Boorowa earthquake felt far and wide

A SHALLOW magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck near Boorowa in the NSW South West Slopes on Wednesday evening, shaking homes across a huge stretch of southern New South Wales and the ACT.

Geoscience Australia recorded the tremor at 7.09pm on March 11, with the epicentre about 20km north-east of the Boorowa township.

The earthquake, which struck at a depth of just 12km, was initially rated as a magnitude 4.5 before being revised down to 4.4.

The tremor was widely felt well beyond the immediate Boorowa district, with residents reporting shaking from Orange in the north, across the Riverina, through Canberra and as far east as the Blue Mountains and Batemans Bay.

The quake’s epicentre was located roughly 20km northeast of Boorowa | Photo: Geoscience Australia

More than 4,700 felt reports had been lodged with Geoscience Australia shortly after the event, underlining the scale of the tremor’s reach.

Across the felt zone, social media quickly filled with residents describing windows rattling, homes shaking and a deep rumble passing beneath them.

“Felt in Young. Heard the boom and house shook,” one resident wrote.

“Yup felt it here in Junee,” another posted. “My entire house shook and I heard a loud bang.”

“My house in Canberra crackled loudly and now there’s a crack in the ceiling,” a third said.

The quake was felt across a huge stretch of southern New South Wales and the ACT | Photo: Geoscience ShapeMap

Nearby fire watch towers at Rugby and Frogmore also captured the moment the quake struck, with cameras visibly shaking for several seconds as the tremor rolled through close to the epicentre.

While earthquakes are not unheard of in the Boorowa district, a tremor of this size is notable for the region.

The area experienced a magnitude 4.0 quake in November 2022 and smaller events around Boorowa in 2025, but this latest event appears to be among the stronger recent quakes recorded in the district.

There were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries on Wednesday night, though reports were still filtering through at the time of publication.