128-549: Gunnedah ( / ˈ ɡ ʌ n ə d ɑː / ) is a town in north-central New South Wales , Australia and is the seat of the Gunnedah Shire local government area . In the 2021 census the town recorded a population of 8,338. Gunnedah is situated within the Liverpool Plains , a fertile agricultural region, with 80% of the surrounding shire area devoted to farming. The Namoi River flows west then north-west through
256-483: A Legislative Council was introduced, with two-thirds of its members elected and one-third appointed by the governor. Former convicts were granted the vote, but a property qualification meant that only one in five adult males were enfranchised. By 1850 the settler population of New South Wales had grown to 180,000, not including the 70,000 living in the area which became the separate colony of Victoria in 1851. In 1856 New South Wales achieved responsible government with
384-547: A Sunburnt Country ) about her family's farm near Gunnedah. This is remembered by the annual Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards for school students held in Gunnedah. In early 2012, Gunnedah experienced a mining boom resulting in rental properties being leased by mining companies for up to $ 1,350 per week. Gunnedah has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: According to the 2016 census of Population, there are 9,726 people in Gunnedah. The most popular sport in Gunnedah by
512-555: A ball for the traditional football game of marngrook . In addition, there were important Dreaming stories and ceremonies involving the kangaroo. Aherrenge is a current kangaroo dreaming site in the Northern Territory . Unlike many of the smaller macropods, kangaroos have fared well since European settlement . European settlers cut down forests to create vast grasslands for sheep and cattle grazing, added stock watering points in arid areas, and have substantially reduced
640-686: A deal with Edmund Barton , leader of the NSW Protectionist Party, whereby they would work together for federation and leave the question of a protective tariff for a future Australian government to decide. In early 1893 the first citizens' Federation League was established in the Riverina region of New South Wales and many other leagues were soon formed in the colony. The leagues organised a conference in Corowa in July 1893 which developed
768-530: A debt crisis after the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. New South Wales was hit harder by the depression than other states, and by 1932 one third of union members in the state were unemployed, compared with 20 per cent nationally. Labor won the November 1930 NSW elections and Jack Lang became premier for the second time. In 1931 Lang proposed a plan to deal with the depression which included
896-456: A diverse set of understory shrubs and fungi. One of the widespread fungi is Witch's Butter ( Tremella mesenterica ). The western slopes and plains fill a significant portion of the state's area and have a much sparser population than areas nearer the coast. Agriculture is central to the economy of the western slopes, particularly the Riverina region and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area in
1024-533: A farmer's life by alerting family members to his location when he was injured by a falling tree branch. She received the RSPCA Australia National Animal Valour Award on 19 May 2004. There are very few records of kangaroos attacking humans without provocation; however, several such unprovoked attacks in 2004 spurred fears of a rabies -like disease possibly affecting the marsupials. Only two reliably documented cases of
1152-679: A fatality from a kangaroo attack have occurred in Australia. The first attack occurred in New South Wales in 1936 when a hunter was killed as he tried to rescue his two dogs from a heated fray. The second attack was inflicted on a 77-year-old man from a domesticated kangaroo in Redmond, Western Australia in September 2022. Other suggested causes for erratic and dangerous kangaroo behaviour include extreme thirst and hunger. In July 2011,
1280-575: A female is the victim of a collision, animal welfare groups ask that her pouch be checked for any surviving joey, in which case it may be removed to a wildlife sanctuary or veterinary surgeon for rehabilitation . Likewise, when an adult kangaroo is injured in a collision, a vet , the RSPCA Australia or the National Parks and Wildlife Service can be consulted for instructions on proper care. In New South Wales, rehabilitation of kangaroos
1408-574: A gift of a bottle of wine. The Liberal Party then elected Treasurer Mike Baird as party leader and Premier. Baird resigned as Premier on 23 January 2017, and was replaced by Gladys Berejiklian . On 23 March 2019, Berejiklian led the Coalition to a third term in office. She maintained high personal approval ratings for her management of a bushfire crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic . However, Berejiklian resigned as premier on 5 October 2021, following
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#17327762701371536-586: A golden kangaroo in a green triangle to show that a product is grown or made in Australia. Registered trademarks of early Australian companies using the kangaroo included Yung, Schollenberger & Co. Walla Walla Brand leather and skins (1890); Arnold V. Henn (1892) whose emblem showed a family of kangaroos playing with a skipping rope ; Robert Lascelles & Co. linked the speed of the animal with its velocipedes (1896); while some overseas manufacturers, like that of "The Kangaroo" safety matches (made in Japan) of
1664-607: A group. The kangaroo performing the sniffing gains much information from smell cues. This behavior enforces social cohesion without consequent aggression. During mutual sniffing, if one kangaroo is smaller, it will hold its body closer to the ground and its head will quiver, which serves as a possible form of submission. Greetings between males and females are common, with larger males being the most involved in meeting females. Most other non-antagonistic behavior occurs between mothers and their young. Mother and young reinforce their bond through grooming. A mother will groom her young while it
1792-600: A huge victory for Holman's pro-conscription Nationalists in the elections of March 1917, a second referendum on conscription held in December that year was defeated in New South Wales and nationally. Following the war, NSW governments embarked on large public works programs including road building, the extension and electrification of the rail network and the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The works were largely funded by loans from London, leading to
1920-481: A kangaroo is no higher than that of a similarly sized quadruped, and the Australian native predators are in any case less fearsome than those of other countries—but economy: in an infertile country with highly variable weather patterns, the ability of a kangaroo to travel long distances at moderately high speed in search of food sources is crucial to survival. New research has revealed that a kangaroo's tail acts as
