Wee Waa () is a town located on the north-western slopes of the

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

region in

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The town is within the

Narrabri Shire Narrabri Shire is a local government area in the North West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Namoi River and the Newell and Kamilaroi Highways. It was formed on 1 January 1981 from the amalga ...

local government area and is on the

Namoi River The Namoi River, a major perennial river that is part of the Barwon catchment of the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes districts of New South Wales, Australia. The Namoi River rises on the west ...

. Wee Waa is north-west of

Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire Local government in Australia, local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Hi ...

and northwest of

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 ...

on the

Kamilaroi Highway Kamilaroi Highway is a state highway located in the north-western region of New South Wales, Australia, and links via and to . The highway is named after the Kamilaroi Indigenous Australian people who live in the area. Route The highway b ...

. At the , Wee Waa had a population of 1,571. Wee Waa is 42 kilometres from the

Newell Highway Newell Highway is a National Highway (Australia), national highway in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It provides the major road link between southeastern Queensland and Victoria (state), Victoria via central NSW and as such carries large amo ...

, and is referred to as a gateway to the far west centres of Walgett, Collarenebri, Lightning Ridge

opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Due to the amorphous (chemical) physical structure, it is classified as a ...

fields and beyond. The Aboriginal meaning of Wee Waa is "Fire for Roasting" from the language of 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 ...

people. The town is known to be the "Cotton Capital of Australia" as a rural community situated in the rich agricultural heartland of the Lower Namoi Valley in NSW. The town services a far greater rural community as well as the villages of Burren Junction, Pilliga and Gwabegar. The town is situated approximately

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

History

Before the arrival of European settlers, the Wee Waa area was inhabited by the

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 ...

/Kamilaroi Aboriginal people. The Wee Waa run was taken up by squatter George Hobler in 1837 and the settlement developed. It became an administrative centre in the late 1840s. A police station and court of petty sessions were established in 1847 and a post office opened two years later. It is the oldest established town in the area and is the birthplace of the commercial

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

industry in Australia. Rail services were extended in 1901 from Narrabri to Walgett, passing through the town. The first commercial cotton plantation was established in 1961, irrigated with water from the Keepit Dam on the Namoi River. It was the first town built on the Namoi River. The town is subject to regular floods and is protected by a

levee A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...

bank. However thousands of people were isolated on properties around Wee Waa in February 2012.

Environment

Natural

The Wee Waa district has a mean summer minimum temperature of and a maximum of . Mean winter temperatures range from to . Mean annual rainfall is , falling on 80 days of the year. The town and surrounding area have often been flooded by the Namoi River, which can require supplies to be flown in by helicopter.

Man made

The town has two motels, four schools, a preschool, Nurruby Wee Waa Early Education Service, two hotels and two caravan parks as well as eating-places, a public swimming pool, a nine-hole golf course, bowling club, tennis courts, a modern sporting complex, a hostel for the aged and a new medical centre. Wee Waa is serviced by

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 ...

rail services, interstate coaches, and daily air services offered through Narrabri.

Notable events

In 1973 Arthur Murray led the Aboriginal cotton-chippers on strike for better pay and working conditions. The Wee Waa Echo called them "radicals and professional troublemakers", adding that "it is not fanciful to see the Aboriginal problem as the powder keg for Communist aggression in Australia". It was in Wee Waa police station that rugby player

Eddie Murray Eddie Clarence Murray (born February 24, 1956), nicknamed "Steady Eddie", is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman, designated hitter, and coach. Spending most of his MLB career with the Baltimore Orioles, he ranks fourth ...

died in 1981, one of the Aboriginal deaths in custody that prompted a

Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

to be set up. It was also the first town in Australia to use

DNA testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

to find a rapist. On 17 May 2013 at the 79th Annual Wee Waa Show,

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

held the global launch party for the French electronic music duo

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

's album ''

Random Access Memories ''Random Access Memories'' is the fourth and final studio album by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, released on 17 May 2013 through Columbia Records. It pays tribute to late Music history of the United States in the 1970s, 1970s and e ...

''. This caused much excitement in the town and it attracted an estimated 2,500 tourists. It was initially believed that footage recorded from the event would be used for a music video; however, this did not come to fruition.

Sport

The town has a multi-function Sports Complex, which also acts as a ''de facto'' community centre. The most popular sport in Wee Waa 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 name of the town's club is the Wee Waa Panthers. The Panthers compete in the

Group 4 Rugby League Group 4 is a rugby league competition in the New England and north west area of New South Wales, run under the auspices of the Country Rugby League. Structure The Group runs a first grade, reserve grade, league tag and under 18s competitions. All ...

competition, which is based in the areas surrounding Tamworth. The club's most famous export is

Jamie Lyon Jamie Lyon (born 24 January 1982), also known by the nickname of "Killer", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin represe ...

. A club junior, Lyon famously left his professional career with the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

to return for a season with the Wee Waa Panthers. The first-grade team went on to win that year (2004) against Moree, 55 to 12. Lyon returned to professional football with St Helens for two years to play in the European

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

. Following this, Lyon played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles playing from 2007 to 2016, winning a premiership in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. The local

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club is the Wee Waa United Football Club. In 2019, the club won the Namoi Premier League beating Narrabri FC 2–1 in extra time. The game was broadcast across the state on BarTV. Wee Waa produced

Andrew Curry Andrew Curry (born 2 July 1972, Melbourne) is an Australian producer and actor who has appeared in many television drama and comedy series, and in feature films. Early life Alongside his actor brothers Bernard Curry and Stephen Curry, Curry a ...

, the former Australian Olympic javelin athlete and the nation's leading javelin specialist in the 1990s. Curry competed at two Olympic games; Atlanta 1996 & Sydney 2000. Additionally, Curry competed in three Commonwealth Games: 1994 Victoria, 1998 Kuala Lumpur, and 2002 Manchester. Wee Waa is known for its large population of southern blue-tip yabbies. On 4 September 1995, Eric Gordon set the Australian record, catching a specimen that measured 47cm.

Notable residents

Vincent Ball Vincent Martin Ball, (born 4 December 1923) is an Australian retired actor of film, theatre and radio active in the industry for nearly 55 years (with a brief return) firstly in Britain starting in the late 1940s and then his native Australia ...

, actor (born 4 December 1923) * Andrew Currey, nine-time national champion in the men's javelin throw * Braydon Trindall, professional rugby league footballer

References

External links

WeeWaa.com
{{authority control Towns in New England (New South Wales) North West Slopes Narrabri Shire