Coolac is a village in the

Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...

region 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 Gundagai Council. At the , Coolac had a population of 244.

History

The name ''Coolac'' is derived from the local Aboriginal name for a plant which was abundant in the area and also from the Aboriginal word meaning "native bear". Coolac Post Office opened on 1 June 1870. The 11 kilometre section of the

Hume Highway The Hume Highway, including the sections now known as the Hume Freeway and the Hume Motorway, is one of Australia's major inter-city national highways, running for between Melbourne in the southwest and Sydney in the northeast. Upgrading of t ...

at Coolac was the last two-lane section of highway between Sydney and the Sturt Highway interchange. Since 1986, plans had been drawn-up for the Coolac bypass, with a review of environmental factors report completed in 1997 but construction did not commence until May 2007 with the project opening in August 2009 - Under

AusLink AusLink is a former Government of Australia land transport funding program, that operated between June 2004 and 2009. The former program was administered by the former Department of Transport & Regional Services. In 2009, the program was replaced ...

. In August 2009, the Coolac bypass was officially opened.

Bald Archy

The satirical Bald Archy art competition (named from the more prestigious

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

) began in Coolac at the Coolac Festival of Fun, launched by Peter Batey. The home of this competition is now the Museum of the Riverina in

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

and it also travels to

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

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

for exhibition once Maude the Cockatoo, who is the official judge, selects the winning entries each year.

Coolac Geological Site

The Coolac Geological Site north-east of Coolac, is the best known example in Australia of a substantial

ophiolite An ophiolite is a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle (Earth), upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed, and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks. The Greek word ὄφις, ''ophis'' (''snake'') is ...

assemblage. The distinctive rock assemblage over a site provides insights into events in the continental evolution of eastern Australia.for example
abstract of article in GeoScience World ''Tectonic significance of 400 Ma zircon ages for ophiolitic rocks from the Lachlan fold belt, eastern Australia''
and an article in th

The rocks here were part of the

oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramaf ...

and mantle, normally not exposed on the Earth's surface. The rock from the mantle is called Coolac

Serpentinite Serpentinite is a metamorphic rock composed predominantly of serpentine group minerals formed by serpentinization of mafic or ultramafic rocks. The ancient origin of the name is uncertain; it may be from the similarity of its texture or color ...

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council