Shannons Flat

Shannons Flat is a locality in the Monaro region of New South Wales, Australia.

Shannons Flat is a locality in the Monaro region of New South Wales, Australia. The town is in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council local government area, sandwiched between the southern border of the Namadgi National Park in the Australian Capital Territory and the Murrumbidgee River. Shannons Flat also adjoins the NSW localities of Yaouk, Bolaro, Murrumbucca, Bredbo and Billilingra.It is about 308 kilometres (191 mi) south west of the state capital, Sydney, and 70 kilometres (40 mi) from the Australian national capital of Canberra.It is just over 40 kilometres (25 mi) north west of the regional centre, Cooma.

At the 2016 census, Shannons Flat had a population of 78.

The Shannons Flat area was founded as far back at 1840.An early route to Kiandra ran through the area.The school at Shannons Flat was opened in early 1906;

A small school (called Alum Creek School) operated from July 1887 to August 1897.The Shannons Flat/Yaouk area was initially isolated from the general spread of early settlement which came through Bredbo and Bunyan and moved further south. The original squatters to Yaouk were more likely to arrive by crossing the Murrumbidgee near Bredbo and travelling north west through rough country before getting to open plains. The Statistical Returns of 1831 listed J Slake (probably Blake) as holding the Yayak (Yaouk) station and the Brayshaws settled in the Bobeyan Valley during the 1840s. Archibald Crawford bought the Yaouk run in partnership with Lachlan Cochrane, but Crawford had to retire from the partnership in 1864. The property is still owned by the Cochrane family. For many years, the district relied primarily on the town of Adaminaby for supplies and services. The poet Barcroft Boake who lived in the region in the 1880s based some of his poems on places and events in the area.

While Shannons Flat never grew into a village, a school was opened in 1906; it was a one-teacher school with a residence, with as many as 14 students at one time.The school operated until 1965 and a few years later the building was transferred to Peak View.The Bell family of Shannons Flat had the first telephone in the area, in 1918. The community hall was built in 1946 on land donated by the Luton family.For many years the mail was delivered once each week - the mailman came and stayed the weekend, returning to Cooma on Monday with mail and wood or wool.Many stories of the early families and properties in Shannons Flat and southern Namadgi are included in the book Memories Before Namadgi by Daphne Curtis.