# Coonamble

Coonamble is a town on the central-western plains of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the Castlereagh Highway north-west of Gilgandra. At the 2016 census, Coonamble had a population of 2,750. It is the regional hub for wheat growing and sheep and wool. The name for the town is taken from the Gamilaraay word guna (faeces) and -bil (having much).
Brigidine nuns from Ireland established a school in 1883. Their architecturally distinguished convent was dismantled in 1990 and transported 600 km (373 mi) to Pokolbin, where it now houses The Convent resort.
Although Coonamble had been a major sheep industry region in the 1980s to 2000, there has recently been an increasing interest in cattle rearing. The summers can have temperatures reaching up to 40 °C (104 °F) and in winter, there are nights as cold as 0 °C (32 °F). Most recently Coonamble has gained media coverage due to their mass floods over Christmas 2009.

## Population

* In the 2016 Census, there were 2,750 people in Coonamble.
* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 34.2% of the population.
* 80.0% of people were born in Australia and 83.0% of people only spoke English at home.
* The most common responses for religion were Anglican 34.3% and Catholic 28.9%.

## Schools and churches

Coonamble has three schools: Coonamble Public School, St Brigids Catholic School and Coonamble High School.
It has a Catholic and an Anglican church.

## Rodeo

Coonamble hosts an annual rodeo that is attended by around 1,000 competitors and 4,000 spectators.

## Radio station

Coonamble has its own local radio station, 2MTM 91.9FM, which has a wide variety of music from country to modern.
Outback Radio 2WEB broadcasts to the area on 91.1FM.

## Sports

The Coonamble Bears play in the Castlereagh Cup Rugby League competition. The Coonamble Rams play in the Western Plains Rugby Union competition.

## Climate

Coonamble has a borderline semi-arid/humid subtropical climate (Köppen: BSh/Cfa) with hot summers, mild winters, and erratic rainfall year-round, with a summer maximum. The town is sunny, with 148.7 clear days annually
Climate data for Coonamble (30º58'48"S, 148º22'48"E, 180 m AMSL) (1907-2010 normals and extremes, rainfall 1878-2010) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 47.8 (118.0) | 45.6 (114.1) | 44.4 (111.9) | 39.4 (102.9) | 32.8 (91.0) | 27.8 (82.0) | 26.7 (80.1) | 33.3 (91.9) | 37.3 (99.1) | 41.1 (106.0) | 46.1 (115.0) | 46.1 (115.0) | 47.8 (118.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 34.9 (94.8) | 33.9 (93.0) | 31.4 (88.5) | 26.7 (80.1) | 21.8 (71.2) | 18.0 (64.4) | 17.1 (62.8) | 19.3 (66.7) | 23.4 (74.1) | 27.6 (81.7) | 31.0 (87.8) | 33.7 (92.7) | 26.6 (79.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 19.2 (66.6) | 18.9 (66.0) | 16.4 (61.5) | 11.7 (53.1) | 7.8 (46.0) | 5.0 (41.0) | 3.7 (38.7) | 4.6 (40.3) | 7.4 (45.3) | 11.5 (52.7) | 15.1 (59.2) | 17.7 (63.9) | 11.6 (52.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 9.2 (48.6) | 7.9 (46.2) | 5.4 (41.7) | 0.5 (32.9) | −2.3 (27.9) | −3.9 (25.0) | −4.4 (24.1) | −3.7 (25.3) | −0.4 (31.3) | 1.8 (35.2) | 4.2 (39.6) | 9.0 (48.2) | −4.4 (24.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 60.9 (2.40) | 55.1 (2.17) | 44.5 (1.75) | 35.9 (1.41) | 39.3 (1.55) | 37.0 (1.46) | 36.0 (1.42) | 32.2 (1.27) | 32.4 (1.28) | 41.5 (1.63) | 43.3 (1.70) | 47.0 (1.85) | 504.9 (19.88) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 4.5 | 4.4 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 49.1 |
| Average afternoon relative humidity (%) | 35 | 38 | 37 | 40 | 49 | 54 | 55 | 44 | 41 | 34 | 34 | 33 | 41 |
| Average dew point °C (°F) | 13.6 (56.5) | 14.4 (57.9) | 11.9 (53.4) | 9.4 (48.9) | 8.4 (47.1) | 7.1 (44.8) | 6.3 (43.3) | 4.8 (40.6) | 6.4 (43.5) | 7.1 (44.8) | 9.4 (48.9) | 11.4 (52.5) | 9.2 (48.5) |
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology (1907-2010 extremes) ||||||||||||||

## Heritage listings

Coonamble has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
* Dubbo–Coonamble railway: Coonamble railway station

## Notable people

* Ron Boden, rugby league player
* Alex Cullen, journalist
* Ned Hanigan, rugby player
* Lancelot Hansen, rugby league player
* Eddie Murray, rugby league player, notable Aboriginal death in custody
* Mary Quirk, politician
* Jesse Ramien, rugby league player
* Thomas Tyrrell, trade unionist and politician
* Adriano Zumbo, pâtissier and chef