2048-583: A majority of one seat. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 saw more NSW volunteers for service than the federal authorities could handle, leading to unrest in camps as recruits waited for transfer overseas. In 1916 NSW premier William Holman and a number of his supporters were expelled from the Labor party over their support for military conscription. Holman subsequently formed a Nationalist government which remained in power until 1920. Despite
2176-428: A male red kangaroo attacked a 94-year-old woman in her own backyard as well as her son and two police officers responding to the situation. The kangaroo was capsicum sprayed (pepper sprayed) and later put down after the attack. Kangaroos—even those that are not domesticated— can communicate with humans, according to a research study. Nine out of ten animal collisions in Australia involve kangaroos. A collision with
2304-464: A monument pays tribute to him at the base of Mullaley Mountain. The area now occupied by the town was settled by European sheep farmers in 1833 or 1834. With settlement in the area focused on wool production, Gunnedah was initially known as 'The Woolshed' until taking its name from the local Indigenous people who called themselves the Gunn-e-darr , the most famous of whom was Cumbo Gunnerah . Coal
2432-507: A plan for federation. The new NSW premier, George Reid , endorsed the "Corowa plan" and in 1895 convinced the majority of other premiers to adopt it. A constitutional convention held sessions in 1897 and 1898 which resulted in a proposed constitution for a Commonwealth of federated states. However, a referendum on the constitution failed to gain the required majority in New South Wales after that colony's Labor party campaigned against it and premier Reid gave it such qualified support that he earned
2560-417: A small head. Like most marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development. Because of its grazing habits, the kangaroo has developed specialized teeth that are rare among mammals. Its incisors are able to crop grass close to the ground and its molars chop and grind the grass. Since the two sides of the lower jaw are not joined or fused together,
2688-439: A small quantity of yolk within it) descends from the ovary into the uterus . There it is fertilised and quickly develops into a neonate . Even in the largest kangaroo species (the red kangaroo ), the neonate emerges after only 33 days. Usually, only one young is born at a time. It is blind, hairless, and only a few centimetres long; its hindlegs are mere stumps; it instead uses its more developed forelegs to climb its way through
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#17327762701372816-461: A source of food for indigenous Australians for tens of thousands of years. Kangaroo meat is high in protein and low in fat (about 2%). Kangaroo meat has a high concentration of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared with other foods, and is a rich source of vitamins and minerals. Low fat diets rich in CLA have been studied for their potential in reducing obesity and atherosclerosis. Kangaroo meat
2944-400: A speed of 40 km/h (25 mph) for nearly 2 km (1.2 mi). During a hop, the powerful gastrocnemius muscles lift the body off the ground while the smaller plantaris muscle , which attaches near the large fourth toe, is used for push-off. Seventy percent of potential energy is stored in the elastic tendons. At slow speeds, it employs pentapedal locomotion, using its tail to form
3072-511: A suspension of interest payments to British creditors, diverting the money to unemployment relief. The Commonwealth and state premiers rejected the plan and later that year Lang's supporters in the Commonwealth parliament brought down James Scullin's federal Labor government. The NSW Lang government subsequently defaulted on overseas interest payments and was dismissed from office in May 1932 by
3200-399: A third leg rather than just a balancing strut. Kangaroos have a unique three-stage walk where they plant their front legs and tail first, then push off their tail, followed lastly by the back legs. The propulsive force of the tail is equal to that of both the front and hind legs combined and performs as much work as what a human leg walking can at the same speed. A DNA sequencing project of
3328-597: A thousand settlers, including 736 convicts. A few days after arrival at Botany Bay , the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson , where Phillip established a settlement at the place he named Sydney Cove (in honour of the Secretary of State, Lord Sydney ) on 26 January 1788. This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day . Governor Phillip formally proclaimed the colony on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. Phillip, as Governor of New South Wales , exercised nominal authority over all of Australia east of
3456-488: A tripod with its two forelimbs while bringing its hind feet forward. Both pentapedal walking and fast hopping are energetically costly. Hopping at moderate speeds is the most energy efficient, and a kangaroo moving above 15 km/h (9.3 mph) maintains energy consistency more than similarly sized animals running at the same speed. Kangaroos have single-chambered stomachs quite unlike those of cattle and sheep , which have four compartments. They sometimes regurgitate
3584-405: A vehicle is capable of killing a kangaroo. Kangaroos dazzled by headlights or startled by engine noise often leap in front of cars. Since kangaroos in mid-bound can reach speeds of around 50 km/h (31 mph) and are relatively heavy, the force of impact can be severe. Small vehicles may be destroyed, while larger vehicles may suffer engine damage. The risk of harm or death to vehicle occupants
3712-857: A wide margin is Rugby league . The local team, the Gunnedah Bulldogs, play out of Kitchener Park. They compete in the Group 4 Rugby League competition, in which they have won seven premierships. Other sports teams include the Gunnedah AFL Bulldogs competing in AFL North West NSW , Gunnedah Red Devils RUFC competing in the Central Northern Rugby Union and Gunnedah FC competing in the Northern Inland Football . Gunnedah Shire
3840-457: Is carried out by volunteers from WIRES . Council road signs often list phone numbers for callers to report injured animals. The kangaroo is a recognisable symbol of Australia. The kangaroo and emu feature on the Australian coat of arms . Kangaroos have also been featured on coins, most notably the five kangaroos on the Australian one dollar coin . The Australian Made logo consists of
3968-540: Is considered to be the largest koala colony in the state, west of the Great Dividing Range. Gunnedah has a textbook subtropical climate with temperatures regularly exceeding 40 °C in summer and dropping below 0 °C in winter. This is due to the town's far inland location on the North West Slopes . Its average annual rainfall is 632.9 mm (24.9 in), which is spread throughout
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4096-451: Is greatly increased if the windscreen is the point of impact. As a result, "kangaroo crossing" signs are commonplace in Australia. Vehicles that frequent isolated roads, where roadside assistance may be scarce, are often fitted with " roo bars " to minimise damage caused by collision. Bonnet -mounted devices, designed to scare wildlife off the road with ultrasound and other methods, have been devised and marketed, but are ineffective. If
