert2873
On the map
The shaded area is the official Local Government Area boundary.
The list above is a selection of the localities in the Lachlan Shire LGA; other places in the shire (for example Derriwong, Murrin Bridge and Ootha) are not listed here because we could not confirm a postcode from an official source. The shaded area on the map is the official Local Government Area boundary. Council acknowledges the Wiradjuri people as the Traditional Custodians of this land, and states on its About Council page that approximately 1,118 residents — 18.3% of the population — identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
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.