Murwillumbah

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Town in New South Wales, Australia

title: "Murwillumbah" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["murwillumbah", "tweed-shire"] description: "Town in New South Wales, Australia" topic_path: "general/murwillumbah" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murwillumbah" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Town in New South Wales, Australia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Australian place"]

FieldValue
typetown
nameMurwillumbah
statensw
imageMurwillumbah.jpg
captionPartial view of town and Tweed River, 2008
coordinates
pushpin_label_positionleft
pop9,812
pop_year
pop_footnotes
postcode2484
elevation8
dist1822
dir1NE
location1Sydney
dist2133
dir2SSE
location2Brisbane
dist331
dir3SW
location3Tweed Heads
dist452
dir4NNW
location4Byron Bay
dist567
dir5E
location5Kyogle
lgaTweed Shire
countyRous
stategovLismore
fedgovRichmond
maxtemp25.8
mintemp14.4
rainfall1570.1
near-nKynnumboon
near-neTygalgah
near-eSouth Murwillumbah
near-seDunbible
near-sByangum
Bray Park
near-swEungella
near-wNorth Arm
near-nwNobbys Creek
::

| type = town | name = Murwillumbah | state = nsw | image = Murwillumbah.jpg | caption = Partial view of town and Tweed River, 2008 | coordinates = | pushpin_label_position = left | pop = 9,812 | pop_year = | pop_footnotes = | postcode = 2484 | elevation = 8 | dist1 = 822 | dir1 = NE | location1 = Sydney | dist2 = 133 | dir2 = SSE | location2 = Brisbane | dist3 = 31 | dir3 = SW | location3 = Tweed Heads | dist4 = 52 | dir4 = NNW | location4 = Byron Bay | dist5 = 67 | dir5 = E | location5 = Kyogle | lga = Tweed Shire | county = Rous | stategov = Lismore | fedgov = Richmond | maxtemp = 25.8 | mintemp = 14.4 | rainfall = 1570.1 | est = | near-n = Kynnumboon | near-ne = Tygalgah | near-e = South Murwillumbah | near-se = Dunbible | near-s = Byangum Bray Park | near-sw = Eungella | near-w = North Arm | near-nw = Nobbys Creek}}

Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848 km north-east of Sydney, 13 km south of the Queensland border and 132 km south of Brisbane.

The town's name is often abbreviated to M'bah or Murbah. At the 2021 census, Murwillumbah had a population of 9,812. Many of the buildings are Art Deco in style and there are cafes, clothes shops and antique shops in the town.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/StateLibQld_1_241283_Main_street_of_Murwillumbah,_ca._1905.jpg" caption="1905}}"] ::

The first people to live in the area were Kalibai people. The name Murwillumbah may derive from an Aboriginal compound meaning either "camping place" – from murrie, meaning "aboriginal people", wolli, "a camp", and bah, "place" – or alternatively from murra, "big", willum, "possum", and bah. Nearby Mount Warning and its attendant national park are known as Wollumbin, meaning "Cloud Catcher", in the Bundjalung language.

Timber-getters were drawn to the region in the 1840s. The river port at Tumbulgum was initially the main settlement. In 1902, a local government municipality was declared with Murwillumbah as its centre.

Most of the town's business district was destroyed by fire in 1907.

In 1918 an initial 18 allotments were advertised for sale in the Hartigan Estate and a subsequent 200 allotments were advertised for sale in September 1920. The land was bounded by the Tweed River and Commercial Road on the east, Condong Street on the north, Riverview Street on the west and Elizabeth Street to the south. The subdivision was sold as part of the estate of Denis Hartigan. In December 1923, "Bray Estate" made up of 9 farm and farmlet blocks was advertised to be auctioned by A. E. Budd & Son.

Murwillumbah was the location of Australia's largest bank robbery, when A$1.7 million in cash was stolen from the vault of the Bank of New South Wales by the 'Magnetic drill gang' in 1978. The case remains unsolved.

