Moree is a large town in Moree Plains Shire in northern 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...

. It is located on the banks of the Mehi River

Mehi River

The Mehi River is an inland stream in north-western New South Wales which diverts from the Gwydir River, about 21 km east of Moree. From here the river flows generally west, through the town of Moree and then generally west-south-west and westwards to join the Barwon River about 11 km...

 in the centre of the rich black-soil plains.

Moree is a major agricultural centre, noted for its part in the Australian cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

 growing industry which was established there in the early 1960s. The town is located at the junction of the Newell Highway

Newell Highway

The Newell Highway is the longest highway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs parallel to the eastern coast about 400 kilometres inland, and is the main inland direct road link from Victoria to Queensland, bypassing the more congested coastal areas of New South Wales...

 and Gwydir Highway

Gwydir Highway

The Gwydir Highway is a 567 kilometre highway in northern New South Wales, Australia. It was named after the Gwydir River, which in turn was named for a locale in Wales....

 and can be reached by daily train and air services from Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. It is situated in the Shire of Moree Plains

Moree Plains

The Shire of Moree Plains, located on the New South Wales side of the border with Queensland, is one of the largest Local Government areas in the State....

. Like many towns and cities in Australia, Moree shares its name with a much smaller community in Northern Ireland Moree County Tyrone. At the 2001 census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, Moree had a population of 9,247 declining to 8,083 in 2006.

Moree is home to artesian

Artesian aquifer

An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. This causes the water level in a well to rise to a point where hydrostatic equilibrium has been reached. This type of well is called an artesian well...

 hot spring baths which are famous for their reputed healing qualities.

History

The Kamilaroi

Kamilaroi

The Kamilaroi or Gamilaraay are an Indigenous Australian people who are from the area between Tamworth and Goondiwindi, and west to Narrabri, Walgett and Lightning Ridge, in northern New South Wales...

 people, whose descendants are still in the town, were the early inhabitants of the area. Major Sir Thomas Mitchell went to the district at the request of the acting governor after the recapture of escaped convict George Clarke who told of a great river called the Kindur in 1832. Clarke had been living in the area to the south with the Kamilaroi from 1826-1831. Squatters soon followed in Mitchell's wake establishing pastoral runs, among which was 'Moree' (1844), from a Kamilaroi term believed to mean either 'long waterhole' or 'rising sun'.

In 1851 James and Mary Brand arrived and built a general store on the banks of the river in 1852. A post office was added the following year. The family sold up and moved to the Hunter Valley in 1857 but James died in 1858 leaving Mary with six children so she returned opened another business and in 1861 she opened the town's first inn.

Moree was gazetted as a town in 1862 with land sales proceeding that year. A court of petty sessions was established in 1863 and was followed by a severe flood in 1864. The first constable arrived and a police station was set up in 1865. The first church (Wesleyan) was built in 1867 when the town had a population of 43.

As closer settlement proceeded agriculture emerged as a thriving industry on the fertile flood plains. Banking began in 1876 and the first local newspaper was set up in 1881, at which time the population was 295.

The town became a municipality in 1890. During 1894 construction of the heritage listed Federation-style lands office commenced and ended that years with the completion of the ground floor. The second storey was added in 1903. In 1895 the Great Artesian Basin

Great Artesian Basin

The Great Artesian Basin provides the only reliable source of freshwater through much of inland Australia. The basin is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over a total of , with temperatures measured ranging from 30°C to 100°C...

 which sits under Moree was tapped and yields over thirteen million litres of water every day. The bore was sunk to 3,000 ft (900 m) deep in order to provide water for agricultural pursuits but was proved unsuitable for this purpose. The railway line and service from Sydney arrived in 1897.

Wheat cultivation increased after World War II with a flour mill built at Moree in 1951 and the first commercial pecan nut farm was established on the Gwydir Highway east of Moree in 1966. The Trawalla Pecan Nut Farm is the largest pecan nut farm in the southern hemisphere, growing about 75,000 trees. In 1994 the Gwydir Olive Grove Company was established when two Moree families started producing olive oil from olives grown in the area.

Moree was one of the destinations of the famous 1965 Freedom Bus ride

Freedom Ride (Australia)

The Freedom Ride of 1964 and 1965 was a significant event in the history of civil rights for Indigenous Australians.Inspired by the Freedom Riders of the American Civil Rights Movement, students from Sydney University formed a group called the Student Action for Aboriginals, led by Charles Perkins...

