Goodooga is a town in the

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 ...

n state 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 ...

Brewarrina Shire Brewarrina Shire is a local government area in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Darling River, which is known as the Barwon River upstream from Bourke; and located adjacent to the Kamilaroi ...

on the eastern bank of the

Bokhara River The Bokhara River, a watercourse that is part of the Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the South Downs region of Queensland, flowing downstream into the north–western slopes of New South Wales, Australia. It f ...

. It is near

Brewarrina Brewarrina (pronounced 'bree-warren-ah'; locally known as "Bre") is a town in north-west New South Wales, Australia on the banks of the Barwon River in Brewarrina Shire. The name Brewarrina is derived from 'burru waranha', a Weilwan name for a s ...

and

Lightning Ridge Lightning Ridge is a small outback town in north-western New South Wales, Australia. Part of Walgett Shire, Lightning Ridge is situated near the southern border of Queensland, about east of the Castlereagh Highway. The Lightning Ridge area is ...

, its closest neighbour. The town lies south of the Queensland border, and the border town of Hebel. The shire council has also built the 'Great Artesian Baths' on the northside of town, heated water pool from the

Great Artesian Basin The Great Artesian Basin (GAB), located in Australia, is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over , with measured water temperatures ranging from . The basin provides the only source of fresh water through much of ...

. The Goodooga

airstrip An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

is west-north-west of the town ().

History

Yuwaalayaay (also known as ''Yuwalyai, Euahlayi, Yuwaaliyaay, Gamilaraay, Kamilaroi, Yuwaaliyaayi'') is an

Australian Aboriginal language The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

spoken on Yuwaalayaay country. It is closely related to the

Gamilaraay The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...

and

Yuwaalaraay The Yuwaalaraay, also spelt Euahlayi, Euayelai, Eualeyai, Ualarai, Yuwaaliyaay and Yuwallarai, are an Aboriginal Australian people of north-western New South Wales. Name and language The ethnonym derives from their word for "no" () to which ...

languages. The Yuwaalayaay language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the

Shire of Balonne The Shire of Balonne is a local government area in South West Queensland, Australia, over from the state capital, Brisbane. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1879. It is headquartered in its main town, St ...

, including the town of

Dirranbandi Dirranbandi is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Balonne, Queensland, Australia. The locality is on the border of Queensland with New South Wales. In the , Dirranbandi had a population of 640 people. Geography Dirranbandi is on the ...

as well as the border town of Goodooga extending to

Walgett Walgett is a town in northern New South Wales, Australia, and the seat of Walgett Shire. It is near the junctions of the Barwon and Namoi Rivers and the Kamilaroi and Castlereagh Highways. In 2016, Walgett had a population of 2,145. In the 2 ...

and the

Narran Lakes The Narran Wetlands, also known as the Narran Lakes, contained within the Narran Lake Nature Reserve, comprise a series of protected ephemeral lakes and swamps fed by the Narran River in the north-west of New South Wales, Australia. The reser ...

in New South Wales.' Goodooga is an Aboriginal word meaning, according to some " yam". However it has been proposed that it derives from "guduu+ga", 'at the place of the Murray cod' uduu rather than "gudugaa", a species of yam.Ash et al. 2003: 91 Goodooga's newspaper is the ''Goodooga Flash''.

Sport

Goodooga's main sport is

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

, the Goodooga Magpies or the Goodooga 'Newtown' Jets. The other sports played in town include netball, lawn bowls and basketball.

Population

According to the 2016 census of population, here were 247 people in Goodooga. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 74.4% of the population. * 94.6% of people were born in Australia and 84.7% of people only spoke English at home. * The most common responses for religion was Catholic at 44.7%.

Gallery

File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-post office-2021.jpg, Australia Post office, Brenda Street at the intersection with Doyle Street (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-church-2021.jpg, Church (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-hospital-2021.jpg, Hospital (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-school-2021.jpg, Goodooga Central School, Doyle Street (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-police station-2021.jpg, Police station (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-community hall-2021.jpg, Community hall (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-public hotel-2021.jpg, Telegraph Hotel, Adams Street (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-street scene-2021.jpg, Hammond Street and housing (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-Great Artesian Baths area-2021.jpg, Goodooga Great Artesian Baths area and water tower (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-emu mob-2021.jpg, Mob of emus along the Goodooga Brenda Road (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-Bohkara River-2021.jpg, Bokhara River in flood, from the Goodooga Brenda Road bridge, west of the town (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-Birrie River old bridge-2021.jpg, Birrie River old bridge, beside the Goodooga Brenda Road (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-Birrie River new bridge-2021.jpg, Birrie River new bridge, of the Goodooga Brenda Road (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-Hebel-Goodooga Road south heat-2021.jpg, Hebel-Goodooga Road going south, north of the town (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-Langboyd Road dirt-2021.jpg, Langboyd Road, looking north, south-west of the town (2021). File:AU-NSW-Goodooga-Jobs Gate Road bitumen-2021.jpg, Jobs Gate Road, looking east, further south-west of the town (2021).

Notes

References

*Anna Ash et al., Gamilaraay, Yuwaalaraay and Yuwaalayaay Dictionary. IAD Press: Alice Springs, 2003. Towns in New South Wales Brewarrina Shire {{NewSouthWales-geo-stub