Gunnedah, New South Wales
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Gunnedah () is a town in north-central
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, Australia and is the seat of the
Gunnedah Shire Gunnedah Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Liverpool Plains in the Namoi River valley and is traversed by the Oxle ...
local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...
. In the the town recorded a population of 8,338. Gunnedah is situated within the
Liverpool Plains The Liverpool Plains are an extensive agricultural area covering about of the north-western slopes of New South Wales in Australia. These plains are a region of prime agricultural land bounded to the east by the Great Dividing Range, to the s ...
, a fertile agricultural region, with 80% of the surrounding shire area devoted to farming. The Namoi River flows west then north-west through the town providing water beneficial to agricultural operations in the area. The Gunnedah area is a significant producer of cotton, coal, beef, lamb and pork, and cereal and oilseed grains. Gunnedah is also home to AgQuip, Australia's largest annual agricultural field day. Gunnedah is located on the Oxley and
Kamilaroi The Gamilaroi, 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 Australians, Indi ...
Highways providing convenient road links to much of the northern sector of the state including to the regional centre Tamworth, distant. The town has a station on the Mungindi railway line and is served by the daily
NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a regional train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and into Australian Capital Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria (state), Victoria, Queensland and South Australia ...
Xplorer passenger service to and from
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and Moree. It claims the titles "Koala Capital of World" and "Rudest town in New South Wales". In recent years the local shire council has moved away from this promotional tagline and there are concerns over the health of the local koala population and the impacts of climate change and local Environmentalists developments on koala habitat.


History

Gunnedah and the surrounding areas were originally inhabited by Aboriginal Australians speaking the
Kamilaroi The Gamilaroi, 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 Australians, Indi ...
(
Gamilaraay The Gamilaroi, 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 Austr ...
) language. The name of the town in Kamilaroi means "Place of White Stones". In 1818, English surveyor general
John Oxley John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1784 – 25 May 1828) was an English List of explorers, explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He served as Surveyor General of New South Wales and is perhaps bes ...
traversed the district, for which a monument pays tribute to him at the base of Mullaley Mountain. The area now occupied by the town was settled by European sheep farmers in 1833 or 1834. With settlement in the area focused on wool production, Gunnedah was initially known as 'The Woolshed' until taking its name from the local Indigenous people who called themselves the ''Gunn-e-darr'',Gunnedah
. About New South Wales. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
the most famous of whom was Cumbo Gunnerah. Coal was discovered on Black Jack Hill in 1877. By 1891, 6,000 tons of coal had been raised from shafts. The Gunnedah Colliery Company was registered in May 1899 and by 22 June a private railway some in length had been completed from the railway station to their mine. In September 1957, the Government Railway took over the working of the line. Dorothea Mackellar wrote her famous poem '' My Country'' (popularly known as ''I Love a Sunburnt Country'') about her family's farm near Gunnedah. This is remembered by the annual Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards for school students held in Gunnedah. In early 2012, Gunnedah experienced a mining boom resulting in rental properties being leased by mining companies for up to $1,350 per week.


Heritage listings

Gunnedah has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Werris Creek-Moree railway: Gunnedah railway station * Gunnedah Leather Processors


Population

According to the 2016 census of Population, there are 9,726 people in Gunnedah. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 13.7% of the population. * 86.2% of people were born in Australia and 90.2% of people only spoke English at home. * The most common responses for religion were Anglican 28.8%, Catholic 27.3% and No Religion 20.3%.


Sports

The most popular sport in Gunnedah by a wide margin is
Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
. The local team, the Gunnedah Bulldogs, play out of Kitchener Park. They compete in the Group 4 Rugby League competition, in which they have won seven premierships. Other sports teams include the Gunnedah AFL Bulldogs competing in AFL North West NSW, Gunnedah Red Devils RUFC competing in the Central Northern Rugby Union and Gunnedah FC competing in the Northern Inland Football.


