Coonamble is a town on the central-western plains of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the Castlereagh Highway north-west of Gilgandra. At the 2016 census, Coonamble had a population of 2,750.[1] It is the regional hub for wheat growing and sheep and wool. The name for the town is taken from the Gamilaraay word guna (faeces) and -bil (having much).[2]
Brigidine nuns from Ireland established a school in 1883.[3] Their architecturally distinguished convent was dismantled in 1990 and transported 600 km (373 mi) to Pokolbin in 1991[4], where it now houses The Convent resort.[5]
Although Coonamble had been a major sheep industry region in the 1980s to 2000, there has recently been an increasing interest in cattle rearing. The summers can have temperatures reaching up to 40 °C (104 °F) and in winter, there are nights as cold as 0 °C (32 °F). Most recently Coonamble has gained media coverage due to their mass floods over Christmas 2009.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 2,211 | — |
| 1933 | 2,717 | +22.9% |
| 1947 | 2,567 | −5.5% |
| 1954 | 2,910 | +13.4% |
| 1961 | 3,235 | +11.2% |
| 1966 | 3,410 | +5.4% |
| 1971 | 3,166 | −7.2% |
| 1976 | 3,054 | −3.5% |
| 1981 | 3,090 | +1.2% |
| 1986 | 3,058 | −1.0% |
| 1991 | 2,886 | −5.6% |
| 1996 | 2,754 | −4.6% |
| 2001 | 2,659 | −3.4% |
| 2006 | 2,549 | −4.1% |
| 2011 | 2,446 | −4.0% |
| 2016 | 2,409 | −1.5% |
| 2021 | 2,353 | −2.3% |
| Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics data.[6][7] | ||
Coonamble has three schools: Coonamble Public School,[8] St Brigids Catholic School, and Coonamble High School.[9]
Coonamble hosts an annual rodeo that is attended by around 1,000 competitors and 4,000 spectators.[12]
Coonamble has its own local radio station, 2MTM 91.9FM, which has a wide variety of music from country to modern.
Outback Radio 2WEB broadcasts to the area on 91.1FM.
The Coonamble Bears play in the Castlereagh Cup Rugby League competition. The Coonamble Rams play in the Western Plains Rugby Union competition.
Coonamble has a borderline semi-arid/humid subtropical climate (Köppen: BSh/Cfa) with hot summers, mild winters, and erratic rainfall year-round, with a summer maximum. The town is sunny, with 148.7 clear days annually[13]
| Climate data for Coonamble (30º58'48"S, 148º22'48"E, 180 m AMSL) (1907-2010 normals and extremes, rainfall 1878-2010) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 47.8 (118.0) |
45.6 (114.1) |
44.4 (111.9) |
39.4 (102.9) |
32.8 (91.0) |
27.8 (82.0) |
26.7 (80.1) |
33.3 (91.9) |
37.3 (99.1) |
41.1 (106.0) |
46.1 (115.0) |
46.1 (115.0) |
47.8 (118.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 34.9 (94.8) |
33.9 (93.0) |
31.4 (88.5) |
26.7 (80.1) |
21.8 (71.2) |
18.0 (64.4) |
17.1 (62.8) |
19.3 (66.7) |
23.4 (74.1) |
27.6 (81.7) |
31.0 (87.8) |
33.7 (92.7) |
26.6 (79.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 19.2 (66.6) |
18.9 (66.0) |
16.4 (61.5) |
11.7 (53.1) |
7.8 (46.0) |
5.0 (41.0) |
3.7 (38.7) |
4.6 (40.3) |
7.4 (45.3) |
11.5 (52.7) |
15.1 (59.2) |
17.7 (63.9) |
11.6 (52.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 9.2 (48.6) |
7.9 (46.2) |
5.4 (41.7) |
0.5 (32.9) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
−3.7 (25.3) |
−0.4 (31.3) |
1.8 (35.2) |
4.2 (39.6) |
9.0 (48.2) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 60.9 (2.40) |
55.1 (2.17) |
44.5 (1.75) |
35.9 (1.41) |
39.3 (1.55) |
37.0 (1.46) |
36.0 (1.42) |
32.2 (1.27) |
32.4 (1.28) |
41.5 (1.63) |
43.3 (1.70) |
47.0 (1.85) |
504.9 (19.88) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 4.5 | 4.4 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 49.1 |
| Average afternoon relative humidity (%) | 35 | 38 | 37 | 40 | 49 | 54 | 55 | 44 | 41 | 34 | 34 | 33 | 41 |
| Average dew point °C (°F) | 13.6 (56.5) |
14.4 (57.9) |
11.9 (53.4) |
9.4 (48.9) |
8.4 (47.1) |
7.1 (44.8) |
6.3 (43.3) |
4.8 (40.6) |
6.4 (43.5) |
7.1 (44.8) |
9.4 (48.9) |
11.4 (52.5) |
9.2 (48.5) |
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology (1907-2010 extremes)[14] | |||||||||||||
Coonamble has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC BY 4.0 licence.
