Baddaginie - Sri Lankan Name in Australian Town

Baddaginie - Sri Lankan Name in Australian Town

Entrance of the Baddaginie

Baddaginnie is  a rural locality with a small village (a small town) in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Albury-Wodonga railway line, in the Rural City of Benalla, 12 kilometers south-west of Benalla itself on the old Hume Highway. It is situated in mainly flat unforested country, one kilometre west of Baddaginnie Creek. The town was surveyed in 1857, named after the nearby Baddaginnie Creek, but settlement was slow. A Post Office finally opening on 16 September 1879.

The site for Baddaginnie was surveyed in 1857. Its named is believed to be derived form an expression learned in Ceylon by the surveyor, meaning "hungry", as the survey team was without food when it arrived at Baddaginnie. 

  

Baddaginie Main Street in 1905

Baddaginie Main Street Today in 2012

The name ' Baddaginie ' has an interesting history in itself. It's a Sinhalese ( Sri Lanka- Ceylon) expression meaning ' empty belly(stomach)'. Baddaginie small town sits on the Melbourne- Sydney railway line halfway between Benalla and Violet town.  Sri Lankan labourers built this stetch of the raiway line in the mid 1860's.It seems that when they arrived at what was to become the site of the village, the promissed food supplies had not arrived, so they called the place ' empty belly' or ' Baddaginie' in Sinhalese and it stuck. 

Main Store in 2001

Main Store Today in 2012

The village was a stopping place for changes of horses on the Sydney road. Early industries included grazing, a quarry, vine growing and the cutting of timber for firewood and box wood. The timber cutting was itinerant, which delayed the formation of a sufficiently large settlement for a primary school until 1873. Before the turn of the century Baddaginnie had three hotels and a butter factory. In 1903 

Baddaginie Sports Meeting on 19.02.1913
Special Trains were run & Large Crowds Attended

The Australian Handbook described Baddaginnie -

Baddaginnie has a store, a school, a reserve and a church hall. The district's census populations have been 32 (1861), 276 (1911) and 235 (1961). At the 2006 census, Baddaginnie and the surrounding area had a population of 460.

Today in 2012 there are small primary School and a Secondary School was running in this small town center.

Small Play Ground for the Primary School

Baddaginnie is a closed station located in the township of Baddaginnie, on the North East railway in Victoria, Australia. The station had a single platform to the west of the broad gauge line, with the standard gauge line running parallel to it.

The station opened on 19 June 1882 for goods and on 3 July the same year for passenger traffic.  A new platform, station building and goods shed were provided in 1908, and these remained until 1960s when it was rebuilt to allow the standard gauge line to run through the goods shed. The broad gauge crossing loop was extended, a new signal box provided, along with a replacement goods siding and shed behind the platform.  

The station remained open to passengers until 5 July 1978 when with the introduction of the Winter Timetable, it was closed completely.  

The goods platform was visibled in 2008. But today all desepired.

George Eugene "Joey" Palmer  the 1880s Australian test cricketer, died in Baddaginie on 22 August 1910. He was born in February 1859 and played in 17 Tests between 1880 and 1886.

"Joey" Palmer had an intense career, His Test career was short in years but he toured England 4 times and at his peak he was considered a top medium pace spinner. Palmer had a particular love for the SCG, where his best Test bowling of 7-65 occurred.

After returning from the 1886 tour to England he damaged his knee and never played Test cricket again but came to play first class cricket in Australia until the end of 1896/97.