Coolac is a village in the

Riverina The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation ...

region of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Gundagai Council Gundagai is a town in New South Wales, Australia. Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become a representative icon of a typical Australian country town. Located along the Murrumbidgee River and Muniong, Honeys ...

. At the , Coolac had a population of 216.

History

The place name ''Coolac'' is derived from the local Aboriginal name for a plant which was abundant in the area and also from the Aboriginal word meaning "native bear". Coolac Post Office opened on 1 June 1870. The 11 kilometre section of the

Hume Highway Hume Highway, inclusive of the sections now known as Hume Freeway and Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of the route ...

at Coolac was the last two-lane section of highway between Sydney and the Sturt Highway interchange. Since 1986, plans had been drawn-up for the Coolac bypass, with a review of environmental factors report completed in 1997 but construction did not commence until May 2007 with the project opening in August 2009 - Under AusLink. In August 2009, the Coolac bypass was officially opened.

Bald Archy

The satirical Bald Archy art competition (named from the more prestigious

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

) began in Coolac at the Coolac Festival of Fun, launched by Peter Batey. The home of this competition is now the Museum of the Riverina in

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

and it also travels to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

for exhibition once Maude the Cockatoo, who is the official judge, selects the winning entries each year.

Coolac Geological Site

The Coolac Geological Site north-east of Coolac, is the best known example in Australia of a substantial

ophiolite An ophiolite is a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed above sea level and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks. The Greek word ὄφις, ''ophis'' (''snake'') is found i ...

assemblage. The distinctive rock assemblage over a site provides insights into events in the continental evolution of eastern Australia.for example
abstract of article in GeoScience World ''Tectonic significance of 400 Ma zircon ages for ophiolitic rocks from the Lachlan fold belt, eastern Australia''
and an article in th

The rocks here were part of the

oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramafic cumu ...

and mantle, normally not exposed on the Earth's surface. The rock from the mantle is called Coolac

Serpentinite Serpentinite is a rock composed predominantly of one or more serpentine group minerals, the name originating from the similarity of the texture of the rock to that of the skin of a snake. Serpentinite has been called ''serpentine'' or ''ser ...

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council