Cowra, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Cowra is a town in the Central West
region of New South Wales
, Australia
in the Cowra Shire. It is located on the Mid-Western Highway
, 317 kilometres west of Sydney on the banks of the Lachlan River
at an altitude of 310 metres above sea level. At the 2006 census Cowra had a population of 8,430 people.
people. The first white explorer, George Wilson Evans
, entered the Lachlan Valley in 1815. He named the area the Oxley Plains after his superior the surveyor-general, John Oxley
. In 1817 he deemed the area "unfit for white settlement". A military depot was established not long after at Soldiers Flat near present day Billimari. Arthur Ranken and James Sloan, from Bathurst
, were amongst the first white settlers on the Lachlan. They moved to the area in 1831.
The township of "Coura Rocks" had its beginnings in 1844. Around 1847, the township site became known as Cowra, and in 1849, was proclaimed a village.
The origin of the town's name is unclear. Sources claim that the name is aboriginal for "rocks", although the local Wiradjuri language has no words for "rocks".
In the 1850s the many gold prospectors passed through headed for gold fields at Lambing Flat (Young
) and Grenfell
. The first school was established in 1857. The first bridge over the Lachlan River was built in 1870. Gold was discovered at Mount McDonald in the 1880s. The rail head, from Sydney, reached Cowra in 1886. Local government was granted in 1888. The first telephone exchange was established in 1901. The town water supply was established in 1909, the gasworks in 1912 and town supplied electricity was introduced in 1924.
In 1922, a young Sir Charles Kingsford Smith flew under the Cowra Traffic Bridge with local man Ken Richards. The pair also attempted to fly under the railway bridge but Richards noticed telephone lines seconds before the attempt and they were able to pull the aircraft up and away from danger.
Cowra is home to the Australian replica of the UN's World Peace Bell, an honour normally reserved for a nation's capital city, it was awarded to Cowra in recognition of its unique contribution to international understanding, promotion of peace and as a centre of world friendship.
Cowra also hosts an annual Festival of International Understanding, featuring street stalls, parades and events showcasing a particular foreign culture. This year's event took place between the 10-13 March and focused on Turkey.
Cowra was the site of a prisoner of war
(POW) camp. Most of the detainees were captured Japan
ese and Italian
military personnel, On 5 August 1944, at least 545 Japan
ese POWs attempted a mass breakout from the camp. Simultaneously, other Japanese prisoners committed suicide, or were killed by their countrymen, inside the camp.
The actions of the POWs in storming machine gun
posts, armed only with improvised weapons, showed what Prime Minister
John Curtin
described as a "suicidal disregard of life", and had no chance of success.
During the breakout and subsequent recapture of POWs, four Australian guards and 231 Japanese died, and 108 prisoners were wounded. The dead Japanese were buried in Cowra in the specially created Japanese War Cemetery. This is the only such cemetery in Australia, and also holds some of the dead from the WWII air raids on Darwin
.
An Avenue of Honour
also commemorates those who died in World War I
.
climate with hot summers and cool winters.
Broadcast television from the ABC
, SBS
and affiliates of the Nine
, Seven
and Ten
networks can be received in and nearby Cowra.
Subscription television service Austar
is available in Cowra and the surrounding region via satellite and MMDS transmission.
The local newspaper is the Cowra Guardian
was tended to after WWII by members of the Cowra RSL
and ceded to Japan
in 1963. In 1971 the Cowra Tourism Development decided to celebrate this link to Japan, and proposed a Japanese Garden
for the town. The Japanese government
agreed to support this development as a sign of thanks for the respectful treatment of their war dead; the development also received funding from the Australian government and private entities.
The garden was designed by Ken Nakajima (1914–2000), a world-renowned designer of Japanese gardens at the time. The first stage was opened in 1979, with a second stage opened in 1986.
