Urunga is a small town located within the

Mid North Coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgoolg ...

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, in

Bellingen Shire Bellingen Shire is a local government area in the mid north coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Pacific Highway, Waterfall Way and the North Coast railway line. The Mayor of the Bellingen Shire is ...

. It is famous for its surf spots (reefs, beaches and mouth of two rivers). At the , Urunga had a population of 3,020. The town is south of

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

and Sawtell and north of

Nambucca Heads Nambucca Heads is a town on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia in the Nambucca Valley. It is located on a ridge, north of the estuary of the Nambucca River near the Pacific Highway. Its 2021 population was 6,675 (6,327 in 2016 ...

. The place name, ''Urunga'' (pronounced Yoo-run-ga), is derived from the Gumbaynggir word ''Yurūnga'' (pronounced Yu-roon-ga), which is derived from the word for long ''yurūn'' in reference to "long white sands".

Geography

There are two main streets, and both a

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

club and a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

club. A weekly 6-a-side soccer competition is held on Thursdays at the Oval on Morgo Street, colloquially known as the Cabbage Patch or simply 'The Patch'.

History

Urunga is a fishing ground, with

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including ''Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), ''Acanthopagrus'', '' Argyrops'', ''Blicca'', '' Brama'', ''Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', ''Lepo ...

being the main sport fish. The Urunga boardwalk, leading over the tidal Urunga Lagoon then out to the beach, was rebuilt in 1988 and extended in 1991. The full boardwalk was completed in 2007. In November 2010, a further section of boardwalk was completed. This extension finishes at the mouth of the river and has taken the length of the boardwalk to almost . Hungry Head, to the south is the only patrolled beach in Urunga. On 8 December 2017, the Federal Court of Australia determined that the Gumbaynggirr People have native title rights and interests over an area of land and waters at Wenonah Head, near Urunga. This determination resolved the oldest native title claim in New South Wales.

Culture

Urunga celebrates Father's Day with a "Picnic in the Park" in September and a Flathead fishing comp in November.

Education

Urunga Public School

Stepping Stones preschool

Transport

Urunga railway station Urunga railway station is located on the North Coast line in New South Wales, Australia. It serves the town of Urunga, opening on 19 March 1923. Platforms and services Urunga has one platform. Each day northbound XPT services operate to Gr ...

opened on the North Coast line in 1923 and continues to be served by country passenger trains.

Urunga Wetlands

In May 2017 the Urunga

Wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s were opened to the public. It features a wheelchair accessible 150-metre boardwalk and a 450-metre walking track surrounding the park. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the area was the site of a processing plant used for extracting the heavy metal

antimony Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (from la, stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb2S3). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient time ...

from its ore,

stibnite Stibnite, sometimes called antimonite, is a sulfide mineral with the formula Sb2 S3. This soft grey material crystallizes in an orthorhombic space group. It is the most important source for the metalloid antimony. The name is derived from the ...

. Antimony and other heavy metals leached into the surrounding

melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They range in size ...

wetlands creating what was claimed to be "one of the most polluted natural environments in New South Wales." In 2015 a $10 million

reclamation Reclaim, reclaimed, reclaimer, reclaiming or reclamation means "to get something back". It may refer to: * Land reclamation, creating new land from oceans, riverbeds, or lake beds * Dedesertification, reversing of the land degradation in arid ...

project began that involved treating over 36,000 tonnes of contaminated soils at the site and its storage in an onsite containment cell.

Water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

of the wetlands has returned to acceptable levels and birds and other wildlife have started to return since completion of the project.

Gallery

Image:Urunga1.JPG Image:Urunga2.JPG Image:Urunga3.JPG Image:Urunga4.JPG

References

External links

All inclusive free community websiteVISITNSW.com - Urunga
{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Mid North Coast Coastal towns in New South Wales Bellingen Shire