Nambucca Heads

Last updated

Nambucca Heads
New South Wales
Nambucca Heads aerial panorama - sunset.jpg
Nambucca Heads aerial panorama at sunset
Australia New South Wales location map blank.svg
Red pog.svg
Nambucca Heads
Coordinates 30°39′0″S153°00′0″E / 30.65000°S 153.00000°E / -30.65000; 153.00000
Population6,675 (2021 census) [1]
Postcode(s) 2448
Elevation26 m (85 ft)
Location
LGA(s) Nambucca Valley Council
County Raleigh
State electorate(s) Oxley [2]
Federal division(s) Cowper [3]

Nambucca Heads is a town on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia in the Nambucca Valley. [4] It is located on a ridge, north of the estuary of the Nambucca River near the Pacific Highway. Its 2021 population was 6,675 (6,327 in 2016 census, 6,137 in 2011 census), including 5,226 (78.3%) Australian-born persons and 672 indigenous persons. [5]

Contents

The place name is derived from an Gumbaynggirr word Ngambagabaga. Clement Hodgkinson asked two Ngamba men what the name of the area was they responded to Nyambagabaga as the spot they were standing was a bend in the river where a Ngamba giant was speared in the leg in the Dreaming[ citation needed ]. This location is the Foreshore Caravan Park now. Ngamba is a subsection of Gumbaynggirr Nation & Baga Baga means Knee. This was later interpreted as Nambucca. [6] It is a popular holiday and retirement destination.

The town is located on the North Coast railway line, and is served by the three daily NSW TrainLink services.

History

Nambucca Heads aerial panorama - sunset in 2018 Nambucca Heads aerial panorama - sunset.jpg
Nambucca Heads aerial panorama - sunset in 2018
Nambucca Heads panoramic perspective Nambucca Heads aerial panorama.jpg
Nambucca Heads panoramic perspective

Nambucca Heads is the current and historical homeland of the Gumbaynggirr people. Gumbaynggirr lands stretch from Pillar Valley, Tyndale, Grafton and Copmanhurst in the north, to Glen Innes, Guyra and Black Mountain to the west, and to Bowraville to the south. [7] The Nambucca River separated the Gumbaynggirr from the Dunghutti Ngaku. The name Nambucca comes from an Aboriginal word, ngambugka, variously translated as "winding or crooked river", and as "entrance to the waters." [7]

Europeans may have explored the area in 1818, and John Oxley surveyed the area in 1820.[ citation needed ]

The cutting of Australian red cedar had started in the area by 1842. It is believed that the first house was built in 1867, when about 50 people had settled in the valley to cut cedar or grow corn. The site of the town was surveyed in 1874 and the first hotel and school were both established in 1884. It was proclaimed a village in 1885. [8] The North Coast railway was extended from Taree to South Grafton in 1915, but Nambucca Heads station was not opened until 1923. [9]

Nambucca Heads has one of the oldest surf lifesaving clubs in Australia and also invented junior surf lifesaving known as Nippers.

In December 1980 the five kilometre Belwood Deviation of the Pacific Highway opened bypassing Nambucca Heads. [10]

Historical population
YearPop.±%
19541,998    
19612,252+12.7%
19662,385+5.9%
19712,708+13.5%
19763,217+18.8%
19814,053+26.0%
19864,923+21.5%
19915,683+15.4%
19966,253+10.0%
20016,121−2.1%
20065,873−4.1%
20116,220+5.9%
20166,314+1.5%
20216,668+5.6%
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics data. [11] [12]

Local media

Radio Stations 2CS-FM (106.3), Star FM (105.5 & 105.1), 2MC-FM (106.7), Triple J (91.5 & 96.3), 2NVR FM (105.9)

The Nambucca Valley's community radio station, 2NVR 105.9FM, focuses on the Macksville, Bowraville, Nambucca Heads and surrounding communities.

Newspapers Midcoast Observer, Hibiscus Happynings, Guardian News, Coffs Coast Advocate.

Television ABC, ABC TV Plus, SBS, SBS Viceland, Seven Northern NSW, 10 (WIN), Nine (NBN)

Schools

Transport

Nambucca Heads railway station, opened in 1923, on the North Coast Line. It is serviced by three NSW TrainLink trains per day in each direction.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebor, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Ebor is a village on Waterfall Way on the Northern Tablelands in New South Wales, Australia. It is situated about 80 km (50 mi) east of Armidale and about a third of the way between Armidale and the coast. Dorrigo to the east is 46 kilometres (29 mi) away with the Coffs Coast 55 kilometres (34 mi) away along Waterfall Way. In the 2021 census, Ebor's zone had a population of 149.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffs Harbour</span> City in New South Wales, Australia

Coffs Harbour, locally nicknamed Coffs, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, 540 km (340 mi) north of Sydney, and 390 km (240 mi) south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr are the original people of the Coffs Harbour region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton, New South Wales</span> City in New South Wales, Australia

Grafton is a city in the Northern Rivers region of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is located on the Clarence River, on a floodplain, approximately 608 kilometres (378 mi) by road north-northeast of the state capital Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macksville, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Macksville is a small town on the Nambucca River in the Nambucca Valley, New South Wales, Australia. It is halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, along the Pacific Highway, approximately 40 minutes north of Kempsey, 40 minutes south of Coffs Harbour, 70 minutes north of Port Macquarie, five hours south of Brisbane and five hours north of Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nambucca Valley Council</span> Local government area in New South Wales, Australia