4224-476: Is instead converted into acetate , which is then used to provide further energy. Scientists are interested in the possibility of transferring the bacteria responsible for this process from kangaroos to cattle, since the greenhouse gas effect of methane is 23 times greater than carbon dioxide per molecule. Groups of kangaroos are called mobs , courts or troupes , which usually have 10 or more kangaroos in them. Living in mobs can provide protection for some of
4352-419: Is known as embryonic diapause , and will occur in times of drought and in areas with poor food sources. Meanwhile, the neonate in the pouch grows rapidly. After about 190 days, the baby ( joey ) is sufficiently large and developed to make its full emergence out of the pouch, after sticking its head out for a few weeks until it eventually feels safe enough to fully emerge. From then on, it spends increasing time in
4480-400: Is largely done by males. Smaller males fight more often near females in oestrus, while the large males in consorts do not seem to get involved. Ritualised fights can arise suddenly when males are grazing together. However, most fights are preceded by two males scratching and grooming each other. One or both of them will adopt a high standing posture, with one male issuing a challenge by grasping
4608-400: Is no forearm locking. The losing combatant seems to use kicking more often, perhaps to parry the thrusts of the eventual winner. A winner is decided when a kangaroo breaks off the fight and retreats. Winners are able to push their opponents backwards or down to the ground. They also seem to grasp their opponents when they break contact and push them away. The initiators of the fights are usually
4736-505: Is now extinct . Other extinct predators included the marsupial lion , Megalania and Wonambi . However, with the arrival of humans in Australia at least 50,000 years ago and the introduction of the dingo about 5,000 years ago, kangaroos have had to adapt. Along with dingoes, introduced species such as foxes, feral cats , and both domestic and feral dogs, pose a threat to kangaroo populations. Kangaroos and wallabies are adept swimmers , and often flee into waterways if presented with
4864-472: Is rare but not new among kangaroos. The first official report of kangaroo blindness took place in 1994, in central New South Wales . The following year, reports of blind kangaroos appeared in Victoria and South Australia. By 1996, the disease had spread "across the desert to Western Australia". Australian authorities were concerned the disease could spread to other livestock and possibly humans. Researchers at
4992-538: Is situated 264 metres (866 ft) above sea level on the Liverpool Plains in the Namoi River valley. It is very flat; the tallest hills are 400 to 500 metres (1,300 to 1,600 ft) above sea level. The climate is hot in summer, mild in winter and dry, although rainstorms in catchment areas occasionally cause flooding of the Namoi River. Major floods cut transport links to the town, briefly isolating it from
5120-497: Is suckling or after it is finished suckling. A joey will nuzzle its mother's pouch if it wants access to it. Sexual activity of kangaroos consists of consort pairs. Oestrous females roam widely and attract the attention of males with conspicuous signals. A male will monitor a female and follow her every movement. He sniffs her urine to see if she is in oestrus, a process exhibiting the flehmen response . The male will then proceed to approach her slowly to avoid alarming her. If
5248-564: Is used as a logo for some of Australia's most well-known organisations, such as Qantas , and as the roundel of the Royal Australian Air Force . The kangaroo is important to both Australian culture and the national image, and consequently there are numerous popular culture references . Wild kangaroos are shot for meat, leather hides , and to protect grazing land. Kangaroo meat has perceived health benefits for human consumption compared with traditional meats due to
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5376-490: The 135th meridian east between the latitudes of 10°37'S and 43°39'S, and "all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean". The area included modern New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania. He remained as governor until 1792. The settlement was initially planned to be a self-sufficient penal colony based on subsistence agriculture. Trade and shipbuilding were banned to keep the convicts isolated. However, after
5504-687: The Australian national rugby league team (the Kangaroos) and the Australian national rugby union team (the Wallabies). In a nation-wide competition held in 1978 for the XII Commonwealth Games by the Games Australia Foundation Limited in 1982, Hugh Edwards' design was chosen; a simplified form of six thick stripes arranged in pairs extending from along the edges of a triangular centre represent both
5632-474: The Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. The Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory are enclaves within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney , which is also Australia's most populous city. In December 2023 , the population of New South Wales was over 8.3 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Almost two-thirds of the state's population, 5.3 million, live in
5760-780: The Great Dividing Range . In 1825 Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) became a separate colony and the western border of New South Wales was extended to the 129th meridian east (now the West Australian border). New South Wales established a military outpost on King George Sound in Western Australia in 1826 which was later transferred to the Swan River colony. In 1839, the UK decided to formally annex at least part of New Zealand to New South Wales. It
5888-543: The Illawarra . The Bundjalung people are the original custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas . There are other Aboriginal peoples whose traditional lands are within what is now New South Wales, including the Wiradjuri , Gamilaray , Yuin , Ngarigo , Gweagal , and Ngiyampaa peoples. In 1770, James Cook charted the unmapped eastern coast of the continent of New Holland , now Australia, and claimed
6016-675: The Jervis Bay Territory . The original inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. Before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi wodi people, who spoke a variant of the Dharawal language, are the original custodians of an area south of Sydney which was approximately bounded by modern Campbelltown , Shoalhaven River and Moss Vale and included
6144-539: The Mid North Coast and Northern Rivers regions reaching northwards to the Queensland border. Tourism is important to the economies of coastal towns such as Coffs Harbour , Lismore , Nowra and Port Macquarie , but the region also produces seafood, beef, dairy, fruit, sugar cane and timber. The Great Dividing Range extends from Victoria in the south through New South Wales to Queensland, parallel to