The gardens were designed in the style of the Edo period
and are a kaiyū-shiki or strolling garden. They are designed to show all of the landscape types of Japan. At five hectares (12 acres), the Cowra Japanese Garden is the largest Japanese garden in the Southern Hemisphere
. An annual Sakura Matsuri
(cherry blossom
festival) is a major event in Cowra's tourism calendar and is held in the gardens during September. The festival celebrates the birth of spring. It attracts performers from across Australia and around the world. Locals, Australian and International visitors alike have the opportunity to experience traditional elements of Japanese culture. Sakura at the Cowra Japanese Garden is celebrated annually when the cherry blossoms are at their peak. In 2011 the main festival date will be held on Saturday, 24 September.
Concert on 20 April 2007 with Silverchair
leading a lineup of Behind Crimson Eyes
, Midnight Juggernauts
, and Funktrust, supported by Unearthed competition winners Flatline Drama.
In April 2006, the local abattoir
retrenched 29 workers and rehired them the next day at a lower rate. This was just days after the Federal Government's
industrial relations reforms, WorkChoices
, were put in place, and the action attracted national media attention as one of the first employer actions under this new legislation. The workers were later reinstated at the old rate after pressure from all sides of Australian politics and media. This abattoir
later closed down in August 2006. It was reopened in March 2007 and is now operated by Breakout River Meats and produces beef, lamb, pork and goat meat.
Central West, New South Wales
The Central West region refers to the area west of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. It has an area of 63,262 square kilometers....
region of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in the Cowra Shire. It is located on the Mid-Western Highway
Mid-Western Highway
The Mid-Western Highway starts at Bathurst New South Wales, where it joins with the Great Western Highway over the Blue Mountains from Sydney.It proceeds via Blayney, Carcoar and Cowra. It then heads west through Grenfell to West Wyalong where it crosses the Newell Highway...
, 317 kilometres west of Sydney on the banks of the Lachlan River
Lachlan River
- Course :The river rises in the central highland of New South Wales, part of the Great Dividing Range, 13 km east of Gunning. Its major headwaters, the Carcoar River, the Belubula River and the Abercrombie River converge near the town of Cowra. Minor tributaries include the Morongla Creek...
at an altitude of 310 metres above sea level. At the 2006 census Cowra had a population of 8,430 people.
History
The area was originally inhabited by the WiradjuriWiradjuri
The Wiradjuri are an Indigenous Australian group of central New South Wales.In the 21st century, major Wiradjuri groups live in Condobolin, Peak Hill, Narrandera and Griffith...
people. The first white explorer, George Wilson Evans
George Evans (explorer)
George William Evans was a surveyor and early explorer in the colony of New South Wales. Evans was born in Warwick, England, migrating to Australia in October 1802.-Early Career:...
, entered the Lachlan Valley in 1815. He named the area the Oxley Plains after his superior the surveyor-general, John Oxley
John Oxley
John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley was an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of English colonisation.October 1802 he was engaged in coastal survey work including an expedition to Western Port in 1804-05...
. In 1817 he deemed the area "unfit for white settlement". A military depot was established not long after at Soldiers Flat near present day Billimari. Arthur Ranken and James Sloan, from Bathurst
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
, were amongst the first white settlers on the Lachlan. They moved to the area in 1831.
The township of "Coura Rocks" had its beginnings in 1844. Around 1847, the township site became known as Cowra, and in 1849, was proclaimed a village.
The origin of the town's name is unclear. Sources claim that the name is aboriginal for "rocks", although the local Wiradjuri language has no words for "rocks".
In the 1850s the many gold prospectors passed through headed for gold fields at Lambing Flat (Young
Young, New South Wales
-Demographics:On census night, 7 August 2001, there were 6,821 people counted in Young. There were 238 people who identified as being of Indigenous origin in the 2001 Census...
) and Grenfell
Grenfell, New South Wales
Grenfell is a country town in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia, in Weddin Shire. It is 370 kilometres west of Sydney and five hours' drive from the city. It is close to Forbes, Cowra and Young. At the 2006 census, Grenfell had a population of 1,994.-History:Prior to European...
