There will soon be more affordable accommodation for the aged population of Boggabri by mid this year thanks to a partnership with Idemitsu Australia’s Boggabri mine.

The Glentarkie Home for the Aged is located on the edge of town and provides affordable housing for senior residents in the area who want to downsize from their homes, but also want to continue to live independently.

In 2023 the operators of Gletarkie approached Boggabri mine to fund the development of a master plan to extend the accommodation and provide more for the aging population.

Stewart Dunlop, the Deputy General Manager at Boggabri mine said they didn’t think twice about jumping on board to help.

“The current accommodation is a little old, and there’s a waiting list for the accommodation as there is no other option like it in the area. If anyone wants or needs accommodation immediately they have to leave town.

“Glentarkie approached us to see if we would fund the development of a long-term plan so we said we would help. We engaged a local architect, and as we were helping develop the plan, we got more invested and thought we could do more.

“We identified an opportunity for us to play a larger part by funding and building an additional nine units.

“We developed a proposal to approach Narrabri Shire Council to see if they would be willing to accept those nine units as fulfillment of our housing commitment in Boggabri,” explained Stewart.

The Council were supportive, and the project got underway.

Construction started in November 2024 with the ground-breaking ceremony before Christmas marking the start. All going to plan, construction will be finished by June this year.

“It’s a significant upgrade and it provides another nine houses for people, for some of the elderly in town who are struggling to get anything they are facing moving away from family and the community they know,” said Stewart.

Ron Boxsell has been a member of the Glentarkie Committee on and off for 40 years or so.

“My wife as actually the treasurer for 40 years before she retired three years ago. My wife’s mother was one of the locals who started the accommodation all those years ago. I haven’t done too much for a lot of my time here, but I have stepped up to help in recent years.

“We appreciate the support of Boggabri mine, and the Narrabri Shire Council, we couldn’t have done it without them,” said Ron.

Boggarbri mine said they want to leave a legacy in Boggabri that gives back to all members of the community for many years to come.