Coonabarabran

The origin of the name Coonabarabran is unconfirmed. It may derive from a person's name or from the Kamilaroi language word 'gunbaraaybaa' meaning 'excrement', translated earlier as meaning, 'peculiar odour', this is possibly a bowdlerisation.

Another possible meaning is derived from the Wiradjuri word for an inquisitive person, ‘gunabaraburan’. 'Coolabarabran' was the name of a station owned by James Weston in 1848.[4]

The area around Coonabarabran and the Warrumbungles has been occupied by the Kamilaroi people for approximately 7,500 years. In 1818, the area was opened up for European settlement, when the surveyor-general for the Colony of New South Wales, John Oxley, made an expedition through the north-west areas of the colony. Oxley surveyed the area around the Warrumbungles mountain range, which he named the "Arbuthnot Range".[5]

The former convict, James Weston (1800–1883), who was assigned to the Cassilis area in the Upper Hunter Region before being granted his freedom in 1843, acquired the agricultural area known as "Coolabarbyan" in the district in 1843.[5] Weston was among the first permanent settlers in the district, cultivating 20 acres of wheat and constructing a water-powered mill to make flour from his crops on the southern bank of the Castlereagh River (now Neilson Park), being appointed postmaster in 1849, and establishing the first inn, the "Castlereagh Inn" in the early 1850s.[6] In 1859, the town was first surveyed by Lewis Gordon, with the first sale of land recorded in 1859.[5] European sttlement continued to grow from the 1860s, as the wheat industry moved from coastal areas to further inland, encouraged by the Robertson Land Acts.[6] A Police watch house was completed in 1857, and the first Court House was completed in 1861. The Village of Coonabarabran was gazetted on 2 May 1860.[6] In 1870, the Public School was opened.[7] After construction of a new stone courthouse in 1878 the original courthouse was demolished and a post and telegraph office constructed on its site in 1879.

The Coonabarabran Shire was proclaimed on 7 March 1906, with the enactment of the Local Government (Shires) Act 1905.[8] With incorporation, the town continued to grow with the construction of the railway line through Binnaway to Coonabarabran in 1917 (extended to Baradine and Gwabegar in 1923) and the establishment of the Forestry Commission in 1916, both of which facilitated the growth of agriculture and forestry as the primary industries of the region.[9]

In 1926–1928, a local committee organised the development of the town memorial to the First World War in the form of the Coonabarabran Memorial Clock Tower at the central town intersection of John Street and Dalgarno Street. Built from local sandstone by Edmund Pye of Gunnedah at a cost of £1,300, the clock tower was officially dedicated on 23 August 1928 by Major General Charles Frederick Cox.[10][11]

Coonabarabran has a number of heritage-listed sites, including those listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register (SHR), State Government Agency Section 170 Registers (s.170), and the Warrumbungle Local Environmental Plan (LEP). The first heritage listings occurred under the now-defunct national Register of the National Estate in 1978, and the Coonabarabran Local Environmental Plan 1990, but no further local level studies have been undertaken since.[12]

• Coonabarabran Railway Precinct (s.170)[13]
• Dalgarno Street: Coonabarabran General Cemetery (LEP)[14][15]
• John and Dalgarno streets: Coonabarabran Clock Tower (LEP)[16]
• John and Dalgarno streets: Coonabarabran Courthouse (LEP & s.170)[17][18]
• Main Road, 55: Flags Inn Site (LEP; Archaeological)[19]
• Oxley Highway: Burra Bee Dee Mission and Cemetery (SHR & LEP)[20][21][22][23]
• 4km west of Bulgaldie: Chalk Mountain Area (LEP)[24]

According to the 2016 Census, there were 2,537 people in Coonabarabran.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 15.7% of the population.
• 82.8% of people were born in Australia and 87.5% of people spoke only English at home.
• The most common responses for religion were Anglican 25.2%, No Religion 23.8% and Catholic 22.8%.[1]

Coonabarabran is the closest town to the Siding Spring Observatory, which is home to the 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope, the largest optical telescope in Australia. It is operated by the Australian Astronomical Observatory (formerly the Anglo-Australian Observatory). A dozen other telescopes are on Siding Spring Mountain, a number of which are operated by the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University. Siding Spring is also home to the Uppsala Telescope where Robert H. McNaught discovered his now famous daylight comet C/2006 P1 in August 2006. The Mopra Observatory, which is home to a 22-metre radio telescope owned and operated by the CSIRO is also near the Siding Spring Observatory, but is operated remotely from Narrabri. A recent addition to the town was the construction of the world's largest virtual solar system drive[25] on the roads leading to the observatory. Coonabarabran markets itself as the "astronomy capital of Australia", many of the businesses and government buildings in the town feature astronomically themed information plaques.

