Murwillumbah - Culture and History

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This was published 15 years ago

Murwillumbah - Culture and History


Murwillumbah is surrounded by sugarcane which is the major industry of the Tweed Valley. In fact, if the visitor travels through the region at the right time of the year, he or she will see virtual walls of sugarcane on either side of the road. Dairying and bananas also contribute to the local economy.

Prior to European settlement the area was occupied by the Bundjalung Aborigines. The first white person in the area was John Oxley who named the Tweed River in 1823. Five years later Captain Henry Rous followed the river from its mouth to the head of navigation. Unaware that Oxley had preceded him, he named it the Clarence - a name later transferred to a river further south.

By the early 1840s timbercutters were already at work on the forests of the hinterland but the rainforests of the area were not so rich a source as the Richmond and Tweed Valleys and so settlement did not proceed so quickly. Vessels did not appear on the river until 1868.

Sugarcane was first grown in the valley in 1869 as free selectors began to take up land. However, two years later, a visitor noted that the river was covered on both sides by dense scrub with but a few dispersed dwellings. One of the selectors - Joshua Bray (the future police magistrate) - is said to have adopted the name 'Murwillumbah' from the local Aborigines. It is thought to describe either a good place for camping beside the river or a good place to catch possums.

The townsite was surveyed in 1872. The post office was transferred from Kynnumboon (just to the north) in 1877, the school was transferred from Tumbulgum in 1878, a courthouse was built and the first bank was established in 1880. The first sugar mill in the area also opened in 1880. A ferry service replaced the punt in 1888. However, settlement remained limited until the railway arrived in 1894 from Lismore via Mullumbimby. This event made Murwillumbah the terminus of the North Coast Line (which it remains) and the commercial centre of a district which benefited greatly from the increased market access.

At this point in time, Murwillumbah really began to develop. A lift-span bridge was built over the river in 1901 and the settlement was declared a municipality in 1902. A hospital was built in 1904 and the Murwillumbah branch of the Norco butter factory opened in 1906, signalling the emergence of dairying in the area. Banana plantations also began to appear in the early 20th century. A major conflagration savaged the town in 1907, although the rebuilding process led to a number of civic improvements. Since the 1960s Murwillumbah has become something of a tourist resort.

Political writer, screenwriter, essayist and playwright Bob Ellis was born at Murwillumbah in 1942.

The Banana Festival is held each year in late August and early September and the Agricultural Show in November. Markets are held on the second Sunday of each month at the Sunnyside Shopping Centre.


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