A relatively young town, Boddington was originally gazetted in 1912. The name Boddington comes from Henry Boddington a shepherd who grazed his sheep on the banks of the Hotham River in the late 1800's. A pool in the Hotham River, which Henry frequently camped at had been named Boddington Pool by the early settlers. Henry Boddington later settled in the Great Southern Town of Wagin.

Two mines are located within the Shire. The Boddington Gold Mine and Worsley Bauxite Mine. The mining industry is relatively new to Boddington with the Bauxite Mine beginning operations in the late 1970's and gold mining operations beginning in the mid 1980's.

The Boddington Gold Mine has currently ceased the operations of its existing pit and is awaiting the proposed Boddington Goldmine expansion. The current pit ceased operations towards the end of 2001 with the current activity limited to exploration, rehabilitation, decommissioning of plant and general care and maintenance. There is still estimated to be 15-20 million ounces of gold remaining. However, the extraction and processing methods are currently being refined in the USA with required infrastructure to be in the vicinity of $600 to $700 million. The joint venture parties of the Boddington Goldmine are Newmont Pty Ltd, Anglo Gold Pty Ltd and Newcrest Pty Ltd. Nomad Consolidated is contracted by the joint venture partners to construct the camp and its facilities.

This is initially a 200 man fly camp then a 1200 man camp for the expansion project We must realise that our presence will have a major impact on Boddington township and its residents and at all times we should conduct ourselves accordingly to lessen our impact on Boddington 1500 residents. It is a small, quiet and peaceful place and its in all our interests to maintain that.

Rural and Agriculture

The Boddington townsite serves as a strong centre for surrounding broad acre mixed grain, livestock and other agricultural pursuits. The Shire is home to various agricultural industry such as sheep, cattle, cereal crops, timber industry, pine plantations, bluegum plantations, viticulture and orchards.