Murwillumbah, Tweed Shire, New South Wales, Australia

Notes:
Murwillumbah is a town in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River, 848 km north-east of Sydney, 13 km south of the Queensland border and 132 km south of Brisbane. At the 2016 census, Murwillumbah had a population of 9,245 people. The town's name is often abbreviated to M'bah or Murbah.



Murwillumbah sits on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley. The area is hilly. Many of the buildings are Art Deco in style and there are cafes, clothes and antique shops in the town. Murwillumbah is the eighth town mentioned in the original Australia version of the song "I've Been Everywhere".



History



Main street, c.?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, "opossum", 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 is the location for Australia's largest-ever bank robbery which occurred in 1978 and has not been solved.



Floods

Murwillumbah is protected by a series of levees, but they do not protect all parts of the town in major floods. The worst flood to affect the town occurred on 30 March 2017 when the Tweed River reached 6.2 metres (20 ft) after rainfall of over 700 millimetres (28 in) from the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Debbie fell in its upper catchment over a 36 hour period. This level caused extensive flooding and mass evacuations in South Murwillumbah and other low-lying areas, cut road access from the north and south, and fell just short of overtopping the 6.3 metres (21 ft) levees protecting the central business district.[citation needed] The event exceeded previous major floods in 1954 and 1956.



In March 1974, two hundred people were evacuated from the town after floodwater from Tropical Cyclone Zoe inundated the area. In January 2008, Murwillumbah and surrounding areas were hit by severe flooding. May 2009 saw more evacuations in the town and surrounds after heavy rainfall.

Death

Matches 1 to 4 of 4

	Last Name, Given Name(s)	Death		Person ID
1	Beatty, James	1915	Murwillumbah, Tweed Shire, New South Wales, Australia	I9924
2	Boyle, Sarah Jane	Abt 1936	Murwillumbah, Tweed Shire, New South Wales, Australia	I2093
3	Hall, Giralda	1914	Murwillumbah, Tweed Shire, New South Wales, Australia	I35834
4	Pollock, William A.	8 Sep 1944	Murwillumbah, Tweed Shire, New South Wales, Australia	I16372

Marriage

Matches 1 to 1 of 1

	Family	Marriage		Family ID
1	Pollock / Boyle	Abt 1917	Murwillumbah, Tweed Shire, New South Wales, Australia	F5076