Walgett, New South Wales
| Walgett New South Wales | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Main street, Walgett (Fox Street/Castlereagh Highway) looking south over Wee Waa Street. | |||||||||
| Population | 2,267 (2011 census)[1] | ||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 2832 | ||||||||
| Elevation | 133 m (436 ft) | ||||||||
| Location |
| ||||||||
| LGA(s) | Walgett Shire | ||||||||
| County | Baradine | ||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Barwon | ||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Parkes | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Walgett is a town in northern New South Wales, Australia, and the seat of Walgett Shire. It is near the junctions of the Barwon and Namoi rivers and the Kamilaroi and Castlereagh Highways. In 2011, it had a population of 2,267 including 1,004 Indigenous persons and 1,073 non-Indigenous Australian-born persons.[1] The balance of the population was born overseas.
Walgett takes its name from an Aboriginal word meaning 'the meeting place of two rivers'. [2]
It is a regional hub for wool, wheat and cotton industries. It is the gateway to the New South Wales opal fields at Lightning Ridge to the north and The Grawin to the west. The main crop farmed in the district is wheat; however, the drought has caused an increase in the farming of lucerne and other good hay crops.
The town, like many other remote communities, has problems with crime linked to the abuse of alcohol and other drugs.[3][4] As a result, many businesses have metal shutters to protect their premises from street crime.[citation needed] The town was listed as one of the most socially disadvantaged areas in the State according to the 2015 Dropping Off The Edge report.[5]
History
A post office was gazetted for "Wallgett on the Barwin River" in 1851 and the town sites were surveyed in 1859. The district would have been occupied prior to this by squatters and their livestock.[6] The town of Walgett was proclaimed on 20 March 1885. The surveyor Arthur Dewhurst mapped the town, naming three streets after British Prime Ministers: Fox (main street—Castlereagh Highway), Pitt and Peel. Arthur Street was named after another surveyor. Walgett Courthouse was built in 1865.[7]
Walgett was a port in the late 19th century for paddle steamers that plied the Murray-Darling river system. The first steamer reached Walgett in 1861 and travelled to the town regularly until c.1870.[6]
Euroka Station, 10 miles (16 km) south of the town on the Castlereagh Highway, was purchased by Fred Wolseley in 1876 and was the site of the invention of the Wolseley Shearing Machine. The machine was tested at Bourke in 1888 on 184,000 sheep and eventually revolutionised the shearing industry.
Walgett's history includes the Freedom Rides in the mid-1960s.[citation needed] The Freedom Riders, consisting in the main of Sydney university students - including the late Charles Perkins, arrived in Walgett on 15 February 1965. They protested outside the Walgett RSL Club because they had been told the club was refusing to admit Indigenous ex-servicemen. They also picketed a ladies dress shop (Sheehan's), protesting the fact that the proprietor would not allow Indigenous women to try on dresses.[citation needed] After their protests the Freedom Riders left town and headed for Narrabri, when a short distance from town their bus was forced off the road by a car driven by a local farmer. This event led to Walgett, the Freedom Riders and the plight of Indigenous Australians receiving national and international media attention.[8]
Climate
Walgett's climate is hot to very hot in summer and mild to cool in winter, with occasional frosts. Summer temperatures frequently rise above 40 °C, and a maximum temperature of 49.2 °C (120.6 °F) was recorded on 3 January 1903, which is one of the hottest temperatures recorded in the state.[9] The annual rainfall is fairly low, at 479.8 mm (18.8 in) which falls fairly evenly throughout the year; however, summer rainfall usually falls as heavy but infrequent downpours associated with thunderstorms; winter rain is usually very light, but can last for days at a time.
| Climate data for Walgett (1878-2012) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 49.2 (120.6) |
46.9 (116.4) |
43.1 (109.6) |
37.8 (100.0) |
32.9 (91.2) |
29.4 (84.9) |
28.9 (84.0) |
34.4 (93.9) |
38.9 (102.0) |
42.6 (108.7) |
45.6 (114.1) |
47.8 (118.0) |
49.2 (120.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 35.4 (95.7) |
34.0 (93.2) |
31.4 (88.5) |
26.8 (80.2) |
21.8 (71.2) |
18.0 (64.4) |
17.4 (63.3) |
19.8 (67.6) |
23.8 (74.8) |
28.1 (82.6) |
31.9 (89.4) |
34.6 (94.3) |
26.9 (80.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 20.4 (68.7) |
19.9 (67.8) |
17.1 (62.8) |
12.5 (54.5) |
8.2 (46.8) |
5.5 (41.9) |
4.2 (39.6) |
5.5 (41.9) |
8.6 (47.5) |
12.8 (55.0) |
16.3 (61.3) |
18.9 (66.0) |
12.5 (54.5) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 5.0 (41.0) |
9.4 (48.9) |
2.8 (37.0) |
0.6 (33.1) |
−3.3 (26.1) |
−5.0 (23.0) |
−6.1 (21.0) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
−3.1 (26.4) |
0.0 (32.0) |
2.8 (37.0) |
5.0 (41.0) |
−6.1 (21.0) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 62.4 (2.46) |
59.3 (2.33) |
39.7 (1.56) |
34.0 (1.34) |
39.1 (1.54) |
35.4 (1.39) |
32.4 (1.28) |
28.0 (1.10) |
27.4 (1.08) |
37.6 (1.48) |
40.4 (1.59) |
44.1 (1.74) |
479.8 (18.89) |
| Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 5.3 | 4.9 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 5.2 | 4.9 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 5.0 | 55.5 |
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology[9] | |||||||||||||
Sport
Walgett has a strong rugby league culture, and former St. George Dragons player Ricky Walford played in the Walgett junior leagues. Walgett is also the home of the Barwon Brumbies rugby league side. Other notable players such as Peter Nichols, Jason Horan, Gavin Ruttley, Zac Parr and flying winger Tim Barklay have played for the Brumbies.
