Nyngan () is a town in the centre of

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 ...

, in the

Bogan Shire Bogan Shire is a local government area in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Mitchell and Barrier highways and its only significant town is Nyngan. The Municipality of Nyngan was proclaimed o ...

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 ...

within the Orana Region of central New South Wales. At the 2016 census, Nyngan had a population of 1,988 people. Nyngan is situated on the

Bogan River Bogan River, a perennial river that is part of the Macquarie– Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the central west and Orana regions of New South Wales, Australia. From its origin near Parkes, the Bogan River ...

between

Narromine Narromine (Help:IPA/English, /næroʊmaɪn/) is a rural Australian town located approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Dubbo in the Orana, New South Wales, Orana region of New South Wales. The town is at the centre of Narromine Shire. ...

and Bourke, on the junction of the

Mitchell Highway Mitchell Highway is an outback state highway located in the central and south western regions of Queensland and the northern and central western regions of New South Wales in Australia. The southern part of Mitchell Highway forms part of t ...

and

Barrier Highway Barrier Highway is a highway in South Australia and New South Wales, and is designated part of route A32. The name of the highway is derived from the Barrier Ranges, an area of moderately high ground in the far west of New South Wales, through ...

, south of Charleville and north-west 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 ...

by road. The Barrier Highway starts at Nyngan, and runs west to

Cobar Cobar is a town in Outback New South Wales, Australia, whose economy is based mainly upon base metals and gold mining. The town is by road northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Barrier Highwa ...

and on through

Wilcannia Wilcannia is a small town located within the Central Darling Shire in north western New South Wales, Australia. Located on the Darling River, the town was the third largest inland port in the country during the river boat era of the mid-19th c ...

and

Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...

into

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. Nyngan Airport is a small airport just north of the town centre. Nyngan also lies on the

Main Western railway line The Main Western Railway (or Great Western Railway) is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through the Blue Mountains (Australia), Blue Mountains, and Central West, New South Wales, Central West regions. It is long, of which ...

of New South Wales but is no longer served by passenger trains. The line remains open to freight traffic. About south of the town, a

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

was erected in 1988 marking the centre of NSW.

History

The district was originally inhabited by the

Wangaibon The Wangaaypuwan, also known as the Wongaibon or Ngiyampaa Wangaaypuwan, are an Aboriginal Australian people who traditionally lived between Nyngan, the headwaters of Bogan Creek, and on Tigers Camp and Boggy Cowal creeks and west to Ivanhoe, ...

Peoples The term "the people" refers to the public or common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. In contrast, a ...

. Thomas Mitchell explored the Bogan River in 1835, camping on the future townsite. He recorded the local Aboriginal word ''nyingan'', said to mean 'long pond of water', though other meanings have been put forward, such as mussel or crayfish. Squatters had settled in Mitchell's wake before he had begun his return journey. The town flourished after completion of the railway line in 1883. The little town of Canonba, 25 kilometres to the north-east on Duck Creek, is part of the history of Nyngan. From the early 1840s until the middle 'eighties, it grew and flourished, servicing Canonba Station and other properties, and Cobb and Co. travellers. In the early 1880s there were about four hotels, three or four banks, various stores and tradesmen, a police station, a telegraph and money-order office, and representatives of churches. The Western Railway by-passed Canonba, and where it crossed the Bogan was Nyngan. The Canonba populace, goods and public institutions then all moved to Nyngan. By 1890 it was practically empty. The Municipality of Nyngan was proclaimed on 17 February 1891 with Nyngan having a population of 1355.

The 1990 Nyngan flood

In April 1990, unusually heavy rains (which had caused flooding in

Charleville, Queensland Charleville () is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Murweh, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Charleville had a population of 2,992. Geography Located in southwestern Queensland, Aust ...

with total damages of up to $300 million) caused major flooding in the town, despite a massive effort by local people to raise the levee walls using sandbags. With the town almost completely flooded, all the residents had to be evacuated by helicopter from the railway station, the highest point of the town, which was not flooded. Air Force helicopters, TV news helicopters and private helicopters all co-operated in the airlift. The total damage amounted to $50 million. The airlift is commemorated by an Army helicopter placed outside of the Nyngan Railway Station. The railway station now houses a museum which includes exhibits relating to the 1990 flood. (The station had not been regularly used for train passengers since about 1980; the railway line to Bourke has been out of use since 17 May 1989 but the Cobar line remains open to carry ore and wheat).

Climate

Nyngan experiences a

hot semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

(Köppen: ''BSh''), with long, very hot summers and short, cool winters, with a slight summer peak in rainfall mainly owed to severe thunderstorms. Seasonal range is considerable in both maximum and minimum temperatures.

Heritage listings

Nyngan has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Cemetery Road: Chinese Graves and Burner at Nyngan Cemetery * 77–79 Cobar Street: Nyngan Court House

Solar power

Approximately west of the town is one of Australia's largest photovoltaic power stations, with 1.36 million solar panels. It was the largest solar PV plant in Australia when launched in July 2016. It complements another plant at Broken Hill, which was expected to be fully operational by the end of 2015, for a combined

capacity Capacity or capacities may refer to: Mathematics, science, and engineering * Capacity of a container, closely related to the volume of the container * Capacity of a set, in Euclidean space, the total charge a set can hold while maintaining a giv ...

of .

Media

The town is serviced by

Outback Radio 2WEB Outback Radio 2WEB is a community radio station broadcasting from Bourke, situated in far western New South Wales. Its broadcast area serves the communities of Bourke, Cobar, Nyngan, Coonamble, Walgett, Lightning Ridge, Wilcannia and many ...

on 100.7 MHz.

Gallery

Image:Nyngan-Railway-Station.JPG, Railway station (now museum), Nyngan Image:Nyngan-helicopter.JPG, Helicopter commemorating the airlift during the 1990 floods Image:Bogan_River-Nyngan.JPG, The Bogan River at Nyngan Image:Bogan Shire Library, Nyngan.jpg, Bogan Shire Library, 73 Cobar Street Nyngan, New South Wales Image:Railwaystn.jpg, Nyngan railway station during the 1990 evacuation

References

External links

* * {{authority control * Towns in New South Wales Central West (New South Wales) Bogan Shire Main Western railway line, New South Wales