Coonamble

Coonamble is a town on the central-western plains of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the Castlereagh Highway 95 km (59 mi) north-west of Gilgandra and 115 km (71 mi) south-east of Walgett. At the 2016 census, Coonamble had a population of 2,750. 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). Brigidine nuns from Ireland established a school in 1883. Their architecturally distinguished convent was dismantled in 1990 and transported 600 km (373 mi) to Pokolbin in 1991, where it now houses The Convent resort. 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.