6272-825: The genome of a member of the kangaroo family, the tammar wallaby , was started in 2004. It was a collaboration between Australia (mainly funded by the State of Victoria ) and the National Institutes of Health in the US. The tammar's genome was fully sequenced in 2011. The genome of a marsupial such as the kangaroo is of great interest to scientists studying comparative genomics , because marsupials are at an ideal degree of evolutionary divergence from humans: mice are too close and have not developed many different functions, while birds are genetically too remote. The dairy industry could also benefit from this project. Eye disease
6400-421: The tree-kangaroos , another type of macropod, which inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea , far northeastern Queensland and some of the islands in the region. This kind of kangaroo lives in the upper branches of trees. A general idea of the relative size of these informal terms could be: Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs , large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, and
6528-508: The 1880s New South Wales produced almost half of Australia's wool. Coal had been discovered in the early years of settlement and gold in 1851, and by the 1890s wool, gold and coal were the main exports of the colony. The NSW economy also became more diversified. From the 1860s, New South Wales had more people employed in manufacturing than any other Australian colony. The NSW government also invested strongly in infrastructure such as railways, telegraph, roads, ports, water and sewerage. By 1889 it
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#17327762701376656-421: The 40-hour working week was implemented by 1947. The post-war economic boom brought near-full employment and rising living standards, and the government engaged in large spending programs on housing, dams, electricity generation and other infrastructure. In 1954 the government announced a plan for the construction of an opera house on Bennelong Point . The design competition was won by Jørn Utzon . Controversy over
6784-610: The Australian Animal Health Laboratories in Geelong detected a virus called the Wallal virus in two species of midges , believed to have been the carriers. Veterinarians also discovered fewer than 3% of kangaroos exposed to the virus developed blindness. Kangaroo reproduction is similar to that of opossums . The egg (still contained in the shell membrane, a few micrometres thick, and with only
6912-595: The Dunnet family, of Narrabri, who also publishes the bi-weekly The Courier newspaper in Narrabri. 2MO began broadcasting in 1930 and was only the fourth Radio Licence issued in Australia, being the first station established in Australia outside a capital city. The Oxley Highway and the Kamilaroi Highway both pass through Gunnedah, for a short distance, concurrently. The Oxley Highway leads to Tamworth in
7040-477: The Greater Sydney area. The Colony of New South Wales was founded as a British penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825. The colony then also included the island territories of Van Diemen's Land , Lord Howe Island , and Norfolk Island . During the 19th century, most of the colony's area
7168-537: The New England Institute of TAFE is also located within the town. Local media include the Gunnedah Times and Namoi Valley Independent newspapers and the radio stations 2MO and 2GGG. The Namoi Valley Independent , published by Australian Community Media, switched to a digital-only newspaper model in 2020. The Gunnedah Times started as a print newspaper in November 2020 and is published by
7296-468: The ancestors of kangaroos. while others hold the contrary view. The middle to late bulungamayines, Ganguroo and Wanburoo lacked digit 1 of the hind foot and digits 2 and 3 were reduced and partly under the large digit 4, much like the modern kangaroo foot. This would indicate that they were bipedal. In addition, their ankle bones had an articulation that would have prohibited much lateral movements, an adaptation for bipedal hopping. Species related to
7424-488: The area when they happened upon the animal. They asked a nearby local what the creatures were called. The local responded "kangaroo", said to mean "I don't know/understand", which Cook then took to be the name of the creature. Anthropologist Walter Roth was trying to correct this legend as far back as in 1898, but few took note until 1972 when linguist John B. Haviland in his research with the Guugu Yimithirr people
7552-550: The centre for New South Wales is located 33 kilometres (21 mi) west-north-west of Tottenham . Kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo , as well as the antilopine kangaroo , eastern grey kangaroo , and western grey kangaroo . Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea . The Australian government estimates that 42.8 million kangaroos lived within
7680-635: The centre of a narrow coastal strip extending from cool temperate areas on the far south coast to subtropical areas near the Queensland border. Gulaga National Park in the South Coast features the southernmost subtropical rainforest in the state. The Illawarra region is centred on the city of Wollongong, with the Shoalhaven , Eurobodalla and the Sapphire Coast to the south. The Central Coast lies between Sydney and Newcastle, with
7808-484: The colony as a whole, were eligible to vote. Full adult male suffrage was introduced in 1858. In 1859 Queensland became a separate colony. In 1861 the NSW parliament legislated land reforms intended to encourage family farms and mixed farming and grazing ventures. The amount of land under cultivation subsequently increased from 246,000 acres in 1861 to 800,000 acres in the 1880s. Wool production also continued to grow, and by
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#17327762701377936-505: The commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2019, down from 53.2 million in 2013. As with the terms " wallaroo " and " wallaby ", "kangaroo" refers to a paraphyletic grouping of species. All three terms refer to members of the same taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished according to size. The largest species in the family are called "kangaroos" and the smallest are generally called "wallabies". The term "wallaroos" refers to species of an intermediate size. There are also
8064-550: The corporatisation of government agencies and the privatisation of some government services. An Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was created. Greiner called a snap election in 1991 which the Liberals were expected to win. However the ALP polled extremely well and the Liberals lost their majority and needed the support of independents to retain power. In 1992, Greiner was investigated by ICAC for possible corruption over
8192-558: The cost of the Sydney Opera House and construction delays became a political issue and was a factor in the eventual defeat of Labor in 1965 by the conservative Liberal Party and Country Party coalition led by Robert Askin . The Askin government promoted private development, law and order issues and greater state support for non-government schools. However, Askin, a former bookmaker, became increasingly associated with illegal bookmaking, gambling and police corruption. In