Geography

Gunnedah Shire is situated above sea level on the
Liverpool Plains The Liverpool Plains are an extensive agricultural area covering about of the north-western slopes of New South Wales in Australia. These plains are a region of prime agricultural land bounded to the east by the Great Dividing Range, to the s ...
in the Namoi River valley. It is very flat; the tallest hills are above sea level. The climate is hot in summer, mild in winter and dry, although rainstorms in catchment areas occasionally cause flooding of the Namoi River. Major floods cut transport links to the town, briefly isolating it from the outside world. The town is located on a rich coal seam and within the northern New South Wales wheat belt. The Gunnedah area is noted for its abundance of native wildlife, including
kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
s,
echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the Family (biology), family Tachyglossidae , living in Australia and New Guinea. The four Extant taxon, extant species of echidnas ...
s and
koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...
s. Koalas can often be found in trees within the town, as well as in the surrounding countryside with the help of signs placed by the local tourist centre. The koala population is considered to be the largest koala colony in the state, west of the Great Dividing Range.


Climate

Gunnedah has a textbook
subtropical climate The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 3 ...
with temperatures regularly exceeding 40 °C in summer and dropping below 0 °C in winter. This is due to the town's far inland location on the North West Slopes. Its average annual rainfall is , which is spread throughout the year, however severe thunderstorms in the summer months often cause heavy downpours which boost rainfall totals. The highest daily maximum temperature recorded was , on 24 January 1882; the lowest daily maximum temperature recorded was , on 4 August 1921. Snow is very rare, with the most recent occurrence in 1984.


Education

Gunnedah has three secondary schools: Gunnedah High School, Carinya Christian school and St Mary's College. There are three government (Gunnedah Public School, Gunnedah South Public School, and G.S. Kidd Memorial School) and two non-government (St Xavier's Catholic School and Carinya Christian School) primary schools. A campus of the New England Institute of TAFE is also located within the town.


Media

Local media include the
Gunnedah Times
' and ''Namoi Valley Independent'' newspapers and the radio stations 2MO and 2GGG. The ''Namoi Valley Independent'', published by Australian Community Media, switched to a digital-only newspaper model in 2020. The ''Gunnedah Times'' started as a print newspaper in November 2020 and is published by the Dunnet family, of Narrabri, who also publishes the bi-weekly ''The Courier'' newspaper in Narrabri. Radio stations that broadcast to Gunnedah are ABC New England North West, 2YOU FM and the 2MO began broadcasting in 1930 and was only the fourth Radio Licence issued in Australia, being the first station established in Australia outside a capital city. Network television that is broadcast in Gunnedah are: * Seven (formerly branded as
Prime7 Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as ''CBN (Australian TV station), CBN-8'' in Orange, New South Wales, Ora ...
), 7two,
7mate 7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a c ...
,
7flix 7flix is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 28 February 2016. 7flix targets a variety of viewers and offers drama, comedy, reality, docusoap, and movies. History On 18 Decembe ...
,
7Bravo 7Bravo is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network under license from NBCUniversal International Networks on 15 January 2023. The channel contains programming from NBCUniversal's Americ ...
Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
owned and operated channels. *
Nine 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...
( NBN),
9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, anima ...
,
9Gem 9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network in September 2010. The channel provides general entertainment and movie programming, from which the original name "GEM" is derived. History The la ...
,
9Life 9Life is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Nine Entertainment. The channel airs mostly foreign lifestyle and reality programs, with the channel having a licensing agreement with Discovery Inc. (previously Scr ...
Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
owned and operated channels. *
WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...
, 10 Bold Drama, 10 Peach Comedy
Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
affiliated channels. * ABC,
ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...
, ABC Kids,
ABC Entertains ABC Entertains is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched on 4 December 2009 as a children's channel called ABC3. It was rebranded on 19 September 2016 to ABC ME. It rebra ...
and
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
, part of the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
. *
Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels (SBS (Australian TV chann ...
, SBS,
SBS Viceland SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS V ...
,
SBS Food SBS Food (formerly Food Network) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel airs programs about food and cooking, from cultures around the world. History SBS first ...
,
SBS WorldWatch SBS WorldWatch is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). The channel shows multilingual international news bulletins in more than 30 languages, as well as two local bulletins ...
,
SBS World Movies SBS World Movies is an Australian free-to-air television channel showing international movies. The channel features foreign language films, documentaries, independent, annual films, art films and mainstream cinema and interviews with intern ...
and
NITV National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the six-day-a-week ''NITV News Updat ...
.
Subscription Television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...
services are provided by
Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...
.


