Wee Waa - Culture and History

Prior to white settlement the area was occupied by the Kamilaroi tribe. It is from their language that the town's name derives, though the given translation of 'fire for roasting' is certainly enigmatic as a place name.

John Oxley became the first European to set foot in the district. In 1818 he noted the 'majestic' Nandewar Ranges from a position about 70 km south. Allan Cunningham explored the Boggabri Plains in 1825 and escaped convict George Clarke roamed what is now Narrabri Shire from 1826-1831. Cunningham's account of the Namoi River and his tales of a vast inland river called the Kindur prompted the acting governor to send Thomas Mitchell on an expedition into the district, thereby opening the area up to settlement.

The 'Wee Waa' squatting run was established in 1837. Although Narrabri is now the principal town of the shire, Wee Waa became the first concentrated settlement in the Namoi Valley. In 1847 the government chose to establish a police station and court of petty sessions with a constable and resident clerk, but no permanent magistrate. It soon became the headquarters of the Wee Waa police district.

A townsite was reserved in 1848 and surveyed in 1849, the year a post office was set up. At the time there were six slab buildings, including a grog shop. It was a sign of the early health of the community that the first race meeting was held in 1850 with a cricket club formed in 1851.

The town was gazetted in 1858 with land sales commencing the following year. However, as Narrabri grew in the 1860s and 1870s, services were gradually transferred to the newer town. Court hearings, for example, were transferred in the mid-1860s and it is a sign of the change in the status of the two towns that the railway was not extended to Wee Waa until 1903, twenty years after arriving at Narrabri West. Hence after a promising start the town's development virtually ceased. More permanent buildings did not appear until the 1890s.

The construction of Keepit Dam greatly improved local irrigation and enabled the development of the now hugely successful cotton industry, although there has been considerable criticism concerning levels of contamination in local rivers, crops and livestock caused by run-off and aerial spraying related to the industry.

The town's Agricultural Show is held in April.