The Walgett Rams is the local Rugby side in the Western Plains Rugby Union competition. Donovan Murphy who played for the Walgett Rams is now following a career in Europe.
The predominant summer sport of the town is cricket. The local competition consists of teams from Walgett, Cumborah, Lightning Ridge, Collarenebri and Goodooga.
The Walgett and District Sporting Club provides facilities for tennis, golf and lawn bowls. The original Tennis Club was situated on the south side of the town in the mid to late '60s and '70s prior to merging with the Bowling Club to become the District Sporting Club. Likewise, the original Golf Club that was situated on river country some eight kilometres to the west of the town, also merged with the Sporting Club on the north edge of the town allowing the golf course to be re-established along the Namoi River adjacent to the club house proper. The greens are sand and oil as opposed to conventional grass.
The local College hosts two major football carnivals each year. The Ricky Walford Shield and the Neville Thorne Shield are both knockout Rugby League competitions held in August by the Primary School and the High School respectively.
The Walgett Aero Club was established in the town in 1958 with a club house and hangar built at the aerodrome with support from the Walgett Shire Council. The club's first two aircraft purchased in its first years were DH-82 Tiger Moths - registrations VH-BAR and VH-WON carrying the name of the nearby Barwon River. As the Club progressed and thrived with the appointment of a Chief Flying Instructor in the early 1960s, it eventually modernized its fleet to include the likes of Cessna 172, Cessna 150 and Piper Comanche 210 aircraft. In 2008 the Club celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and continues to be a prosperous part of the transport and aviation hub of the far north of the state
Education
The pre-school, primary school and high school were re-structured in 2003 into the Walgett Community College. The College is a unique educational institution, and gave birth to the successful Yaama Maliyaa group that won several national awards in Young Achievers Australia in 2005.
Media
Walgett publishes a weekly newspaper called the 'Walgett Spectator' that has been in continuous production since the 1800s, despite a fire razing the business premises early last century.
References in Popular Culture
The popular fictional character Betty in sitcom Hey Dad..! was from Walgett.
Banjo Paterson wrote two poems featuring Walgett—A Walgett Episode and Been There Before. In Been There Before Paterson relates the story of a visitor to the town who is down on his luck and who makes a wager that he can throw a stone from one bank of the river to another. The locals who know that stones of a reasonable mass are a rarity along the banks think they have fooled the visitor. However while...
The yokels laughed at his hopes o'erthrown,
And he stood awhile like a man in a dream;
Then out of his pocket he fetched a stone,
And pelted it over the silent stream—
He had been there before: he had wandered down
On a previous visit to Walgett town.
Interestingly, Paterson could not decide on which river the town lies. In the former poem he correctly says "Walgett, on the Barwon side", whereas in the latter he says "The Darling River, at Walgett town". The Darling River is formed at Brewarrina, much further west than Walgett, from the confluence of the Barwon and Culgoa Rivers.
The Barwon-Darling River system is described as the Barwon River from Mungindi to where it joins the Culgoa River near Brewarrina then becomes the Darling River flowing to the Menindee Lakes.[10]
Walgett in fact lies on the Namoi River, which skirts the east and north-east of the town from where it eventually joins with the Barwon River some five kilometers north-west of the town. The Namoi River rises on the west slopes of the Moonbi Range and Great Dividing Range near Niangala at the convergence of the Macdonald River and Boundary Creek, and flows generally west, joined by 27 tributaries, including the Peel, Manilla and Mooki rivers, before reaching that confluence with the Barwon River.
Notable People
- Ricky Walford - A former NRL player.
References
- ^ a b Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Walgett (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
- ^ http://about.nsw.gov.au/view/suburb/Walgett/
- ^ Landline - 3 November 2002: Walgett employer forced to look overseas for staff. Australian Broadcasting Corp
- ^ Busy kids means less boredom crime in Walgett :: Water
- ^ Taylor, Josie; Branley, Alison. "Dropping Off The Edge: Select suburbs stuck in cycle of disadvantage with little being done to help, report shows". ABC News. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ a b Readers Digest Guide to Australian Places, Reader’s Digest (Australia) Pty. Limited, Surry Hills N.S.W., 1993, ISBN 0-86438-399-1
- ^ Zagar, C. (2000) Goodbye Riverbank: The Barwon-Namoi People Tell Their Story, Broome, Magabala Books. p. 14.
- ^ [1]
- ^ a b "Walgett Council Depot". Climate statistics for Australian locations. Bureau of Meteorology. March 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
- ^ http://www.mdba.gov.au/about-basin/how-river-runs/barwon-darling-catchment
External links
Media related to Walgett, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons
- Walgett Shire Council official site
- Been There Before