Tibooburra
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The name Tibooburra is thought to mean 'heaps of rocks' in the language of the local Aborigines. This is presumably a reference to the granite outcrops near the town which are regarded as sacred sites of special mythological and spiritual significance. Three upright rocks, known as the 'Three Brothers' (only one remains), are believed to be an incarnation of three ancestors of the Wangkumara tribe who were turned to stone for marrying women from another tribe. For 25,000 years the Wongkumara, Wadigali and Malyangapa groups have roamed through this area. Aboriginal sites including middens, quarries, camp sites, ceremonial sites, tool production sites and scarred trees are scattered throughout the area. In the 1930s literally all of the local Aboriginal population were moved to Brewarrina. Tibooburra is probably most familiar to the people of New South Wales through the evening weather reports where it is regularly cited as the hottest town in the state. It is also the most isolated town being surrounded by harsh, rugged, flat open desert terrain, although its transformation after rain can be spectacular if brief. The first Europeans in the area were Charles Sturt and party on their ill-fated 1845 attempt to discover an inland sea. While stranded at Depot Glen (see Milparinka for more details, photo to right) they explored the corner country, visiting Mt Wood, Cooper Creek and the edge of the Simpson Desert in north-east South Australia. Sturt was followed by Burke and Wills who, on another ill-fated expedition, passed through the region on their way from Menindee to the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1860. The area's rainfall (it averages around 200 mm per annum) kept land-hungry graziers and pastoralists at bay until the early 1880s when a survey team came through to ascertain the exact line of the NSW-Qld border and some pastoral holdings were established. The town, originally known as The Granite or Granite Rush, really came into existence with the discovery of gold at Mt Browne and then Tibooburra itself in 1881. That year nearly 1000 miners arrived in the town and the government, eager to provide services, surveyed the townsite and built a post office. Yields were disappointing, lack of water was a chronic problem and typhoid and dysentery took their toll. Nonetheless over the next decade the town got a school (1885), courthouse (1888) and hospital (1890). from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Why come here?Tibooburra is very often the hottest spot in New South Wales and for this reason always seems to get a mention on weather reports. It is considered part of Corner Country, the spot in north-western New South Wales adjacent to the Queensland and South Australian borders.Despite its harsh desert climate, spring sees Tibooburra burst into life with bright wildflowers blooming in vast numbers across the plains. The Sturt National Park, close to town, covers |
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