In November 2023, fire ants were discovered at Murwillumbah, the first time the species has been found outside of South East Queensland since the outbreak began in 2001.

Floods

Murwillumbah is protected by a series of levees, but they do not protect all parts of the town in major floods. The worst inundation, exceeding those of 1954, 1956, 1974, 2008 and 2009, started on 30 March 2017. The Tweed River reached 6.2 m after rainfall of over 700 mm from the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Debbie fell in its upper catchment over a 36-hour period. There was extensive and severe flooding, with mass evacuations from South Murwillumbah and other low-lying areas, and road access cut from both north and south. It fell just short of overtopping the 6.3 m levees protecting the central business district.

The March 1974 flood caused two hundred people to be evacuated from the town after floodwater from Tropical Cyclone Zoe inundated the area. In January 2008, Murwillumbah and its surrounding areas were hit by severe flooding, while May 2009 saw more evacuations in the town and surrounds after very heavy rainfall. Major flooding also occurred in 2022. The 2022 floods were the worst seen on record. Even worse than 2017, much of Murwillumbah was inundated.

Heritage listings

Murwillumbah has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Transport

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Murwillumbah_sign.JPG" caption="Murwillumbah sign"] ::

The Pacific Highway passed through South Murwillumbah, but the town was completely bypassed when the 27 kilometre dual carriageway Yelgun to Chinderah upgrade was opened in August 2002. The pre-existing highway, now significantly quieter, was renamed The Tweed Valley Way, and is the main means of access to Murwillumbah from both north and south.

A road leading north west, a scenic tourist drive, heads along the Numinbah Valley through the towns of Chillingham, Numinbah and Natural Bridge. A road south west of the town heads to Kyogle via the town of Uki, passing near to Nimbin en route.

Murwillumbah railway station was the terminus of the Casino–Murwillumbah branch line, and had daily services to Sydney until the line closed in 2004. Today NSW TrainLink coaches to and from Casino provide connections to Sydney, while the station itself is used as a tourist information centre.

Several bus services serve the area. Murwillumbah Bus Company offers regular services to major parts of the town, as well as Condong and Uki. Parson's Bus Service links passengers with Pottsville, Cabarita Beach, and Stokers Siding. Gosel's Bus Service offers services to Nimbin via Uki. Singh's Bus Service links the town to Chillingham, Tyalgum and Eungella. Kinetic Gold Coast operate hourly service to Tweed Heads via Terranora.

Murwillumbah's airfield, Whittle Field (ICAO code YMUR), is named after a noted local World War II Spitfire pilot, the late Bob Whittle. There are no scheduled flights, but its 800-metre grass runway supports Murwillumbah Aero Club and business activities including crop-dusting, aircraft restoration, training and scenic charter flights.

Industry

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Sugar_cane_plantation_near_Murwillumbah,_November_1961.jpg" caption="Sugar cane plantation near Murwillumbah in November 1961" alt="Agricultural field with hills beyond"] ::

Aside from tourism, the major industry of the area, is sugarcane growing. The sugar mill at nearby Condong was served by numerous tramways until 1973 saw the introduction of mechanical cane harvesting. There is also some dairy farming in the area. Coffee, bananas and assorted tropical fruit and vegetables are also produced throughout the area. South Murwillumbah is home to Stone & Wood Brewing Co.'s second brewery, which opened in 2014.

There are alternative lifestyle retreats nearby, including one of the Hare Krishna organisation.

Festivals

The annual Tweed Banana Festival, the second oldest festival in Australia is staged in the town. In 2005, the festival celebrated its 50th anniversary.

From 2002 to 2009 an historic motor racing festival was run through the streets of Murwillimbah, featuring a parade through town, a one kilometre hillclimb course, and connected events, attracting thousands of spectators. Modeled on the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Speed on Tweed was a highlight of the local calendar attracting cars and competitors from all over Australia and from Europe and North America. In September 2009 the event was held in conjunction with Rally Australia which has scheduled one special stage in Murwillumbah.

