Narrabri (wikipedia) is a town and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, 521 kilometres (324 mi) northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. At the 2011 census, Narrabri had a population of 5,890. As a result of the geography of Narrabri and the surrounding areas, Narrabri township is quite prone to flooding.

It is the centre of a major cotton-growing industry. Other agricultural industries in the area include wheat, beef and lamb. Nearby attractions are Mount Kaputar National Park, the Australia Telescope Compact Array at the Paul Wild Observatory (administered by the CSIRO) and a number of agricultural centres. Just to the south of town is the Pilliga Forest, the largest remnant temperate forest in Eastern Australia. This will be where the Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project is going to be and west along from Narrabri to Yarrie Lake, which will be surrounded by 450 gas well pads with 850 gas wells over the next 20 years if the project goes ahead. Narrabri also has The Crossing Theatre, a 1,000-seat auditorium and cinema complex.

History

Before the arrival of the Europeans in the early 19th century, Narrabri was the home of the Kamilaroi people, who still constitute a significant part of the local population. Narrabri derives its name from an early property in the district called the Narrabry Run. The name Narrabri is aboriginal in origin and has several possible meanings which include ‘snake place’, ‘big creek’ or ‘Forked Sticks’. 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.

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. Damage caused by the storm was estimated to be around 3,000 pounds.

12^th October, Sunday

We left Lightning Ridge at about 8 this morning. I must admit that we really enjoyed this town.  Couldn’t live here though but a fascinating place.  The drive to Narrabri was quite, not much traffic apart from the odd caravan.  The caravan park here is nice, spacious sites, good amenities and grass for Hugo which is important. We are still travelling with Sue and John who we met in Inverelle.  We will probably travel with them as far as Tamworth as they need to head home which is on the outskirts of Sydney.  We will see them again when they are home as we are going to visit Jass and Nick and they only live 5kms away from them. We will see Eric and Jan as well but they will come to the caravan park and set up a tent because we can’t even park the ute where they live in Manly.  We set up and didn’t do much for the rest of the day.

13^th October, Monday

A bit of a quit day today. I went to the hairdresser (long overdue).  I tried to go in Lightning Ridge but there is only 1 salon there and a 2 week waiting list.  Jayde the hairdresser lives out on a cotton farm with her parents and she was telling me how a snake had crawled up the pipe in the toilet and decided to say hello when you opened the seat.  I have heard these stories before and though that they were just jokes but this young girl was so paranoid that she can’t go to the toilet without opening the seat, stepping back and waiting awhile before she sits down….. EEEEWWW.  We had a bit of a look around town and went to the old cemetery (my fetish).  After that we took a drive up a hill which was about as high as a chair.  There was a lonely grave there and I’m not sure of the history.  I will go to the Information centre and ask there.  Narrabri is a cotton growing town.  All Cotton farms to be seen on the way in and the sides of the roads are all white from the cotton that is blown from the farms, it looks like it’s been snowing. There is a huge storm going at the mo, lots of rain, lightning and thunder.  We are sitting in the van and there’s a pot of soup on the boil outside.  It’s not cold but a lot cooler than it has been.  We had the air con on most of last night. We will probably have a bit of a rest up here for tomorrow before we leave for Tamworth on Wednesday.

14^th October, Tuesday

Today it is a bit chilly, cold wind and becoming overcast. We went to see the sawn rock cliff and it is fascinating. The rocks are caused by slow and even cooling of molten rock which enabled individual crystals within the rock to align perfectly with each other. I tell you, I am becoming so cultured with all these rock formations etc.  We then went to the CSRIO, Australian Telescope astronomy and space centre.  This place is amazing.  There are 6 huge dishes and they all move in unison.  They are on giant tracks, sort of like train tracks and move up and down. There is another big dish about 3 kms away and they all talk to each other and all the info gets sent back to a control centre.  These ones are not for communication, they are radio telescopes and sort of translate radio waves into pictures of space if you know what I mean. Our travel plans have changed again.  We are not going to Tamworth tomorrow as planned. We are now going to Nundle which is 50 kms from Tamworth because Ralph, Sue and John want to go fossicking and there are a lot more gems and gold to be found there.  We will go to Tamworth for a day to have a look see.  Honestly, these 3 are terrible as the minute they hear the word fossicking, gems or gold they get the shakes and have to be there, HAHAHA.  So now it’s until we see you in Nundle and not Tamworth.  Night xxxxxxxxx