Narrandera, New South Wales

From Freepedia

Narrandera is a town and Local Government Area in southern New South Wales, Australia. The present Narrandera Shire was formed on 1 January 1960. This was by an amalgamation of the previous Narrandera Municipality and part of the Yanko Shire. The first Narrandera Municipality was incorporated on 18 March 1885. Narrandera Shire is a large Shire in the geographical centre of the Riverina, with over 1000 kilometres of roads within its boundaries. The town of Narrandera is the administrative centre, but the Shire also incorporates the villages of Grong Grong, Binya and Barellan.

Narrandera is a River Town with a rich heritage. Captain Charles Sturt, the famous explorer, is credited with being the first white man to observe the area that later was to become known as Narrandera. However Sturt, who passed through the district on December 12 1829, was not the first explorer to cast eyes on the Murrumbidgee River. The upper Murrumbidgee, the "Big Water", was first discovered in April 1821, by Charles Throsby. The name Narrandera is a derivative of the Aboriginal words Narrungerra, which translated means "Place of goanna or lizard". Narrandera had its first recorded mention as a pastoral station or "run" (Narrandera Run) in 1848, at which time the property held by Mr Edward Flood comprised approximately 76.800 acres. The Borough of Narrandera was constituted by proclamation dated March 17 1885, and gazetted the following day. The centenary of Local Government in Narrandera was celebrated in 1985.

Narrandera's early days were one of frontier tensions, with squatters in search of their fortune via the land coming into conflict with the Wiradjuri people who had long nurtured and exploited the land and waterways. The Wiradjuri and the harsh conditions often beat back the onslaught of the European, but disease and superior firepower saw the local clan, the Narrungderra all but destroyed. The last major battle took place near Massacre Island, and is said to have left only one survivor.

The township of Narrandera is located on the Murrumbidgee River, at the intersection of the Newell Highway and the [[Sturt Highway] at the centre of a diversely productive agricultural region. Narrandera now marks the transition between an extensive dry-land area devoted to cereal crops and sheep and wool production to the east, and, to the west, the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area fed by water from the Burrinjuck Dam. The MIA is a region where irrigation has opened the way to a diversity of enterprise, from the growing of rice and other cereals under irrigation to the production of citrus, wine grapes and potatoes.

Notable people from Narrandera include NSW Governor Marie Bashir, Fr. Patrick Hartigan, and the poet John O'Brien.

Mayors of Narrandera:

1. R H Ferrier (1885)
2. Henry Daniel Adams(1886)
3. J Armstrong(1887)