Moonbi is a village situated on 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, ...

20 kilometres north of

Tamworth, New South Wales Tamworth is a city and administrative centre of the north-eastern region of New South Wales, Australia. Situated on the Peel River (New South Wales), Peel River within the local government area of the Tamworth Regional Council, it is the largest ...

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 ...

. It is nestled at the foot of the

Moonbi Range The Moonbi Range, a mountain range that is part of the Great Dividing Range, is located in the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The range is located roughly north east of the city of Tamworth situated at the bottom of the ...

and is part of the

Tamworth Regional Council Tamworth Regional Council is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the New England (Australia), New England region of New South Wales, Australia. The area under administration is located adjacent to the New England Highway an ...

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 ...

. Moonbi is located a few kilometres to the north of the town of Kootingal. At the 2006 census, Moonbi had a population of 357 people. The village is renowned as a centre for the poultry industry with many large poultry farms and associated industries located around the area. Moonbi has erected a large fibreglass chicken in recognition of the poultry industry centred here. The surrounding area has many small 'lifestyle' blocks that are often used to run horses.

History

The Moonbi area is the traditional land 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 ...

(or Gamilaraay) and Anaiwon Aboriginal people. William Dangar and Edward Cory crossed the ranges in 1830. "Cory's Pillar", also known as Cory's Nightcap, is a prominent balancing stone landmark seen on the right of the New England Highway when travelling northwards on the first Moonbi Hill. A village was settled there in the 1850s when bullock teams and travellers began passing through the region in search of new land for their

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

. During this period there were two inns and one hotel there. In 1859 a post office opened at Moonby Station and in 1882 the Moonbi Public School opened. In August 2007 Moonbi became the centre of attention in the wake of the quarantined horses and lockdown at Moonbi Recreation Ground as a result of the equine influenza outbreak. This followed the running of

dressage Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...

competitions here during the outbreak of EI. The situation was made difficult as no accommodation was available here for the horse owners. The village has a post office, public school, recreation ground, pony club grounds, general store, nursing home, produce retailer, roadhouse, service station and a rubber belting supplies and engineering company. Travelling north along the New England Highway, on the first Moonbi Hill, is the Moonbi Lookout perched on a huge

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

outcrop with some beautiful views of Moonbi and the Cockburn Valley.

Transport

Tamworth Buslines operates a bus service between Moonbi, Bendemeer and Tamworth.

References

External links

* Kootingal-Moonbi General Cemetery: http://cemindex.arkangles.com/cemetery.php?id=212 {{authority control Towns in New South Wales Towns in New England (New South Wales) Tamworth Regional Council