8320-419: The departure of Governor Phillip, the colony's military officers began acquiring land and importing consumer goods obtained from visiting ships. Former convicts also farmed land granted to them and engaged in trade. Farms spread to the more fertile lands surrounding Paramatta , Windsor and Camden , and by 1803 the colony was self-sufficient in grain. Boat building was developed to make travel easier and exploit
8448-416: The development of an embryo until the previous joey is able to leave the pouch. This is known as embryonic diapause and will occur in times of drought and in areas with poor food sources. The composition of the milk produced by the mother varies according to the needs of the joey. In addition, the mother is able to produce two different kinds of milk simultaneously for the newborn and the older joey still in
8576-606: The early 1900s, also adopted the symbol. Even today, Australia's national airline, Qantas , uses a bounding kangaroo for its logo. The kangaroo appears in Rudyard Kipling 's Just So Stories , " The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo ", while the kangaroo is chased by a dingo, he gives Nqong the Big God's advice, that his legs and tail grew longest before five o'clock. The kangaroo and wallaby feature predominantly in Australian sports teams names and mascots. Examples include
8704-515: The east and Coonabarabran to the west. The Kamilaroi Highway leads to Quirindi to the south-east and Boggabri to the north-west. Gunnedah railway station is situated on the Mungindi (or North West) railway line , 475 kilometres (295 mi) from Sydney. The station, opened in 1879, consists of a substantial station building on a single side platform, a passing loop and small goods yard. There are also sidings serving an adjacent flour mill. To
8832-583: The entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory. Contrary to his instructions, Cook did not gain the consent of the Aboriginal inhabitants. Cook originally named the land New Wales , however, on his return voyage to Britain he settled on the name New South Wales . In January 1788 Arthur Phillip arrived in Botany Bay with the First Fleet of 11 vessels, which carried over
8960-485: The family. The term wallaby is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or a wallaroo that has not been designated otherwise. Kangaroos are the only large mammals to use hopping on two legs as their primary means of locomotion . The comfortable hopping speed for a red kangaroo is about 20–25 km/h (12–16 mph), but speeds of up to 70 km/h (43 mph) can be attained over short distances, while it can sustain
9088-599: The female does not run away, the male will continue by licking, pawing, and scratching her, and copulation will follow. After copulation is over, the male will move on to another female. Consort pairing may take several days and the copulation is also long. Thus, a consort pair is likely to attract the attention of a rival male. As larger males are tending bonds with females near oestrus, smaller males will tend to females that are farther from oestrus. Dominant males can avoid having to sort through females to determine their reproductive status by searching for tending bonds held by
9216-577: The governor, Sir Phillip Game . The following elections were won comfortably by the United Australia Party in coalition with the Country Party. Bertram Stevens became premier, remaining in office until 1939, when he was replaced by Alexander Mair . A contemporary study by sociologist A. P. Elkin found that the population of New South Wales responded to the outbreak of war in 1939 with pessimism and apathy. This changed with
9344-520: The health of the local koala population and the impacts of climate change and local mining developments on koala habitat. Gunnedah and the surrounding areas were originally inhabited by Aboriginal Australians speaking the Kamilaroi ( Gamilaraay ) language. The name of the town in Kamilaroi means "Place of White Stones". In 1818, English surveyor general John Oxley traversed the district, for which
9472-476: The introduction of a bicameral parliament comprising a directly elected Legislative Assembly and a nominated Legislative Council . William Charles Wentworth was prominent in this process, but his proposal for a hereditary upper house was widely ridiculed and subsequently dropped. The property qualification for voters had been reduced in 1851, and by 1856 95 per cent of adult males in Sydney, and 55 per cent in
9600-463: The joey is born, it is about the size of a lima bean . The joey will usually stay in the pouch for about 9 months (180–320 days for the Western Grey) before starting to leave the pouch for small periods of time. It is usually fed by its mother until reaching 18 months. The female kangaroo is usually pregnant in permanence, except on the day she gives birth; however, she has the ability to freeze
9728-540: The kangaroo in full flight, and a stylised "A" for Australia. Kangaroos are well represented in films, television, books, toys and souvenirs around the world. Skippy the Bush Kangaroo was a popular 1960s Australian children's television series about a fictional pet kangaroo. Kangaroos are featured in the Rolf Harris song " Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport " and several Christmas carols. The kangaroo has been
9856-399: The largest male they can displace without a fight. Fighting has been described in all species of kangaroos. Fights between kangaroos can be brief or long and ritualised. In highly competitive situations, such as males fighting for access to oestrous females or at limited drinking spots, the fights are brief. Both sexes will fight for drinking spots, but long, ritualised fighting or "boxing"
9984-488: The late 1960s, a secessionist movement in the New England region of the state led to a 1967 referendum on the issue which was narrowly defeated. The new state would have consisted of much of northern NSW including Newcastle . Askin's resignation in 1975 was followed by a number of short-lived premierships by Liberal Party leaders. When a general election came in 1976, the ALP under Neville Wran came to power. Wran
10112-543: The low level of fat on kangaroos. The word kangaroo derives from the Guugu Yimithirr word gangurru , referring to eastern grey kangaroos . The name was first recorded as "kanguru" on 12 July 1770 in an entry in the diary of Sir Joseph Banks ; this occurred at the site of modern Cooktown , on the banks of the Endeavour River , where HMS Endeavour under the command of Lieutenant James Cook
10240-582: The low quality grass diet with the development of foregut fermentation . The most numerous early macropods, the Balbaridae and the Bulungamayinae , became extinct in the Late Miocene around 5–10 mya. There is dispute over the relationships of the two groups to modern kangaroos and rat-kangaroos . Some argue that the balbarines were the ancestors of rat-kangaroos and the bulungamayines were
