Narrabri

History

Before the arrival of the Europeans in the early 19th century, Narrabri was the home of the Gamilaroi people, who still constitute a significant part of the local population. Narrabri derives its name from an early property in the district called the Narrabri Run. The name Narrabri is Aboriginal in origin and has several possible meanings which include 'snake place', 'big creek', or 'Forked Sticks'. It is possibly means "with a knot"

In 1860, Narrabri was proclaimed a town and a year later, on 1 June 1861, Narrabri Post Office opened. Other buildings followed, with the hospital and the first courthouse (1864–65), the school (1868), the police station (1878–79) and post office (1879). During the 1880s the gaol and the second courthouse were built.

Heritage listings

Narrabri has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Bowen Street: Narrabri Gaol and Residence
• 138–140 Maitland Street: Narrabri Post Office

Climate

Narrabri has a textbook subtropical climate with very hot, somewhat humid summers and mild, sunny winters that are often warm by day. Frosts are frequent in the winter months, though it tends to warm rapidly by the late morning. Severe thunderstorms are a regular occurrence.

Narrabri West Post Office (1962–2002)

|Jan record high C= 43.4 |Feb record high C= 42.3 |Mar record high C= 40.6 |Apr record high C= 37.9 |May record high C= 31.3 |Jun record high C= 26.9 |Jul record high C= 26.7 |Aug record high C= 32.1 |Sep record high C= 36.6 |Oct record high C= 40.7 |Nov record high C= 43.0 |Dec record high C= 43.3 |year record high C= 43.4 |Jan record low C= 10.6 |Feb record low C= 7.8 |Mar record low C= 5.6 |Apr record low C= 0.7 |May record low C= -3.3 |Jun record low C= -5.6 |Jul record low C= -4.4 |Aug record low C= -3.9 |Sep record low C= -1.7 |Oct record low C= -0.6 |Nov record low C= 3.9 |Dec record low C= 6.0 |year record low C= -5.6

Narrabri Airport AWS (2001–2024)

|Jan record high C= 47.8 |Feb record high C= 46.5 |Mar record high C= 40.2 |Apr record high C= 34.8 |May record high C= 29.7 |Jun record high C= 26.0 |Jul record high C= 26.5 |Aug record high C= 31.7 |Sep record high C= 34.9 |Oct record high C= 40.8 |Nov record high C= 44.0 |Dec record high C= 44.4 |year record high C= |Jan record low C= 8.4 |Feb record low C= 9.2 |Mar record low C= 4.1 |Apr record low C= 0.3 |May record low C= -3.3 |Jun record low C= -4.6 |Jul record low C= -6.0 |Aug record low C= -3.6 |Sep record low C= -1.2 |Oct record low C= 2.1 |Nov record low C= 4.3 |Dec record low C= 5.6 |year record low C=

Over the years, Narrabri has had a number of weather stations run by the Bureau of Meteorology or other government agencies. Narrabri West Post Office made rainfall observations from the late 1800s. The current weather station for Narrabri is Narrabri Airport Automatic Weather Station (AWS), which began observations in 2001.

Significant weather events

On 4 January 1902 a severe thunderstorm, with large hail and destructive winds, struck the town, with many buildings either damaged or destroyed. The storm, which lasted only five minutes, was described as a 'cyclone'. One man died after being struck by lightning and another two people were injured by the storm.

Media

Narrabri has a twice-weekly published newspaper, The Courier, one of the few remaining independent regional newspapers in Australia.

A local volunteer-run community radio station, 2MAX FM services the area, broadcasting on 91.3 MHz FM, from the nearby Mt Dowe, and is able to cover a very large area due to this altitude. The station started in 2006. 2MAX FM has a focus on country music and older listeners.

Transport

Regional airline Link Airways operates scheduled flights to and from Brisbane and Sydney on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The town is also served by charter flights. It is almost equidistant from Brisbane and Sydney.

Railway station

Narrabri railway station is on the Mungindi line, 569 km from Sydney. The station opened in 1897 and is served by a single daily Xplorer diesel railmotor between Sydney and Moree.

Narrabri is an important centre for rail freight, with considerable infrastructure improvements since the mid-1990s.

Sports Teams

The most popular sport in Narrabri by a considerable margin is Rugby league. The local team, the Narrabri Blues, were founded in 1921 and play at Collins Park. They currently compete in the Group 4 Rugby League competition, in which they have won five premierships, the last of which came in 1990.

