Coonamble

Coonamble
New South Wales
Castlereagh St, the main street of Coonamble
Coonamble is located in New South Wales
Coonamble
Coonamble
Coordinates30°57′0″S 148°24′0″E / 30.95000°S 148.40000°E / -30.95000; 148.40000
Population2,750 (2016 census)[1]
Postcode(s)2829
Elevation180 m (591 ft)
Location
LGA(s)Coonamble
RegionOrana
CountyLeichhardt
State electorate(s)Barwon
Federal division(s)Parkes
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
26.6 °C
80 °F
11.6 °C
53 °F
504.9 mm
19.9 in

Coonamble is a town on the central-western plains of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the Castlereagh Highway north-west of Gilgandra. At the 2016 census, Coonamble had a population of 2,750.[1] It is the regional hub for wheat growing and sheep and wool. The name for the town is taken from the Gamilaraay word guna (faeces) and -bil (having much).[2]

Brigidine nuns from Ireland established a school in 1883.[3] Their architecturally distinguished convent was dismantled in 1990 and transported 600 km (373 mi) to Pokolbin, where it now houses The Convent resort.[4]

Although Coonamble had been a major sheep industry region in the 1980s to 2000, there has recently been an increasing interest in cattle rearing. The summers can have temperatures reaching up to 40 °C (104 °F) and in winter, there are nights as cold as 0 °C (32 °F). Most recently Coonamble has gained media coverage due to their mass floods over Christmas 2009.

  1. ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Coonamble (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 24 August 2017. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ Giacon, John (26 March 2011). "Etymology of Yuwaalaraay Gamilaraay Bird Names". Archived from the original on 22 December 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  3. ^ Kerri Genovese. "The Brigidine new arrival story". Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  4. ^ "The Convent Hunter Valley: Our history". Retrieved 2 April 2017.