10368-436: The lower incisors are farther apart, giving the kangaroo a wider bite. The silica in grass is abrasive, so kangaroo molars are ground down and they actually move forward in the mouth before they eventually fall out, and are replaced by new teeth that grow in the back. This process is known as polyphyodonty and, amongst other mammals, only occurs in elephants and manatees . The large kangaroos have adapted much better than
10496-436: The lungs, providing further energy efficiency. Studies of kangaroos and wallabies have demonstrated, beyond the minimum energy expenditure required to hop at all, increased speed requires very little extra effort (much less than the same speed increase in, say, a horse, dog or human), and the extra energy is required to carry extra weight. For kangaroos, the key benefit of hopping is not speed to escape predators—the top speed of
10624-512: The marine resources of the coastal settlements. Sealing and whaling became important industries. In March 1804, Irish convicts led around 300 rebels in the Castle Hill Rebellion , an attempt to march on Sydney, commandeer a ship, and sail to freedom. Poorly armed, and with their leader Philip Cunningham captured, about 100 troops and volunteers routed the main body of insurgents at Rouse Hill . At least 39 convicts were killed in
10752-682: The modern grey kangaroos and wallaroos begin to appear in the Pliocene. The red kangaroo appears to be the most recently evolved kangaroo, with its fossil record not going back beyond the Pleistocene era, 1–2 mya. The first kangaroo to be exhibited in the Western world was an example shot by John Gore , an officer on Captain Cook's ship, HMS Endeavour , in 1770. The animal was shot and its skin and skull transported back to England whereupon it
10880-706: The narrow coastal plain. This area includes the Snowy Mountains , the Northern , Central and Southern Tablelands , the Southern Highlands and the South West Slopes . Whilst not particularly steep, many peaks of the range rise above 1,000 metres (3,281 ft), with the highest Mount Kosciuszko at 2,228 m (7,310 ft). Skiing in Australia began in this region at Kiandra around 1861. The relatively short ski season underwrites
11008-608: The necessary enabling legislation in 1900 and Western Australia subsequently voted to join the new federation. The Commonwealth of Australia was inaugurated on 1 January 1901, and Barton was sworn in as Australia's first prime minister. The first post-federation NSW governments were Progressive or Liberal Reform and implemented a range of social reforms with Labor support. Women won the right to vote in NSW elections in 1902, but were ineligible to stand for parliament until 1918. Labor increased its parliamentary representation in every election from 1904 before coming to power in 1910 with
11136-460: The nickname "yes-no Reid". The premiers of the other colonies agreed to a number of concessions to New South Wales (particularly that the future Commonwealth capital would be located in NSW), and in 1899 further referendums were held in all the colonies except Western Australia. All resulted in yes votes, with the yes vote in New South Wales meeting the required majority. The Imperial Parliament passed
11264-571: The number of dingoes. This overabundance has led to the view that the kangaroo is a pest animal as well as requiring regular culling and other forms of management. There is concern that the current management practices are leading to detrimental consequences for kangaroo welfare, landscape sustainability, biodiversity conservation, resilient agricultural production and Aboriginal health and culture. Kangaroos are shy and retiring by nature, and in normal circumstances present no threat to humans. In 2003, Lulu, an eastern grey which had been hand-reared, saved
11392-504: The offer of a public service position to a former Liberal MP. Greiner resigned but was later cleared of corruption. His replacement as Liberal leader and Premier was John Fahey , whose government narrowly lost the 1995 election to the ALP under Bob Carr , who was to become the longest serving premier of the state. The Carr government (1995–2005) largely continued its predecessors' focus on the efficient delivery of government services such as health, education, transport and electricity. There
11520-579: The opening of an ICAC investigation into her actions between 2012 and 2018. She was replaced by Dominic Perrottet . New South Wales is bordered on the north by Queensland, on the west by South Australia, on the south by Victoria and on the east by the Coral and Tasman Seas . The Australian Capital Territory and the Jervis Bay Territory form a separately administered entity that is bordered entirely by New South Wales. The state can be divided geographically into four areas. New South Wales's three largest cities, Sydney , Newcastle and Wollongong , lie near
11648-406: The option. If pursued into the water, a large kangaroo may use its forepaws to hold the predator underwater so as to drown it. Another defensive tactic described by witnesses is catching the attacking dog with the forepaws and disembowelling it with the hind legs. Kangaroos have developed a number of adaptations to a dry, infertile country and highly variable climate. As with all marsupials ,
11776-423: The other male's neck with its forepaw. Sometimes, the challenge will be declined. Large males often reject challenges by smaller males. During fighting, the combatants adopt a high standing posture and paw at each other's heads, shoulders and chests. They will also lock forearms and wrestle and push each other as well as balance on their tails to kick each other in the abdomen. Brief fights are similar, except there
11904-564: The outside world and eventually, after about 235 days, it leaves the pouch for the last time. The lifespan of kangaroos averages at six years in the wild to in excess of 20 years in captivity, varying by the species. Most individuals, however, do not reach maturity in the wild. The kangaroo has always been a very important animal for Aboriginal Australians , for its meat , hide, bone, and tendon . Kangaroo hides were also sometimes used for recreation; in particular there are accounts of some tribes ( Kurnai ) using stuffed kangaroo scrotum as
12032-399: The outside world. The town is located on a rich coal seam and within the northern New South Wales wheat belt. The Gunnedah area is noted for its abundance of native wildlife, including kangaroos , echidnas and koalas . Koalas can often be found in trees within the town, as well as in the surrounding countryside with the help of signs placed by the local tourist centre. The koala population
12160-459: The pastoral industry led to violent episodes of conflict between settlers and traditional Aboriginal landowners, such as the Myall Creek massacre of 1838. By 1844 wool accounted for half of the colony's exports and by 1850 most of the eastern third of New South Wales was controlled by fewer than 2,000 pastoralists. The transportation of convicts to New South Wales ended in 1840, and in 1842
12288-405: The pouch. Unusually, during a dry period, males will not produce sperm and females will conceive only if enough rain has fallen to produce a large quantity of green vegetation. Kangaroos and wallabies have large, elastic tendons in their hind legs. They store elastic strain energy in the tendons of their large hind legs, providing most of the energy required for each hop by the spring action of
