Guyra is a town situated midway between

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 23,967 as of the 2021 census. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands reg ...

and Glen Innes on the Northern Tablelands in 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 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. It is within

Armidale Regional Council The Armidale Region is a local government area in the New England and Northern Tablelands regions of New South Wales, Australia. This area was formed in 2016 from the merger of the Armidale Dumaresq Shire with the surrounding Guyra Shire. T ...

and at the 2021 census, it had a population of 2,077. Material was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
The

New England Highway New England Highway is an long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, Queensland, Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland, at its northern end to Hexham, New South Wales, Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, New South Wales, ...

is the main transport link to Guyra. The Northern Railway tracks still pass through the town, but the line is now disused north of

. Guyra is located to one side of the Mother of Ducks Lagoon which is contained within the crater of an extinct volcano. The Mother of Ducks Lagoon Nature Reserve has been placed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

. The golf course, picnic areas and a walkway to a viewing platform are situated on the shores of the lagoon. All rivers on the eastern side of the railway line that runs through the town flow towards the Pacific Ocean, while those west of the railway line run west, ultimately to join the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Dhungala'' or ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Aust ...

History

The Gamilaaray group of

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

were the inhabitants of the region surrounding Guyra. It was originally known as Hillgo'el or Illgoel, an Aboriginal word of the Yukambal meaning a "swamp" and was later changed to the name of Marsh's run, "Guyra". The name Guyra is said to originate from the language of the Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi,Gomeroi)people; meaning 'white cockatoo' or 'fishing place'. The Gumbayniggir group of

were the inhabitants of eastern Guyra surrounding area. Guyra was known to the Gumbayniggir people as Black Cockatoo which can be found in the Kumbangirir Language booklet. Settlement by European farmers began in the 1835 when Alexander Campbell took up Guyra Station, which encompassed the present town area. Ollera Station was settled in 1838 and had the first church in the Guyra district when it was built in 1876. In 1840 Donald McIntyre was recorded as the lessee of "Gyra"; and in 1848 'Guyra' then , was leased by Charles William Marsh. The Great Northern Railway was extended through Guyra in 1884. Guyra was proclaimed as a village on 20 March 1885. Dairying was an important industry during the 1890s after which potato growing became more popular. Guyra Post Office opened on 1 May 1877. The railway was officially opened on 19 August 1884, as part of the Great Northern Railway extension from Armidale to Glen Innes. Guyra became the focus of national attention on 5 February 1960 when a four-year-old boy named Steven Walls wandered off from his father on a property north of the town and became lost for four days. Hundreds of volunteers searched the bush for the boy until he was discovered asleep against a log. His immediate question to searchers was 'Where's my daddy, where's my daddy?'; which gave rise to a hit song by singer Johnny Ashcroft, entitled 'Little Boy Lost'. A

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

of the events was later commercially made using many of the local people of Guyra and shown across Australia. Guyra was home to a large regional

abattoir In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat ...

that employed up to 350 staff until it closed in 1995. The abattoir building now houses an angora rabbit breeding establishment.

Heritage listings

Guyra has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * Main Northern railway: Guyra railway station

Geography and climate

Located on a volcanic uplift of the Northern Tablelands, the town is the highest in Australia at 1,330 metres (4,364 feet) above sea level. The town is known for its cold winters, by Australian standards, with an average of 42 nights below each year and some snowfalls. Owing to Guyra's position on a high plateau, it rarely gets above 30 °C (86 °F) during summer, which is unusual for any Australian town. The record maximum temperature for Guyra is on 11 February 2017, recorded at Guyra's current station at the hospital. The record minimum temperature is recorded on 26 June 1971 at Guyra Post Office. On 3–4 July 1984, an intense and widespread cold snap produced moderate to heavy snowfalls throughout the Northern Tablelands, including Guyra. During the event, Guyra recorded a maximum temperature of on 3 July and on 4 July. The maximum for 3 July is the most northerly sub-zero maximum temperature recorded in Australia. On one of the days during the event, Guyra recorded a 3 pm temperature of , possibly the coldest mid-afternoon reading outside the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range, a cordillera syste ...

. On 12 October 2012, widespread snowfalls unusually late in the year were recorded over the Northern Tablelands, including Guyra, which recorded at 9am that day.

Industries

The principal industries include fine

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

and prime lambs, beef

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es and

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

es. A 20 ha

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

has been built at Guyra which will employ up to 240 workers and produce 12 million kg of tomatoes making them the largest tomato producer in Australia. Top of the Range Tomatoes, Guyra won the Northern Inland Development Innovation Award for Agriculture and also the Innovator of the Year Award in 2007. The main annual celebration is the Lamb and Potato Festival held in January. Other events are the Guyra Show, held in February each year, the Rotary Christmas Carnival in December and in 2009 the first Mountain Bike Challenge was held on 14 March as a fundraiser for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter service.Up to the challenge
Retrieved on 2 May 2009 Trout fishing is a popular pastime with local streams stocked yearly. Laura Creek flowing from Guyra to the west is popular and is accessed via Balderseigh Road. Fishing cabins and cottages are available for accommodation at 26 km. The local bowling club boasts of being the highest (elevation above sea level) bowling green in the southern hemisphere, which is in fact not correct as there are several lawn bowling clubs in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, South Africa, which is at several hundred metres higher elevation than Guyra. There are many local organisations such as Lions and Rotary. The town also has a strong sporting background with

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 ...

polocrosse Polocrosse is a team sport that is a combination of polo and lacrosse. It is played outside, on a field (the pitch), on horseback. Each rider uses a cane or fiberglass stick to which is attached a racquet head with a loose, thread net, in which ...

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 ...

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

, and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

teams. Guyra also has bowling greens, tennis courts, a cricket field and a gun and

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

range.

Population

According to the 2021 census of Population, there were 2,077 people in Guyra. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 9.5% of the population. * 73.2% of people were born in Australia and 77.4% of people spoke only English at home. * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 27.5%, Anglican 22.4% and Catholic 19.0.

References

{{authority control Towns in New South Wales Towns in New England (New South Wales) Armidale Regional Council