, an historic trip through northern NSW led by the late Charles Perkins to bring media attention to discrimination against Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

. It brought racial segregation

Racial segregation

Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...

 in rural Australia to the attention of urban Australians, in particular at the Moree public swimming pool as well as pubs and theatres, where Aborigines were refused entry. At the Moree swimming pool, after a confrontation with the council and pool management, it was agreed that Indigenous children could swim in the pool outside school hours.

In 2007 the Moree Plains Council announced plans for a $14m upgrade to the hot thermal baths.

Heritage listed sites:

• CBC Bank (former)
• Mellor House
• Moree Club
• Moree Courthouse
• Moree Lands Office
• Moree Spa Baths
• Victoria Hotel Moree

Media

Moree is served by The Moree Champion newspaper owned by Rural Press

Rural Press

Rural Press Limited was an Australian media company which owned approximately 170 newspaper and magazine titles, The Canberra Times being the most prominent. These were predominantly in rural Australia, though it also owned a number of agricultural publications in the United States and New Zealand...

 which is published on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Radio stations 2VM and 98.3 NOW FM also broadcast from Moree. The NOW FM transmitter site is located on Mt Dowe, whilst the 2VM transmitter is located 5 kilometers east of Moree on the Gwydir Highway. Both stations are owned by the Broadcast Operations Group

Broadcast Operations Group

Owned by Bill Caralis, Broadcast Operations Group operates a number of radio stations in northern New South Wales & southern Queensland, Australia. These are collectively known as the "Super Radio Network"...

 and broadcasts weekday breakfast and afternoon programs.

Prime Television

Prime Television

PRIME7 is an Australian television network owned by Prime Media Group Limited. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as CBN/CWN in Orange and Dubbo, New South Wales, and has since expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory as a Seven Network...

's Tamworth

Tamworth, New South Wales

Tamworth is a city in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Peel River, Tamworth, which contains an estimated population of 47,595 people, is the major regional centre for southern New England and in the local government area of Tamworth Regional Council. The city...

 station also had a News Bureau in Moree, but this was closed down in 2000 due to budget deficiencies.
Cameron Hammond first indigenous male from Moree , to go to the Commonwealth games in Delhi, 2010.

Transport

The town is served by the daily Countrylink

CountryLink

CountryLink is the operator of passenger rail services in country New South Wales, Australia and into Queensland and Victoria. It is an operating brand of the Rail Corporation New South Wales, a government-owned entity...

 Xplorer train service to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 as well as regular Qantas

Qantas

Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...

 airline services, as well as the recent addition of Brindabella airlines, connecting Moree to Brisbane twice weekly.

• • QF2180 07:00 09:00 Weekdays & Saturday
  • QF2186 09:25 11:25 Sunday
  • QF2192 17:50 19:50 Weekdays & Sunday

Railway station

Moree railway station is situated on the Mungindi, or North West railway line, 665 kilometres (413 mi) from Sydney. The station opened in 1897 and currently marks the northernmost point of passenger services on the line, a single daily Xplorer diesel railcar to and from Sydney

Notable people

The youngest child of English author Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...

, Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens (1852–1902) emigrated to Australia, living in Moree and became MP for Wilcannia

Electoral district of Wilcannia

Wilcannia was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1889 to 1904. The electorate included Wilcannia. Its first member was the son of Charles Dickens.-Members for Wilcannia:...

. He is buried in Moree cemetery.

Mary Gaudron

Mary Gaudron

Mary Genevieve Gaudron, AC, QC , Australian lawyer and judge, was the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia.-Youth:...

 was the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia

High Court of Australia

The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...

.

Mary Brand was the first European woman to own a shop in Moree. A replica of her shop and house are situated in Mary Brand Park in Moree. She is also buried in the Moree Cemetery.

Peter Taylor

Peter Taylor (cricketer)

For other people named Peter Taylor, see Peter Taylor.Peter Laurence Taylor is a former Australian cricketer who played in 13 Tests and 83 ODIs from 1987 to 1992....

, who retired from the Australian Cricket Team, now lives in Moree.

John Williamson

John Williamson (singer)

John Robert Williamson AM is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over thirty-two albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books...

 has strong roots in Moree, his mother and a large part of his extended family still live there.

Australian rugby union player Van Humphries

Van Humphries

Van Humphries is an Australian rugby union player for the Queensland Reds in the Super 14 competition.-Career:...

grew up in Moree.

Climate