. The first school was established in 1857. The first bridge over the Lachlan River was built in 1870. Gold was discovered at Mount McDonald in the 1880s. The rail head, from Sydney, reached Cowra in 1886. Local government was granted in 1888. The first telephone exchange was established in 1901. The town water supply was established in 1909, the gasworks in 1912 and town supplied electricity was introduced in 1924.
In 1922, a young Sir Charles Kingsford Smith flew under the Cowra Traffic Bridge with local man Ken Richards. The pair also attempted to fly under the railway bridge but Richards noticed telephone lines seconds before the attempt and they were able to pull the aircraft up and away from danger.
Cowra is home to the Australian replica of the UN's World Peace Bell, an honour normally reserved for a nation's capital city, it was awarded to Cowra in recognition of its unique contribution to international understanding, promotion of peace and as a centre of world friendship.
Cowra also hosts an annual Festival of International Understanding, featuring street stalls, parades and events showcasing a particular foreign culture. This year's event took place between the 10-13 March and focused on Turkey.
The Cowra breakout
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Cowra was the site of a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
(POW) camp. Most of the detainees were captured Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese and Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
military personnel, On 5 August 1944, at least 545 Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese POWs attempted a mass breakout from the camp. Simultaneously, other Japanese prisoners committed suicide, or were killed by their countrymen, inside the camp.
The actions of the POWs in storming machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
posts, armed only with improvised weapons, showed what Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
John Curtin
John Curtin
John Joseph Curtin , Australian politician, served as the 14th Prime Minister of Australia. Labor under Curtin formed a minority government in 1941 after the crossbench consisting of two independent MPs crossed the floor in the House of Representatives, bringing down the Coalition minority...
described as a "suicidal disregard of life", and had no chance of success.
During the breakout and subsequent recapture of POWs, four Australian guards and 231 Japanese died, and 108 prisoners were wounded. The dead Japanese were buried in Cowra in the specially created Japanese War Cemetery. This is the only such cemetery in Australia, and also holds some of the dead from the WWII air raids on Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
.
An Avenue of Honour
Avenue of honour
Avenue of Honour is the term given to a memorial avenue of trees, with each tree symbolising a person.The tradition, which originated in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Australia is an important part of Australian culture....
also commemorates those who died in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Climate
Cowra has a warm temperateTemperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
climate with hot summers and cool winters.
Primary Schools
- Cowra Public
- Mulyan Public School
- Holman Place Public School
- St Raphaels Central School (K-10)
- Holmwood Public School
Media
Broadcast radio from the following radio stations can be received in Cowra- Rocky FM 99.5 FM
- Star FM 105.9 FM
- 2GZ FM 105.1 FM
- ABC Classic FMABC Classic FMABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...
102.7 FM - ABC Radio National 104.3 FM
- Triple JTriple Jtriple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
(2JJJ) 101.9 FM - ABC Local RadioABC Local RadioABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites...
549 AM
Broadcast television from the ABC
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
, SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
and affiliates of the Nine
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
, Seven
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
and Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
networks can be received in and nearby Cowra.
Subscription television service Austar
Austar
Austar is an Australian telecommunications company. Its main business activity is Subscription Television but it is also involved with internet access and mobile phones...
is available in Cowra and the surrounding region via satellite and MMDS transmission.
The local newspaper is the Cowra Guardian
Japanese War Cemetery and Garden
The Japanese War Cemetery holding the dead from the Cowra BreakoutCowra breakout
During World War II, a prisoner of war camp near the town of Cowra in New South Wales, Australia was the site of one of the largest prison escapes of the war, on 5 August 1944. At least 545 Japanese POWs were involved in the breakout.-The camp:...
was tended to after WWII by members of the Cowra RSL
Returned and Services League of Australia
The Returned and Services League of Australia is a support organisation for men and women who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force ....
and ceded to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in 1963. In 1971 the Cowra Tourism Development decided to celebrate this link to Japan, and proposed a Japanese Garden
Japanese garden
, that is, gardens in traditional Japanese style, can be found at private homes, in neighborhood or city parks, and at historical landmarks such as Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and old castles....
for the town. The Japanese government
Government of Japan
The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the 1947 constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected...
agreed to support this development as a sign of thanks for the respectful treatment of their war dead; the development also received funding from the Australian government and private entities.
