COONAMBLE INFORMATION

Latitude:-30.9753 S    Longitude: 148.3806 E    Elevation:  180.0 m

Coonamble (and Macquarie Marshes)
Pleasant service town on the Castlereagh River.
Coonamble is a smallish country town of some 3000 people on the Castlereagh River, 569 km north-west of Sydney, 93 km north of Gilgandra and 180 m above sea-level. It is essentially a service centre to the largest shire in NSW (almost 10 000 sq km) which covers the western slopes of the Warrumbungle Range and the alluvial plains of the Castlereagh. Wheat, sheep and cattle are the economic mainstays, though there is a significant horse industry and a number of famous stud farms.

As far as can be determined, the original inhabitants of the area were the Kamilaroi, Kawambarai and Weilwan tribes. The town's name derives from an Aboriginal term 'gunambil', thought by some to mean 'full of bullock's dung', though the last surviving full-blood Aborigine of he area asserted that meant 'full of dirt'. This would appear to be either a reference to the arid nature of the terrain during drought or perhaps to the fact that the river bed is, for the most part, dry, owing to the fact that it flows underground when rains are absent.

The first Europeans in the area were the 1818 party of John Oxley. A member of the team, George Evans, encountered the Castlereagh near the future townsite, naming it after Lord Castlereagh, the secretary of state for the colonies.

In 1840 James Walker established the first run in the area; that being the 'Koonamble' station, settled by his agent. It soon became a watering place and campsite for passing stockmen.

Land on either side of the river was reserved for a townsite in 1855. In 1859 it was surveyed and the first post office established. The township was gazetted in 1861 with the first courthouse and lock-up built in 1862.

In 1865, bushranger John Dunn, the only surviving member of Ben Hall's gang, was surprised at his camp near Quambone (50 km west of Coonamble). Shot in the foot he hobbled away until shot in the back. As the constable approached Dunn sat up and shot the officer in the groin. Two more constables arrived and he fought them with his pistol butt but was overpowered. Put under light guard, owing to his injuries, he crawled away at night time, only to be found 3 km away the next morning. He was hanged for murder the following year.

The first public school was erected in 1869 with a police station and stables added in 1870. The local economy changed in its focus from cattle to sheep in the 1870s and amidst the general economic expansion of the 1870s and 1880s, the population increased from 209 in 1871 to 1680 in 1901. Consequently a new courthouse was built in 1877. It was the first government building of brick in town. The first council meeting was held there when Coonamble was declared a municipality in 1880.

A bridge was built over the river in 1883 (it was replaced 100 years later). Prior to that the main river crossing was at Tooloon St and people were ferried across by means of a government boat in flood periods.

The first bore south of the Darling River was drilled at Coonamble in 1894 and the town and district still rely on artesian water. This event greatly benefited the town, as did the arrival of the railway from Dubbo in 1903.

A great fire struck the town in 1929, destroying almost all of the pre-war buildings in Castlereagh St. It is said the glow could be seen in Gilgandra, nearly 100 km distant.

The Coonamble Show is held in May, the rodeo in June and the Coonamble Gold Cup in October.

Visit the Coonamble website here.

WEATHER INFORMATION

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Information from http://walkabout.com.au/index.shtml and the Bureau of Meterology.