Demographics

|type= Australia |1921|2861 |1933|3895 |1947|4954 |1954|6748 |1961|7151 |1966|7311 |1971|7387 |1976|7294 |1981|7807 |1986|7678 |1991|8003 |1996|7657 |2001|7543 |2006|7952 |2011|8523 |2016|9245 |2021|9812 |source=Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

In the , Murwillumbah recorded a population of 9,812 people, 52.5% female and 47.5% male. The median age of the Murwillumbah population was 46 years, 8 years above the national median of 38. 81.0% of people living in Murwillumbah were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were England 3.4%, New Zealand 2.0%, India 1.1%, Germany 0.4%, and Philippines 0.4%. 87.7% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were Punjabi 0.9%, Spanish 0.4%, French 0.3%, German 0.3% and Hindi 0.2%.

Climate

Murwillumbah has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) with hot, wet summers and mild, relatively dry winters. |location = Murwillumbah (Bray Park) (28º20'S, 153º23'E, 8 m AMSL) (1972–2024 normals and extremes) |single line = yes |metric first = yes |collapsed = yes |Jan record high C = 42.9 |Feb record high C = 40.9 |Mar record high C = 36.5 |Apr record high C = 35.4 |May record high C = 31.9 |Jun record high C = 27.8 |Jul record high C = 29.5 |Aug record high C = 35.9 |Sep record high C = 37.4 |Oct record high C = 38.2 |Nov record high C = 39.6 |Dec record high C = 40.8 |Jan high C = 29.6 |Feb high C = 29.0 |Mar high C = 28.2 |Apr high C = 26.2 |May high C = 23.6 |Jun high C = 21.3 |Jul high C = 21.1 |Aug high C = 22.6 |Sep high C = 25.2 |Oct high C = 26.4 |Nov high C = 27.7 |Dec high C = 29.1 |Jan low C = 19.8 |Feb low C = 19.7 |Mar low C = 18.5 |Apr low C = 15.6 |May low C = 12.5 |Jun low C = 9.9 |Jul low C = 8.6 |Aug low C = 8.8 |Sep low C = 11.5 |Oct low C = 14.2 |Nov low C = 16.7 |Dec low C = 18.6 |Jan record low C = 13.2 |Feb record low C = 13.8 |Mar record low C = 11.5 |Apr record low C = 6.6 |May record low C = 2.2 |Jun record low C = -0.3 |Jul record low C = 0.2 |Aug record low C = -1.4 |Sep record low C = 3.2 |Oct record low C = 4.1 |Nov record low C = 6.6 |Dec record low C = 10.6 |Jan rain mm = 212.8 |Feb rain mm = 229.5 |Mar rain mm = 211.7 |Apr rain mm = 149.3 |May rain mm = 126.9 |Jun rain mm = 101.5 |Jul rain mm = 64.0 |Aug rain mm = 51.1 |Sep rain mm = 39.2 |Oct rain mm = 108.2 |Nov rain mm = 118.2 |Dec rain mm = 172.5 |year rain mm = 1581.1 |rain colour = green |Jan rain days = 12.1 |Feb rain days = 13.0 |Mar rain days = 13.6 |Apr rain days = 10.4 |May rain days = 9.5 |Jun rain days = 7.1 |Jul rain days = 5.9 |Aug rain days = 5.1 |Sep rain days = 5.3 |Oct rain days = 8.1 |Nov rain days = 9.4 |Dec rain days = 10.7 |unit rain days = 1.0 mm |Jan afthumidity = 62 |Feb afthumidity = 65 |Mar afthumidity = 64 |Apr afthumidity = 63 |May afthumidity = 61 |Jun afthumidity = 59 |Jul afthumidity = 53 |Aug afthumidity = 50 |Sep afthumidity = 51 |Oct afthumidity = 56 |Nov afthumidity = 59 |Dec afthumidity = 60 |Jan dew point C = 20.2 |Feb dew point C = 20.2 |Mar dew point C = 18.7 |Apr dew point C = 16.4 |May dew point C = 13.6 |Jun dew point C = 11.1 |Jul dew point C = 9.4 |Aug dew point C = 9.7 |Sep dew point C = 12.0 |Oct dew point C = 14.5 |Nov dew point C = 16.8 |Dec dew point C = 18.6 |source 1 = Bureau of Meteorology (1972–2024 normals and extremes){{cite web |url = http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_058158_All.shtml |title = Murwillumbah (Bray Park) Climate Statistics |website = Bureau of Meteorology |access-date = June 23, 2024