The Coonabarabran Post Office

Being a small country town, Coonabarabran has limited shops. There is a major chain shopping centre, Woolworths and a new IGA has opened after a major redevelopment of the Dalgarno St site (formerly Foodworks, Coles, Bi-lo, Tuckerbag, Payless, Permewans, and many others over the years), plus the fast food store Subway.

The Anglican Christ Church at 94 Dalgarno Street was opened in 1939 by Bishop Arnold Wylde to a design by Lindsay Gordon Scott.[26][27][28]

Other Churches include St. Lawrence's Catholic Church, Presbyterian Church, Uniting Church and Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Coonabarabran has a subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with hot summers and cool winters. On average, 56.6 mornings (including 16.3 in July) fall below 0 °C or 32 °F; and in July 2002 the monthly mean minimum was as low as −3.5 °C or 25.7 °F. Rainfall is greatest from December to February with summer thunderstorms. Temperature extremes have historically ranged from 44.0 °C or 111.2 °F to −9.0 °C or 15.8 °F.

Independently owned and operated, the Coonabarabran Times newspaper circulates throughout the Warrumbungle Shire area. Approximately 2700 copies are distributed each Thursday across the townships of Coonabarabran, Binnaway, Baradine, Coolah, Dunedoo, Mendooran and Mullaley. The Coonabarabran Times was founded in 1927 as an amalgamation of The Bligh Watchman (1877–1927) and The Clarion (1910–1927). It continues to be a solid publication, consisting of local news and issues facing the community, sport, events and advertisements.

Coonabarabran was one of the earliest towns to have a dedicated website after registering Coonabarabran.com in 1999 and creating a website in 2001.[30] The site was closed and the domain sat idle after mismanagement of the domain after the closure of the Coonabarabran Technology Centre in 2013. A local individual then created Coonabarabran.org in 2013 which now hosts Coonabarabran News,[31] an online curation of local news and interest stories.

Coonabarabran also has a Facebook page and Twitter account under the Coonabarabran name.

The area is currently served by a small community radio station, 2WCR FM. This station broadcasts on 99.5 FM. It has a good broadcasting range but it can be a bit scratchy due to the hill-like terrain.

Old Coonabarabran Court House

War memorial at Coonabarabran

Castlereagh River

In Coonabarabran are three schools:

• Elizabeth Bryan, chair of Insurance Australia Group
• Mary Jane Cain, indigenous Australian who was instrumental in the 1912 establishment of the "Burra Bee Dee" Aboriginal Reserve
• Gerard Sutton, rugby league referee
• Kylea Tink, businesswoman and charity CEO
• Kyle Turner, rugby league player 2014 premiership winner with South Sydney
• Will Robinson, rugby league player

The township is on the Newell Highway and the Oxley Highway, approximately halfway between Melbourne and Brisbane and can be reached in about six hours by car from Sydney. It is on the main inland truck route between Queensland and Victoria.

The Gwabegar railway line passes through the town. Passenger rail services were replaced by coaches in the 1970s. The section of the Gwabegar line between Binnaway and Gwabegar is booked out of use, from 28 October 2005 for safety reasons.[36]

Coonabarabran Airport is 12 km south of the town.

• Media related to Coonabarabran, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons
• Strap on your seatbelts and launch into Coonabarabran, The Astronomy Capital of Australia. Experience a scaled model of our Solar System that's 38 million times smaller than outer space!
• Coonabarabran Astronomy Capital of Australia
• Australia Telescope National Facility

Coonabarabran travel guide from Wikivoyage