Nambucca Valley Council is a local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bowraville, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Bowraville is a small town in the Mid North Coast hinterland of New South Wales, Australia in the Nambucca Valley. The town is known for tourism with attractions such as a folk museum, a war museum, a historic theatre, and other historic buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mid North Coast</span> Region in New South Wales, Australia

The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region, situated 416km north of Sydney, covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens at Hawks Nest to as far north as Woolgoolga, near Coffs Harbour. The region has heaps of beaches and many subtropical national parks and forests as well as rural farmland and logging. Major coastal towns include Coffs Harbour, Forster and Port Macquarie. The Mid North Coast is a popular destination for camping or resorts and surfing, with coastal and hinterland tracks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nambucca River</span> River in Australia

The Nambucca River is a river located in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yamba, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Yamba is a town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia located at the mouth of the Clarence River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urunga, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Urunga is a small town located within the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, in Bellingen Shire. It is famous for its surf spots. At the 2021 census, Urunga had a population of 3,185. The town is south of Coffs Harbour and Sawtell and north of Nambucca Heads. The place name is derived from the Gumbaynggir word Yurūnga, which is derived from the word for long yurūn in reference to "long white sands".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eungai, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Eungai is a town on the mid-North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is made up of two localities, Eungai Creek and Eungai Rail, although both have the same postcode. The Eungai district is midway between Sydney (500 km) and Brisbane, midway between Port Macquarie (90 km) and Coffs Harbour, and midway between Kempsey (20 km) and Macksville. It is in the Nambucca Valley. It has a population of 605 in the 2021 census.

Group 2 is a rugby league competition on the north coast of New South Wales Since 1966, run under the auspices of the Country Rugby League. The Group 2 area runs from Grafton in the north to Macksville in the south. Group 2 teams played for many decades before 1966 when some redistribution, amalgamation or control mechanism presumably changed. Teams on the Nambucca River, namely Bowraville, Macksville and Nambucca Heads played in a southern division against Kempsey, Smithtown, Port Macquarie and Wauchope before 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woolgoolga, New South Wales</span> Town in New South Wales, Australia

Woolgoolga is a town on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Pacific Highway, approximately 550 km north of Sydney and 365 km south of Brisbane. The closest city to Woolgoolga is Coffs Harbour, which lies 24.8 km to the south. Woolgoolga has two beaches on the Pacific Ocean. The area has long been a centre of banana growing in New South Wales, but this industry has declined in the face of competition from Queensland. Recent times have seen many banana plantations replaced by blueberries after banana sales slumped in the late 1990s.

Red Rock is a small hamlet in the northern beaches of the Coffs Harbour coast beside the banks of the Corindi River on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and is surrounded by National Parks. It is in the City of Coffs Harbour local government area. At the 2016 census, Red Rock had a population of 303 people. The small Red Rock River passes near the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scotts Head, New South Wales</span> Suburb of Nambucca Valley Council, New South Wales, Australia

Scotts Head is a coastal village of the Nambucca Valley local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, approximately 10 kilometres (6 mi) from the Pacific Highway and 480 kilometres (300 mi) from Sydney, it stretches southwards from just south of the mouth of the Nambucca River to the town of Scotts Head in the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gumbaynggirr language</span> Australian Aboriginal language

Gumbaynggir language is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Gumbaynggirr people, who are native to the Mid North Coast of New South Wales.

The Gumbaynggirr people, also rendered Kumbainggar, Gumbangeri and other variant spellings, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Mid North Coast of New South Wales. Gumbathagang was a probable clan or sub-group. The traditional lands of the Gumbaynggirr nation stretch from Tabbimoble Yamba-Clarence River to Ngambaa-Stuarts Point, SWR- Macleay to Guyra and to Oban.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral district of Oxley</span> State electoral district of New South Wales, Australia

Oxley is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales.

<i>The Nambucca and Bellinger News</i>

The Nambucca and Bellinger News was a weekly English language newspaper published in Bowraville in the Nambucca Shire of New South Wales, Australia from 1911-1945. It was also published as Nambucca News: Bellingen Chronicle,The Nambucca District News,The Nambucca Guardian News,Guardian Gazette and TheNambucca Valley Guardian News.

Giinagay Way is a road in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales linking the towns of Warrell Creek, Macksville, Nambucca Heads and Urunga to Pacific Highway. It runs along a former section of the highway between Eungai Creek and Raleigh that was bypassed by a new parallel alignment between 2016 and 2018.

References

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Nambucca Heads (State Suburb)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 2 January 2023. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. "Oxley Electoral District". New South Wales Electoral Commission . Retrieved 21 November 2006.
  3. "Cowper". Australian Electoral Commission . Retrieved 21 November 2006.
  4. "Nambucca Heads". Destination NSW. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  5. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Nambucca Heads (State Suburb)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 2 January 2023. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  6. "Nambucca Heads". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales . Retrieved 5 November 2009. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  7. 1 2 Townsend, N. 1993. Valley of the Crooked River: European Settlement on the Nambucca. New South Wales University Press, Sydney.
  8. "Nambucca Heads". Walkabout. Fairfax Digital. Archived from the original on 7 November 2006. Retrieved 21 November 2006.
  9. "North Coast Line". www.nswrail.net. Retrieved 21 November 2006.
  10. Changes at Nambucca Heads - Bellwood Deviation Main Roads January 1981 pages 3-6
  11. "Statistics by Catalogue Number". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  12. "Search Census data". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 8 January 2024.