Education

Primary schools

  • Hare Krishna School
  • Mt St Patrick Primary School
  • Murwillumbah East Primary School
  • Sathya Sai School
  • South Murwillumbah's Infants School
  • St Joseph's Primary School
  • Murwillumbah Primary School
  • Tweed Valley Adventist College

Secondary schools

Media

Radio stations that cover the town are ABC North Coast, River FM, Triple Z FM, and Radio 97, a community based station which broadcast from the town.

Murwillumbah receives TV channels from SBS and ABC and the regional affiliates of Seven, Nine and 10 Northern NSW.

Local newspaper is served by The Northern Star.

Sport and recreation

Murwillumbah has numerous sports clubs including Murwillumbah Colts, and Murwillumbah Mustangs, Murwillumbah SC, The Gentlemen of Murwillumbah Rugby Club.

Other sports facilities in the area include Murwillumbah Vulcans Australian Football Club, Murwillumbah Brothers Fishing Club, Murwillumbah Swimming Club, Murwillumbah Cycle Club, Murwillumbah Combat Club, Murwillumbah Cricket Club, Murwillumbah Rowing Club, Murwillumbah Hockey Club, Murwillumbah Netball Association, Murwillumbah Bowling Club, Murwillumbah Pistol Club, Murwillumbah Rifle Club, Murwillumbah Croquet Club, Tweed River Jockey Club, Tweed Valley Equestrian Group, Tweed River water Ski Club, Tweed Valley Triathletes-Triathlon Club, Murwillumbah Golf Club and Murwillumbah Tennis Club.

Tweed Shire Regional Botanic Gardens is also in Murwillumbah.

In popular culture

Murwillumbah was used as the location for the film Lou (2010) starring John Hurt. The ABC television series of the novel Pastures of the Blue Crane was also filmed in the Tweed region in 1969. In 2018, the town was used as a film location for the Netflix-distributed Lunatics (2019) starring Chris Lilley. The town is close to the filming location of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, a British reality television show, and is used as a base for staff and crew working on the show.

Notable people

Notable people from Murwillumbah include:

Gallery

File:AU Mt Warning from Tweed.jpg|View of Mount Warning File:Hotel Murwillumbah, Murwillumbah,NSW.tiff|Main Street File:Abandoned Rail Tracks at Murwillumbah - panoramio (1).jpg|Abandoned train lines File:Tweed Regional Gallery 02.jpeg|Nearby Tweed Regional Gallery