12416-552: The red kangaroo include significant amounts of shrubs in their diets. Smaller species of kangaroos also consume hypogeal fungi. Many species are nocturnal , and crepuscular , usually spending the hot days resting in shade, and the cool evenings, nights and mornings moving about and feeding. Despite having herbivorous diets similar to ruminants such as cattle, which release large quantities of digestive methane through exhaling and eructation (burping), kangaroos release virtually none. The hydrogen byproduct of fermentation
12544-432: The smaller macropods to land clearing for pastoral agriculture and habitat changes brought to the Australian landscape by humans. Many of the smaller species are rare and endangered, while kangaroos are relatively plentiful, despite a common misconception to the contrary. The kangaroo along with the koala are symbols of Australia . A kangaroo appears on the Australian coat of arms and on some of its currency , and
12672-414: The state including to the regional centre Tamworth , 75 kilometres (47 mi) distant. The town has a station on the Mungindi railway line and is served by the daily NSW TrainLink Xplorer passenger service to and from Sydney and Moree . It claims the title "Koala Capital of World". In recent years the local shire council has moved away from this promotional tagline and there are concerns over
12800-439: The state's south-west. Regional cities such as Albury , Dubbo , Griffith and Wagga Wagga and towns such as Deniliquin , Leeton and Parkes exist primarily to service these agricultural regions. The western slopes descend slowly to the western plains that comprise almost two-thirds of the state and are largely arid or semi-arid. The mining town of Broken Hill is the largest centre in this area. One possible definition of
12928-399: The station. [REDACTED] Media related to Gunnedah, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons [REDACTED] Gunnedah travel guide from Wikivoyage New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW ) is a state on the east coast of Australia . It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders
13056-400: The tendons rather than by any muscular effort. This is true in all animal species which have muscles connected to their skeletons through elastic elements such as tendons, but the effect is more pronounced in kangaroos. There is also a link between the hopping action and breathing: as the feet leave the ground, air is expelled from the lungs; bringing the feet forward ready for landing refills
13184-401: The thick fur on its mother's abdomen into the pouch, which takes about three to five minutes. Once in the pouch, it fastens onto one of the four teats and starts to feed. Almost immediately, the mother's sexual cycle starts again. Another egg descends into the uterus and she becomes sexually receptive. Then, if she mates and a second egg is fertilised, its development is temporarily halted. This
13312-498: The threat of invasion by Japan, which entered the war in December 1941. In May 1942 three Japanese midget submarines entered Sydney harbour and sank a naval ship, killing 29 men aboard. The following month Sydney and Newcastle were shelled by Japanese warships. American troops began arriving in the state in large numbers. Manufacturing, steelmaking, shipbuilding and rail transport all grew with the war effort and unemployment virtually disappeared. A Labor government led by William McKell
13440-426: The tourist industry in the Snowy Mountains . Agriculture, particularly the wool industry, is important throughout the highlands. Major centres include Armidale , Bathurst , Bowral , Goulburn , Inverell , Orange , Queanbeyan and Tamworth . There are numerous forests in New South Wales, with such tree species as Red Gum Eucalyptus and Crow Ash ( Flindersia australis ), being represented. Forest floors have
13568-457: The town providing water beneficial to agricultural operations in the area. The Gunnedah area is a significant producer of cotton, coal, beef, lamb and pork, and cereal and oilseed grains. Gunnedah is also home to AgQuip , Australia's largest annual agricultural field day . Gunnedah is located on the Oxley and Kamilaroi Highways providing convenient road links to much of the northern sector of
13696-471: The uprising and subsequent executions. Lachlan Macquarie (governor 1810–1821) commissioned the construction of roads, wharves, churches and public buildings, sent explorers out from Sydney, and employed a planner to design the street layout of Sydney. A road across the Blue Mountains was completed in 1815, opening the way for large scale farming and grazing in the lightly wooded pastures west of
13824-437: The vegetation they have eaten, chew it as cud , and then swallow it again for final digestion. However, this is a different, more strenuous, activity than it is in ruminants , and does not take place as frequently. Different species of kangaroos have different diets, although all are strict herbivores . The eastern grey kangaroo is predominantly a grazer , and eats a wide variety of grasses, whereas some other species such as
13952-420: The weaker members of the group. The size and stability of mobs vary between geographic regions, with eastern Australia having larger and more stable aggregations than in arid areas farther west. Larger aggregations display high amounts of interactions and complex social structures, comparable to that of ungulates . One common behavior is nose touching and sniffing, which mostly occurs when an individual joins
14080-399: The west of the station there are extensive sidings serving grain silos and loop sidings serving coal loading facilities. For a brief three-year period after the railway arrived in Gunnedah it was the railhead until construction was completed to Boggabri and then to Narrabri South Junction in 1882. Currently a single daily Xplorer diesel railmotor operating between Sydney and Moree serves
14208-404: The winners. These fights may serve to establish dominance hierarchies among males, as winners of fights have been seen to displace their opponent from resting sites later in the day. Dominant males may also pull grass to intimidate subordinate ones. Kangaroos have a few natural predators . The thylacine , considered by palaeontologists to have once been a major natural predator of the kangaroo,
14336-709: The year, however severe thunderstorms in the summer months often cause heavy downpours which boost rainfall totals. The highest daily maximum temperature recorded was 48.7 °C (119.7 °F), on 24 January 1882; the lowest daily maximum temperature recorded was 4.4 °C (39.9 °F), on 4 August 1921. Snow is very rare, with the most recent occurrence in 1984. Gunnedah has three secondary schools: Gunnedah High School, Carinya Christian school and St Mary's College. There are three government (Gunnedah Public School, Gunnedah South Public School, and G.S. Kidd Memorial School) and two non-government (St Xavier's Catholic School and Carinya Christian School) primary schools. A campus of
