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Murwillumbah,
New South Wales
Murwillumbah
is located in the Tweed Shire on the far north coast of New South
Wales, about 30 km from the Queensland border. It has a resident
population of 15,000 with a total catchment of 30,000 from surrounding
towns including Uki, Tyalgum, Chillingham, Tumbulgum, Burringbar,
Stokers Siding.
Murwillumbah
is the administration headquarters of the Tweed Shire and commercial
centre serving the mid and upper Tweed Valley. The area has a long
history as an agricultural area, rich in dairying, sugarcane and
bananas. The Tweed River Valley spreads along the western bank of
the river and up into the hills of the spectacular MacPherson Ranges
behind. The town is surrounded, by the rim of the world's largest
extinct shield volcano (approximately 32km across) of which Mt Warning
is the old core.
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Prior
to European settlement the area was occupied by the Bundjalung
Aborigines. The aborigines of the Tweed were not particularly
nomadic, having no need to travel for hunting or food-gathering.
Their tribes had almost died out by the beginning of the 20th
century. In fact it was from these tribes the name Murwillumbah
originates. There are a number of different translation, the
two most popular ones are - 'good camping ground' and 'home
of many possums'.
Although
Captain James Cook identified and named two of Tweed Shire’s
most prominent features, Mount Warning (Aboriginal Wollumbin)
and Point Danger (Aboriginal area of Pooningbah), in 1770,
the first white person to explore the area was John Oxley
who named the Tweed River in 1823. Five years later Captain
Henry Rous followed the river from its mouth to the head of
navigation. Unaware that Oxley had preceded him, he named
it the Clarence - a name later
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transferred to
a river further south.
By the early
1840s timbercutters were already at work on the forests of the hinterland
but the rainforests of the area were not so rich a source as the
Richmond and Tweed Valleys and so settlement did not proceed so
quickly. Vessels did not appear on the river until 1868. Sugarcane
was first grown in the valley in 1869 as free selectors began to
take up land.
One of the selectors
- Joshua Bray (the future police magistrate) - is said to have adopted
the name 'Murwillumbah' in 1902. The townsite was surveyed in 1872.
The post office was transferred from Kynnumboon (just to the north)
in 1877, the school was transferred from Tumbulgum in 1878, a courthouse
was built and the first bank was established in 1880. By 1875 the
growing and refining of sugar had begun in this area. Shortly after
this the development of refrigerated transport led to a rapid expansion
of the dairy industry, with the building of Norco's Cheese and Butter
Factory in 1911. A ferry service replaced the punt in 1888. However,
settlement remained limited until the railway arrived in 1894 from
Lismore via Mullumbimby with the first train arriving on Christmas
Eve 1894, 11.25 am. This event made Murwillumbah the terminus of
the North Coast Line (which it remains) and the commercial centre
of the district. It was at this point, the agricultural potential
of the region was able to be fully exploited, and the town really
began to develop. A lift-span bridge was built over the river in
1901 and the settlement was declared a municipality in 1902. A hospital
was built in 1904 and the Murwillumbah branch of the Norco butter
factory opened in 1906, signalling the emergence of dairying in
the area. Banana plantations also began to appear in the early 20th
century. A major conflagration savaged the town in 1907, although
the rebuilding process led to a number of civic improvements.
Tumbulgum
Tumbulgum is
a small, peaceful village situated on the bank of the Tweed River.
It was one of the first settlements in the Tweed Valley. It's name
is an aboriginal word meaning "meeting of the waters" as the Rous
River joins the Tweed River here. It has been a busy commercial
and maritime centre from the middle of the last century. The first
"grog shanty" (unlicensed hotel) started trading here in 1887. Tumbulgum
was originally a cedar loggers settlement and many of the early
buildings were constructed of red cedar and have been gazetted by
the National Trust.
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