Other sports teams include the Narrabri Eagles AFC and Narrabri Blue Boars RUFC.

Coal seam gas proposal

In 2019, a coal seam gas field was proposed for the Narrabri area. It will extend west to Yarrie Lake, which will be surrounded by 450 gas well pads with 850 gas wells over the following 20 years if the project goes ahead. The project was opposed by a coalition of rural residents and urban environmentalists.

Popular culture

Narrabri is referenced in the song Tucker's Daughter, by Australian rock singer Ian Moss, where the action takes place on a cotton farm on the plains of Narrabri.

Population

|1921|2382 |1933|3946 |1947|3329 |1954|3722 |1961|5423 |1966|6037 |1971|6893 |1976|6951 |1981|7926 |1986|7246 |1991|6694 |1996|6419 |2001|6234 |2006|6102 |2011|5890 |2016|5903 |2021|5499

According to the 2021 Australian census, there were 12,703 people in Narrabri Shire and 5,499 people in Narrabri itself.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 14.8% of the population.
• 84.0% of people were born in Australia and 86.9% of people spoke only English at home.
• The most common responses for religion were No Religion at 28.4%, Anglican at 26.1% and Catholic at 22.3%.

Notable residents

• Peter Hall, architect who led the completion of the Sydney Opera House after the resignation of Jørn Utzon.
• Jeff Hardy, Australian Paralympic swimmer
• Chris Latham, former Australian Wallaby rugby union player
• Sam Naismith, Australian rules footballer
• Ernest Riddle, former Governor of the Commonwealth Bank
• Jason Stoltenberg, former international tennis player. World #1 junior player in 1987
• Jamie Lyon, former National Rugby League player for the Manly Sea Eagles and New South Wales Origin.
• Darrell Trindall, rugby league footballer of the 1990s
• Andrew Curry, Former Australian Olympic javelin athlete and the nation's leading javelin specialist in the 1990s. locals know him as Narrabri's most treasured local sports star
• Dorothy Jenner (Andrea) (1891–1985) Actor, Art Director, Journalist, Scriptwriter, War Correspondent

References

References

1. Narrabri Shire, Courier Print, Narrabri
2. {{Census 2021 AUS
3. {{BoM Aust stats. (April 2013)
4. ''[[Macquarie Dictionary. Macquarie Dictionary, Fourth Edition]]'' (2005). Melbourne, The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. {{ISBN. 1-876429-14-3
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9. Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions.
10. {{cite NSW SHR. 5045707. Narrabri Gaol and Residence
11. {{cite AHD. 105495. Narrabri Post Office and former Telegraph Office
12. "Climatological Station Metadata – Narrabri West Post Office". Bureau of Meteorology.
13. "Climatological Station Metadata – Narrabri Airport AWS". Bureau of Meteorology.
14. (6 January 1902). "A TERRIFIC CYCLONE.". National Library of Australia.
15. (7 January 1902). "THE NARRABRI CYCLONE.". National Library of Australia.
16. "Narrabri {{!}} Fly Corporate". Fly Corporate.
17. link. (31 July 2008 . NSWrail.net. Accessed 1 April 2008.)
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19. ''Rail Traffic Resurgence at Narrabri'' Clark, Allan J. [[Australian Railway History. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin]], March 2000 pp83-91
20. "Narrabri Gas Project". [[Santos Limited.
21. (10 August 2020). "Narrabri gas planning assessment slammed for being 'riddled with errors'".
22. Gulliver, Robyn. (2022-05-23). "How Emotions Mobilise and Sustain the Anti-Coal Seam Gas Movement".
23. (2018). "Renewable Narrabri : solar and wind versus gas in North-West New south Wales".
24. Lock the Gate Alliance. (1 August 2022). "Gorman North Strategic Release mapping and analysis".
25. Lock the Gate Alliance. (1 August 2021). "Salt in the wound : an assessment of the scale of the NSW government's planned expansion of Santos' Narrabri coal seam gas field".
26. (1 August 2019). "Report of the Narrabri gas project".
27. Music lyrics: https://genius.com/Ian-moss-tuckers-daughter-lyrics
28. "Statistics by Catalogue Number". Australian Bureau of Statistics.
29. "Search Census data". Australian Bureau of Statistics.
30. "Australians at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics". Australian Sports Commission.
31. "Australian Dictionary of Biography". National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.