14464-462: The young are born at a very early stage of development—after a gestation of 31–36 days. At this stage, only the forelimbs are somewhat developed, to allow the newborn to climb to the pouch and attach to a teat . In comparison, a human embryo at a similar stage of development would be at about 7 weeks gestation (even in a modern intensive care unit, premature babies born at less than 23 weeks gestation are usually not mature enough to survive). When
14592-542: The young ones are joeys . The collective noun for a group of kangaroos is a mob, court, or troupe. There are four extant species that are commonly referred to as kangaroos: In addition, there are about 50 smaller macropods closely related to the kangaroos in the family Macropodidae . Kangaroos and other macropods share a common ancestor with the Phalangeridae from the Middle Miocene . This ancestor
14720-700: Was able to confirm that gangurru referred to a rare large dark-coloured species of kangaroo. However, when Phillip Parker King visited the Endeavour River region in 1819 and 1820, he maintained that the local word was not kangaroo but menuah perhaps referring to a different species of macropod. There are similar, more credible stories of naming confusion, such as with the Yucatán Peninsula . Kangaroos are often colloquially referred to as "roos". Male kangaroos are called bucks, boomers, jacks, or old men; females are does, flyers, or jills; and
14848-470: Was able to transform this narrow one seat victory into landslide wins (known as Wranslides) in 1978 and 1981. After winning a comfortable though reduced majority in 1984, Wran resigned as premier and left parliament. His replacement Barrie Unsworth struggled to emerge from Wran's shadow and lost a 1988 election against a resurgent Liberal Party led by Nick Greiner . The Greiner government embarked on an efficiency program involving public sector cost-cutting,
14976-449: Was administered as a dependency until becoming the separate Colony of New Zealand on 3 May 1841. From the 1820s, squatters increasingly established unauthorised cattle and sheep runs beyond the official limits of the settled colony. In 1836, an annual licence was introduced in an attempt to control the pastoral industry, but booming wool prices and the high cost of land in the settled areas encouraged further squatting. The expansion of
15104-529: Was an increasing emphasis on public-private partnerships to deliver infrastructure such as freeways, tunnels and rail links. The Carr government gained popularity for its successful organisation of international events, especially the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but Carr himself was critical of the federal government over its high immigration intake, arguing that a disproportionate number of new migrants were settling in Sydney, putting undue pressure on state infrastructure. Carr unexpectedly resigned from office in 2005 and
15232-476: Was beached for almost seven weeks to repair damage sustained on the Great Barrier Reef . Cook first referred to kangaroos in his diary entry of 4 August. Guugu Yimithirr is the language of the people of the area. A common myth about the kangaroo's English name is that it was a Guugu Yimithirr phrase for "I don't know" or "I don't understand". According to this legend, Cook and Banks were exploring
15360-553: Was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became the various states and territories of Australia . The Swan River Colony (later called the Colony of Western Australia ) was never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island became a federal territory , as have the areas now known as the Australian Capital Territory and
15488-526: Was discovered on Black Jack Hill in 1877. By 1891, 6,000 tons of coal had been raised from shafts. The Gunnedah Colliery Company was registered in May 1899 and by 22 June a private railway some 5.7 kilometres (3.5 mi) in length had been completed from the railway station to their mine. In September 1957, the Government Railway took over the working of the line. Dorothea Mackellar wrote her famous poem My Country (popularly known as I Love
15616-424: Was elected in May 1941. The McKell government benefited from full employment, budget surpluses, and a co-operative relationship with John Curtin's federal Labor government. McKell became the first Labor leader to serve a full term and to be re-elected for a second. The Labor party was to govern New South Wales until 1965. The Labor government introduced two weeks of annual paid leave for most NSW workers in 1944, and
15744-426: Was formed in 1885 but New South Wales declined to join. A major obstacle to the federation of the Australian colonies was the protectionist policies of Victoria which conflicted with the free trade policies dominant in New South Wales. Nevertheless, the NSW premier Henry Parkes was a strong advocate of federation and his Tenterfield Oration in 1889 was pivotal in gathering support for the cause. Parkes also struck
15872-499: Was likely arboreal and lived in the canopies of the extensive forests that covered most of Australia at that time, when the climate was much wetter, and fed on leaves and stems. From the Late Miocene through the Pliocene and into the Pleistocene the climate got drier, which led to a decline of forests and expansion of grasslands. At this time, there was a radiation of macropodids characterised by enlarged body size and adaptation to
16000-619: Was one of the factors leading the Trades and Labor Council to form a political party. The Labor Electoral League won a quarter of seats in the NSW elections of 1891 and held the balance of power between the Free Trade Party and the Protectionist Party . The suffragette movement was developing at this time. The Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales was founded in 1891. A Federal Council of Australasia
16128-402: Was possible to travel by train from Brisbane to Adelaide via Sydney and Melbourne. The extension of the rail network inland also encouraged regional industries and the development of the wheat belt . In the 1880s trade unions grew and were extended to lower skilled workers. In 1890 a strike in the shipping industry spread to wharves, railways, mines, and shearing sheds. The defeat of the strike
16256-563: Was replaced by Morris Iemma , who remained premier after being re-elected in the March 2007 state election , until he was replaced by Nathan Rees in September 2008. Rees was subsequently replaced by Kristina Keneally in December 2009, who became the first female premier of New South Wales. Keneally's government was defeated at the 2011 state election and Barry O'Farrell became Premier on 28 March. On 17 April 2014 O'Farrell stood down as Premier after misleading an ICAC investigation concerning
16384-403: Was stuffed (by taxidermists who had never seen the animal before) and displayed to the general public as a curiosity. The first glimpse of a kangaroo for many 18th-century Britons was a painting by George Stubbs . Kangaroos and wallabies belong to the same taxonomic family ( Macropodidae ) and often the same genera, but kangaroos are specifically categorised into the four largest species of
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