The town's name is often abbreviated to M'bah[2] or Murbah.[3] At the 2021 census, Murwillumbah had a population of 9,812.[1] Many of the buildings are Art Deco in style and there are cafes, clothes shops and antique shops in the town.
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, "possum", and bah.[4] 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.[5] The river port at Tumbulgum was initially the main settlement. In 1902, a local government municipality was declared with Murwillumbah as its centre.[5]
Most of the town's business district was destroyed by fire in 1907.[6]
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.[7][8] 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.[9] The subdivision was sold as part of the estate of Denis Hartigan.[7] In December 1923, "Bray Estate" made up of 9 farm and farmlet blocks was advertised to be auctioned by A. E. Budd & Son.[10][11]
Murwillumbah was the location of Australia's largest[12] bank robbery, when A$1.7 million in cash was stolen from the vault of the Bank of New South Wales by the 'Magnetic drill gang' in 1978. The case remains unsolved.[13]
In November 2023, fire ants were discovered at Murwillumbah, the first time the species has been found outside of South East Queensland since the outbreak began in 2001.[14]
Floods
Murwillumbah is protected by a series of levees,[15] but they do not protect all parts of the town in major floods. The worst inundation, exceeding those of 1954,[15] 1956,[6] 1974, 2008 and 2009, started on 30 March 2017. 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. There was extensive and severe flooding, with mass evacuations from South Murwillumbah and other low-lying areas, and road access cut from both north and south. It fell just short of overtopping the 6.3 metres (21 ft) levees protecting the central business district.
The March 1974 flood caused two hundred people to be evacuated from the town after floodwater from Tropical Cyclone Zoe inundated the area.[16] In January 2008, Murwillumbah and its surrounding areas were hit by severe flooding,[17] while May 2009 saw more evacuations in the town and surrounds after very heavy rainfall.[18] Major flooding also occurred in 2022.[19] The 2022 floods were the worst seen on record. Even worse than 2017, much of Murwillumbah was inundated.
Heritage listings
Murwillumbah has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
The Pacific Highway passed through South Murwillumbah, but the town was completely bypassed when the 27 kilometre dual carriageway Yelgun to Chinderah upgrade was opened in August 2002. The pre-existing highway, now significantly quieter, was renamed The Tweed Valley Way, and is the main means of access to Murwillumbah from both north and south.
A road leading north west, a scenic tourist drive, heads along the Numinbah Valley through the towns of Chillingham, Numinbah and Natural Bridge. A road south west of the town heads to Kyogle via the town of Uki, passing near to Nimbin en route.
Several bus services serve the area. Murwillumbah Bus Company offers regular services to major parts of the town, as well as Condong and Uki. Parson's Bus Service links passengers with Pottsville, Cabarita Beach, and Stokers Siding. Gosel's Bus Service offers services to Nimbin via Uki. Singh's Bus Service links the town to Chillingham, Tyalgum and Eungella. Kinetic Group operate hourly service to Tweed Heads via Terranora.
Murwillumbah's airfield, Whittle Field (ICAO code YMUR), is named after a noted local World War II Spitfire pilot, the late Bob Whittle.[25][26] There are no scheduled flights, but its 800-metre grass runway supports Murwillumbah Aero Club and business activities including crop-dusting, aircraft restoration, training and scenic charter flights.
Industry
Sugar cane plantation near Murwillumbah in November 1961
Aside from tourism, the major industry of the area, is sugarcane growing. The sugar mill at nearby Condong was served by numerous tramways until 1973 saw the introduction of mechanical cane harvesting.[27] There is also some dairy farming in the area. Coffee, bananas and assorted tropical fruit and vegetables are also produced throughout the area. South Murwillumbah is home to Stone & Wood Brewing Co.'s second brewery, which opened in 2014.
There are alternative lifestyle retreats nearby, including one of the Hare Krishna organisation.
Festivals
The annual Tweed Banana Festival, the second oldest festival in Australia is staged in the town. In 2005, the festival celebrated its 50th anniversary.[28]
From 2002 to 2009 an historic motor racing festival was run through the streets of Murwillimbah, featuring a parade through town, a one kilometre hillclimb course, and connected events, attracting thousands of spectators. Modeled on the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Speed on Tweed was a highlight of the local calendar attracting cars and competitors from all over Australia and from Europe and North America. In September 2009 the event was held in conjunction with Rally Australia which has scheduled one special stage in Murwillumbah.
In the 2021 census, Murwillumbah recorded a population of 9,812 people, 52.5% female and 47.5% male. The median age of the Murwillumbah population was 46 years, 8 years above the national median of 38. 81.0% of people living in Murwillumbah were born in Australia. The other top responses for country of birth were England 3.4%, New Zealand 2.0%, India 1.1%, Germany 0.4%, and Philippines 0.4%. 87.7% of people spoke only English at home; the next most common languages were Punjabi 0.9%, Spanish 0.4%, French 0.3%, German 0.3% and Hindi 0.2%.[1]
Other sports facilities in the area include Murwillumbah Vulcans Australian Football Club, Murwillumbah Brothers Fishing Club, Murwillumbah Swimming Club, Murwillumbah Cycle Club, Murwillumbah Combat Club,[35] Murwillumbah Cricket Club,[36] Murwillumbah Rowing Club,[37] Murwillumbah Hockey Club,[38] Murwillumbah Netball Association,[39] Murwillumbah Bowling Club, Murwillumbah Pistol Club,[40] Murwillumbah Rifle Club,[41] Murwillumbah Croquet Club, Tweed River Jockey Club,[42] Tweed Valley Equestrian Group,[43] Tweed River water Ski Club,[44] Tweed Valley Triathletes-Triathlon Club,[45] Murwillumbah Golf Club[46] and Murwillumbah Tennis Club.[47]
Tweed Shire Regional Botanic Gardens is also in Murwillumbah.
In popular culture
Murwillumbah was used as the location for the film Lou (2010) starring John Hurt. The ABC television series of the novel Pastures of the Blue Crane was also filmed in the Tweed region in 1969.[48] In 2018, the town was used as a film location for the Netflix-distributed Lunatics (2019) starring Chris Lilley.[49] The town is close to the filming location of British reality TV show I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here and is used as a base for staff and crew working on the show.
^ ab"Advertising". The Tweed Daily. Vol. V, no. 172. New South Wales, Australia. 20 July 1918. p. 8. Retrieved 26 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Advertising". The Tweed Daily. Vol. VII, no. 215. New South Wales, Australia. 11 September 1920. p. 4. Retrieved 26 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Bray Estate Sale". The Tweed Daily. Vol. X, no. 304. New South Wales, Australia. 1 December 1923. p. 4. Retrieved 25 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Remembering Murwillumbah floods". Tweed Daily News. The Tweed Newspaper Company. 6 January 2010. Archived from the original on 11 January 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
^Kristy Martin (21 May 2009). "Mass evacuations forced in Tweed". Tweed Daily News. The Tweed Newspaper Company. Archived from the original on 4 January 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
^Boyd, Max (January 2013). "Bob Whittle OAM DFM"(PDF). Timelines. 1 (3). Murwillumbah Historical Society: 1–3. Archived(PDF) from the original on 9 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
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