Transport

The Oxley Highway and the Kamilaroi Highway both pass through Gunnedah, for a short distance, concurrently. The Oxley Highway leads to Tamworth in the east and
Coonabarabran Coonabarabran () is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2021 census, the town had a population of 2,387, Material was copied from th ...
to the west. The Kamilaroi Highway leads to
Quirindi Quirindi ( or ) is a small town on the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, in Liverpool Plains Shire. At the , Quirindi had a population of 2,602. It is the nearest link to Gunnedah, New South Wales, Gunnedah to the northw ...
to the south-east and
Boggabri Boggabri ( ) is a small town in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It is part of Narrabri Shire and lies between Gunnedah and Narrabri on the Kamilaroi Highway. At the , the town had a population of 885 people. History The original to ...
to the north-west.


Railway station

Gunnedah railway station is situated on the Mungindi railway line, from Sydney. The station, opened in 1879, consists of a substantial station building on a single side platform, a passing loop and small goods yard. There are also sidings serving an adjacent flour mill. To the west of the station there are extensive sidings serving grain silos and loop sidings serving coal loading facilities. For a brief three-year period after the railway arrived in Gunnedah it was the railhead until construction was completed to
Boggabri Boggabri ( ) is a small town in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It is part of Narrabri Shire and lies between Gunnedah and Narrabri on the Kamilaroi Highway. At the , the town had a population of 885 people. History The original to ...
and then to Narrabri South Junction in 1882. Currently a single daily Xplorer diesel railmotor operating between
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and Moree serves the station.


Notable Gunnedahians

* Tommy and
Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * Phil (film), ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as ...
Emmanuel – Award winning guitarists * Leanne Castley – Member of the ACT Legislative Assembly * Sara Carrigan – Olympic Gold Medallist * Gordon Bray – Sports Commentator * John "Dallas" Donnelly – rugby league player *
Tom Gleeson Thomas Francis Gleeson (born 2 June 1974) is an Australian stand-up comedian, writer, television and radio presenter. Gleeson currently hosts '' Hard Quiz'' and '' Taskmaster Australia'' and previously co-hosted ''The Weekly with Charlie Picker ...
– Comedian * Lindsay Johnston – rugby league player *
Miranda Kerr Miranda May Kerr (; born 20 April 1983) is an Australian model. She rose to prominence in 2007 as one of the Victoria's Secret Angels. Kerr was the first Australian Victoria's Secret model and also represented the Australian department store c ...
– model * Katrina Burgoyne – Country music singer * Michael Kilborn – cricketer and cardiologist * Dorothea Mackellar – poet * Sam Naismith – Australian rules footballer * Gillian Campbell – Olympic rower * John O'Neill – rugby league player * Erica Packer – model and singer, ex-wife of James Packer. * Angus Roberts – rugby union player * Ben Smith – rugby league player * Pat Studdy-Clift – author * Ron Turner – rugby league player * James Wynne – rugby league player * Sergeant Leonard Siffleet – WWII Commando * Harry Wilson – Rugby Union player, Queensland Reds and Wallabies. * Greg Hickman – (Horse Racing) Group 1 winning Horse Trainer
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
Trained Pierata Eleven Eleven


See also

* Cumbo Gunnerah * Gunnedah Shire Council


References


External links


Visit GunnedahGunnedah Shire CouncilGunnedah High SchoolGunnedah -VisitNSW.com
{{authority control Towns in New South Wales North West Slopes Populated places established in 1833 1833 establishments in Australia Gunnedah Shire