Murwillumbah
| Murwillumbah New South Wales | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Partial view of town and Tweed River, 2008 | |||||||||
| Population | 8,523 (2011)[1] | ||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 2484 | ||||||||
| Elevation | 8 m (26 ft) | ||||||||
| Location |
| ||||||||
| LGA(s) | Tweed Shire | ||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Lismore | ||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Richmond | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Murwillumbah is a town in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River, 848 km north-east of Sydney, 13 km south of the Queensland border and 132 km south of Brisbane. At the 2011 census, Murwillumbah had a population of 8,523 people.[1] The town's name is often abbreviated to M'bah[2] or Murbah.[3]
Murwillumbah sits on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley. The area is hilly. Many of the buildings are Art Deco in style and there are cafes, clothes and antique shops in the town. Murwillumbah was nominated one of the top ten sea/tree change towns in Australia. Murwillumbah is the eighth town mentioned in the original Australia version of the song "I've Been Everywhere".
The area is used for filming of the British reality series, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, and has been since 2002. Versions of the show for other countries are also produced in the area. Murwillumbah was also used as the location for the film Lou (2010) starring John Hurt.
History
The first people to live in the area were Bundjalung people. The name Murwillumbah derives from an Aboriginal word meaning "camping place" – from Murrie, meaning "aboriginal people", Wolli, "a camp"; and Bab, "the place of". Nearby Mount Warning and its attendant national park are known as Wollumbin, meaning "Cloud Catcher", in the Bundjalung language.
Timber-getters were drawn to the region in the 1840s.[4] The river port at Tumbulgum was initially the main settlement. In 1902, a local government municipality was declared with Murwillumbah as its centre.[4]
Most of the town's business district was destroyed by fire in 1907.[5] Murwillumbah is the location for Australia’s largest-ever bank robbery which occurred in 1978 and has not been solved.[5]
Floods
Murwillumbah is protected by a series of levees,[6] but they do not protect all parts of the town in major floods. The worst flood to hit the town occurred in February 1954,[6] with another major flood in 1956.[5] In 1974, 200 people were evacuated from the town after floodwater from Tropical Cyclone Zoe inundated the area.[7] In January 2008, Murwillumbah and surrounding areas were hit by severe flooding.[8] May 2009 saw more evacuations in the town and surrounds after heavy rainfall.[9]
Transport
The town was bypassed by the Pacific Highway in August 2002. There is an inland road that passes along the Numinbah Valley through the towns of Chillingham, Numinbah and Natural Bridge which is scenic tourist drive. Another major road west of the town heads to Kyogle via the town Uki, and also passes near the town of Nimbin.
Murwillumbah was the terminus of the Casino–Murwillumbah branch line, and had daily train services to Sydney until the line was closed in 2004.
Industry
The major industry of the area, apart from tourism, is sugarcane growing. There were numerous tramways in the area serving the sugar mill at Condong.[10] There is also some dairy farming in the area. There are alternative lifestyle retreats nearby, notably one belonging to the Hare Krishna religion.
Festivals
The annual Tweed Banana Festival, the second oldest festival in Australia is staged in the town. In 2005, the festival celebrated its 50th anniversary.[11]
Since 2002 an annual historic motor racing festival has been run through the streets of Murwillimbah, featuring a parade through town, a one kilometre hillclimb course, and connected events, attracting thousands of spectators. Modeled on the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Speed on Tweed was a highlight of the local calendar attracting cars and competitors from all over Australia and from Europe and North America. In September 2009 the event was held in conjunction with Rally Australia which has scheduled one special stage in Murwillumbah.
Demographics
In the 2011 Census the population of Murwillumbah is 6,342, 53.3% female and 46.7% male. The median/average age of the Murwillumbah population is 43 years of age, 6 years above the Australian average.
84% of people living in Murwillumbah were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were England 3.3%, New Zealand 1.8%, India 1%, Scotland 0.6%, Netherlands 0.5%. 92.4% of people speak English as their first language 1% Punjabi, 0.4% German, 0.3% Dutch, 0.3% Italian, 0.3% Spanish.[1]
Education
Primary schools
- Hare Krishna School
- Mt St Patrick Primary School
- Murwillumbah East Primary School
- Sathya Sai Primary School
- South Murwillumbah's Infants School
- St Joseph's Primary School
- Murwillumbah Primary School
- Tweed Valley Adventist College
Secondary schools
- Hare Krishna School
- Mount Saint Patrick College
- Murwillumbah High School
- Wollumbin High School
- Tweed Valley Adventist College
Sports clubs
Murwillumbah has numerous sports clubs including football, golf, rowing, cricket, lawn bowls and cycling.
Notable people
Notable people from Murwillumbah include:
- Doug Anthony (born 1929), Australian politician
- Larry Corowa (born 1957), Australian international rugby league player
- Bob Downe (born 1966), stage persona of the comedian Mark Trevorrow[12]
- Nathan Eglington (born 1980), Australian field hockey midfielder and striker
- Stephanie Gilmore (born 1988), Australian surfer with four world titles
- John Hargreaves (born 1945), Australian actor
- Anthony Laffranchi (born 1980), Australian National Rugby League player
- Jenny McAllister, Australian politician
- Tallulah Morton (born 1991), Australian model
- Barry Singh (born 1965), Australian musician
References
- ^ a b c Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Murwillumbah (Urban Centre/Locality)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
- ^ "M'bah rail too costly: report" by Saffron Howden, Tweed Daily News (18 April 2009)
- ^ "Crittle set to tackle Murbah" by jamie Gallagher and geoff campbell, Tweed Daily News (15 December 2009)
- ^ a b "About the Tweed: History". Tweed Shire Council. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
- ^ a b c "Murwillumbah: A Brief History". Murwillumbah Chamber of Commerce:. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ a b "Flood Plan". Murwillumbah Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
- ^ "Historical Tropical Cyclone Impacts in New South Wales". Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
- ^ "Remembering Murwillumbah floods". Tweed Daily News. The Tweed Newspaper Company. 6 January 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
- ^ Kristy Martin (21 May 2009). "Mass evacuations forced in Tweed". Tweed Daily News. The Tweed Newspaper Company. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
- ^ "The Sugar Tramways of Northern New South Wales", Armstrong, J., Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, June, 1976, pp. 118–132
- ^ "Banana Festival under way". Tweed Daily News. The Tweed Newspaper Company. 20 August 2005. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
- ^ "The one story the English actually give a rat’s about" by Amy Fallon, The Punch (10 December 2009)
External links
Media related to Murwillumbah, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons- "Murwillumbah (Bray Park)". Climate statistics for Australian locations. Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
