Come By Chance, New South Wales

Not to be confused with Come By Chance, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Come By Chance (postcode: 2832, 30°19′S 148°28′E / 30.317°S 148.467°E / -30.317; 148.467) is a locality in the Pilliga district of northern New South Wales, Australia. It is located about 100 km north of Coonabarabran in the Walgett Shire. At the 2006 census, Come By Chance had a population of 187 people.^[1]

George and William Colless purchased a sheep station in the area, naming it "Come by Chance" to reflect their surprise at being able to make such a purchase in this area. The town was later named after this property.^[2] Each year it attracts several thousand spectators to the Come-By-Chance Picnic Race Meeting.

The town features in Banjo Paterson's wistful ballad Come-by-Chance:

But my languid mood forsook me, when I found a name that took me,
Quite by chance I came across it — `Come-by-Chance' was what I read;
No location was assigned it, not a thing to help one find it,
Just an N which stood for northward, and the rest was all unsaid.

References

1. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Come By Chance (State Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/LocationSearch?collection=Census&period=2006&areacode=SSC16765&producttype=QuickStats&breadcrumb=PL&action=401. Retrieved 12 July 2009. 
2. ^ "GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES REGISTER EXTRACT: Come by Chance". GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES REGISTER EXTRACT:. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=JPIOBKWAan. Retrieved 2008-10-03. 

External links

• Come-by-Chance - e-text of ballad