The garden was designed by Ken Nakajima (1914–2000), a world-renowned designer of Japanese gardens at the time. The first stage was opened in 1979, with a second stage opened in 1986.
The gardens were designed in the style of the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
and are a kaiyū-shiki or strolling garden. They are designed to show all of the landscape types of Japan. At five hectares (12 acres), the Cowra Japanese Garden is the largest Japanese garden in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
. An annual Sakura Matsuri
Sakura
A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese Cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is sometimes called sakura after the Japanese . Many of the varieties that have been cultivated for ornamental use do not produce fruit...
(cherry blossom
Sakura
A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese Cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is sometimes called sakura after the Japanese . Many of the varieties that have been cultivated for ornamental use do not produce fruit...
festival) is a major event in Cowra's tourism calendar and is held in the gardens during September. The festival celebrates the birth of spring. It attracts performers from across Australia and around the world. Locals, Australian and International visitors alike have the opportunity to experience traditional elements of Japanese culture. Sakura at the Cowra Japanese Garden is celebrated annually when the cherry blossoms are at their peak. In 2011 the main festival date will be held on Saturday, 24 September.
Sporting clubs
- Cowra Eagles are a rugby union team playing in the Central West Rugby Union competition.
- Cowra Magpies are a rugby league team playing in the Group 10 competition.
- Cowra Blues are an Australian rules football team playing in the Central West AFL competition.
- Cowra Eagles are a soccer club playing in the Bathurst District Soccer Senior Mens (1st Grade) competition.
Recent events
Cowra hosted Triple J's One Night StandTriple J's One Night Stand
Triple J's One Night Stand is a concert hosted in a remote town or city in Australia annually. It is promoted and organised by national radio station Triple J. In previous years, the host town was selected in the form of a competition where residents of the town must gain approval from local...
Concert on 20 April 2007 with Silverchair
Silverchair
Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Merewether, Newcastle with the line-up of Ben Gillies on drums, Chris Joannou on bass guitar and Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars. The group got their big break in mid-1994 when they won a national demo...
leading a lineup of Behind Crimson Eyes
Behind Crimson Eyes
Behind Crimson Eyes is a band based in Australia. The band formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 2004. Their line up currently consists of vocalist Josh Stuart, bassist Garth Buchanan, guitarist/back up vocalist Aaron Schultz and Dan Kerby as drummer....
, Midnight Juggernauts
Midnight Juggernauts
Midnight Juggernauts are a band from Melbourne, Australia composed of Andrew Szekeres, Vincent Vendetta, and Daniel Stricker. The band has been described as anything from 'prog dance meets cosmic film scores', to 'slasher-flick disco' to 'deadpan landscape',...
, and Funktrust, supported by Unearthed competition winners Flatline Drama.
In April 2006, the local abattoir
Slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
retrenched 29 workers and rehired them the next day at a lower rate. This was just days after the Federal Government's
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
industrial relations reforms, WorkChoices
WorkChoices
The Workplace Relations Act 1996, as amended by the Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005, popularly known as Work Choices, was a Legislative Act of the Australian Parliament that came into effect in March 2006 which involved many controversial amendments to the Workplace Relations Act 1996, the...
, were put in place, and the action attracted national media attention as one of the first employer actions under this new legislation. The workers were later reinstated at the old rate after pressure from all sides of Australian politics and media. This abattoir
Slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
later closed down in August 2006. It was reopened in March 2007 and is now operated by Breakout River Meats and produces beef, lamb, pork and goat meat.
External links
- Cowra Shire Council
- Fact sheet on 1944 Cowra outbreak, National Archives of AustraliaNational Archives of AustraliaThe National Archives of Australia is a body established by the Government of Australia for the purpose of preserving Commonwealth Government records. It is an Executive Agency of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and reports to the Cabinet Secretary, Senator Joe Ludwig.The national...
- Cowra Tourism Corporation
- Cowra Japanese Garden