Barbers Lagoon and Pinnacle

Local landmarks Barbers Lagoon and Barbers Pinnacle take their names from George “The Barber” Clark, a runaway convict who inhabited the area from 1826 to 1831. Clark had been sentenced to farm work in Singleton in 1925, following an armed robbery conviction. He later escaped and lived in the north-west with the Kamilaroi people, who seem to have regarded him as one of their own returned from the dead. Clarke took two Aboriginal wives and wandered the plains stealing cattle. He was caught by the authorities and hanged in 1831.

Barbers Lagoon and Barbers Pinnacle are located on the Manilla Road, just north of Boggabri, after crossing the Iron Bridge. Barbers Lagoon is marked by a plaque on the right and notes the approximate location of Clarke’s hut and stockyards. The striking outcrop of rocks on the left, called Tangulda by the Kamilaroi Aboriginal people, is Barber’s Pinnacle.