References

References

  1. [[Australian Bureau of Statistics]] (22 January 2024). [https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/UCL114021 (Urban Centre/Locality)"] {{Webarchive. link. (2022-11-05 . ''2021 Census QuickStats.'' Retrieved 22 January 2024.)
  2. [http://www.tweednews.com.au/story/2009/04/28/mbah-rail-too-costly-report/ "M'bah rail too costly: report"] by Saffron Howden, ''[[Tweed Daily News]]'' (18 April 2009)
  3. [http://www.tweednews.com.au/story/2009/12/15/crittle-set-to-tackle-murbah/ "Crittle set to tackle Murbah"] by Jamie Gallagher and Geoff Campbell, ''[[Tweed Daily News]]'' (15 December 2009)
  4. J. S. Ryan, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40329696 'Some Aboriginal Place-Names in the Richmond Tweed Area,'] [[Oceania (journal)
  5. "About the Tweed: History". Tweed Shire Council.
  6. (April 2019). "Murwillumbah: A Brief History". Murwillumbah Chamber of Commerce.
  7. (11 September 1920). "Advertising". [[The Tweed Daily]].
  8. "Hartigan Estate, subdivision, Town of Murwillumbah".
  9. (20 July 1918). "Advertising". [[The Tweed Daily]].
  10. (1 December 1923). "Bray Estate Sale". [[The Tweed Daily]].
  11. "Bray Estate, Tweed River, Murwillumbah".
  12. Chenery, Susan. (7 January 2022). "'They got the lot': the mystery of the biggest bank heist in Australia's history". The Guardian.
  13. (23 November 2018). "Murwillumbah remembers great bank robbery 40 years ago, still wonders where the cash is".
  14. (26 November 2023). "NSW Farmers demand 'war-like response' to stop spread of red fire ants from Queensland". ABC News.
  15. (April 2019). "Flood Plan". Murwillumbah Chamber of Commerce.
  16. "Historical Tropical Cyclone Impacts in New South Wales". Bureau of Meteorology.
  17. (6 January 2010). "Remembering Murwillumbah floods". The Tweed Newspaper Company.
  18. Kristy Martin. (21 May 2009). "Mass evacuations forced in Tweed". The Tweed Newspaper Company.
  19. Hanna, Conal. (2 February 2022). "Floods in south-east Queensland and northern NSW: what has happened and which areas could be hit next?".
  20. {{cite NSW SHR. 5012117. Murwillumbah Railway Station and yard group
  21. "Northern Rivers Rail Trail".
  22. "Places".
  23. Murwillumbah XPT to end - line faces closure ''[[Railway Digest]]'' June 2004 page 6
  24. [https://transportnsw.info/regional-north-coast-line North Coast timetable] [[NSW TrainLink]]
  25. Boyd, Max. (January 2013). "Bob Whittle OAM DFM". Murwillumbah Historical Society.
  26. "F/Lt ROBERT JAMES CLARENDON "BOB" WHITTLE DFM".
  27. The Sugar Tramways of Northern New South Wales ''[[Australian Railway History. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin]]'' issue 464 June 1976 pages 118-132
  28. (20 August 2005). "Banana Festival under way". The Tweed Newspaper Company.
  29. "Statistics by Catalogue Number". Australian Bureau of Statistics.
  30. "Search Census data". Australian Bureau of Statistics.
  31. "Murwillumbah climate: Average Temperature, weather by month, Murwillumbah weather averages".
  32. "Radio 97 Radio".
  33. "Murwillumbah Colts JRLFC – The Home of Murwillumbah Colts Junior Rugby League".
  34. "Murwillumbah Leagues Club".
  35. "Murwillumbah Combat Club {{!}} Martial Arts in Murwillumbah".
  36. "HOME {{!}} Murwillumbah Cricket Club".
  37. "Home - Murwillumbah Rowing Club".
  38. "Home - Hockey Tweed".
  39. "Home".
  40. "Site's Name - murwillumbahpistolclub.com.au".
  41. "Murwillumbah Rifle Club Inc. Stokers Rd, Dunbible, NSW, 2484 Australia".
  42. "Home {{!}} Tweed River Jockey Club {{!}} Tweed's Racecourse {{!}} Tygalgah, NSW".
  43. "Tweed Valley Equestrian Group – Community Equestrian Group".
  44. "Home".
  45. "Tweed Valley Triathletes-Triathlon Club In Murwillumbah NSW".
  46. "Murwillumbah Golf Club - Join & Play Today!".
  47. https://play.tennis.com.au/murwillumbahtennisclub
  48. "Pastures of the Blue Crane".
  49. Brennan, Aisling. (16 Apr 2018). "Could Mur'bah be back on screen in new Chris Lilley comedy?". Tweed Daily News.
  50. "Max Bryant".

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murwillumbahtweed-shire