Cobar, New South Wales

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Cobar, New South Wales

Cobar is a town in northwestern New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....
, Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
. It is located 711 km (442 miles) northwest of Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million . It is the List of Australian capital cities of New South Wales, and was the site of the first British Empire colony in Australia....
. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way

Kidman Way

The Kidman Way is an important highway in New South Wales , Australia, which is designated as State Highway 87. It is named after Sir Sidney Kidman, Australian cattle king and philanthropist who owned a large number of cattle stations along the path, many still owned by his descendants....
(to Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
) and Barrier Highway

Barrier Highway

The Barrier Highway is a highway in New South Wales and South Australia signposted as in South Australia and in New South Wales, Australia.The Barrier Highway starts at Nyngan, New South Wales where it joins the Mitchell Highway....
(to South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a States and territories of Australia of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories....
). The town and the Local Government Area, the Cobar Shire Council

Cobar Shire Council

Cobar Council is a Local Government Areas in Australia in the Orana, New South Wales region of New South Wales, Australia. It is an outback shire based on the mining town of Cobar, New South Wales....
, are on the eastern edge of the outback

Outback

The Outback refers to remote arid areas of Australia, although the term colloquially can refer to any lands outside of the main urban areas....
. At the 2006 census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics every five years. The most recent census was conducted on 8 August 2006....
, Cobar had a population of 4,918.

The name Cobar is derived from Ngiyampaa Kuparr.

Some of the most significant Aboriginal rock art in NSW is within the shire.

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Encyclopedia

Cobar is a town in northwestern New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....
, Australia

Australia

Sydney

Kidman Way

Queensland

Barrier Highway

South Australia

Cobar Shire Council

Outback

The Outback refers to remote arid areas of Australia, although the term colloquially can refer to any lands outside of the main urban areas....
. At the 2006 census

Census in Australia

Australian Aboriginal art

Indigenous Australian art is art produced by Indigenous Australians, covering works that pre-date History of Australia before 1901#Colonization as well as contemporary art by Indigenous Australians based on traditional culture....
of Mount Grenfell, 40 km west of Cobar. Over 1,300 depictions of humans, hand stencils and animals are at this site.

Several heritage buildings from the late-1880s settlement are open to visitors, including the Great Western Hotel (1898), reputed to have the longest iron lace verandah in the Southern Hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere south of the celestial equator....
. The Festival of the Miners Ghost, held during the last weekend in October, is a festival celebrating the spirits of the old miners. The surrounding shire is 44,065 sq km, about the size of Tasmania. The town of Cobar has 5,000 of the shire's 7,000 people.

History

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity....
was discovered in the area in 1870, leading to settlements being founded with Australia's European and Asian gold rush

Australian gold rushes

The Australian gold rushes started in 1851 when prospector Edward Hammond Hargraves claimed the discovery of payable gold near Bathurst, New South Wales, New South Wales, at a site Edward Hargraves called Ophir, New South Wales....
arrivals. The Great Cobar Copper Mining Company Limited was established in 1878. It and subsequent companies operated a number of light railways carrying ore and similar material, as well as timber for mine supports. Cobar and many mining outskirts accommodated the miners who travelled to the area in the late 1880s. Copper mining operations ceased in 1920. Gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
, silver

Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
, lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group Chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metal ....
and zinc

Zinc

Zinc is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a first-row transition metal of the group 12 element of the periodic table....
were discovered in the 1980s. The town's development in its region is distinct, afforded by the affluence of the mining boom. Three important mining belts are operational in the Cobar area: The Cobar belt, the Canbelego belt and the Girilambone belt. Visits to mine sites may be arranged through the local museum overlooking the open cut mine

Open-pit mining

Open-pit mining, also known as opencast mining, open-cut mining, and strip mining, refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or Borrow pit....
.

Economy

The Cobar economy is quite dependent on the world zinc price. In January, 2009 after a price fall of 75% in 1 year the mine cut 540 of 655 jobs, with flow on effects felt by many other businesses. Over the year the workforce has reduced by 10%. The town has some benefit from tourists passing through due to its location on the Kidman Way. It benefits from being the seat of the local government area, having two primary schools and a high school and a 31 bed hospital for acute care.

Climate

Cobar has a semi-arid climate with hot summers and cool to mild winters. It has a median annual rainfall of 390mm. Rainfall is extremely variable, particularly in late summer and early spring. The highest rain falls have been in excess of 200mm in any one month. Rainfall is generally only about 4 days per month.

Average monthly maximum temperatures range from 13C to 20C in winter and 28C to 39C in summer. Average monthly minimum temperatures range from 2C to 8C in winter to 14C to 24C in summer.

The average relative humidity in Cobar during the summer is about 30% in the afternoon and about 50% at 9am. In winter it is about 45% at 3pm, and about 75% at 9am.

Annual mean wind speed at 9am and 3 pm is about 12.2 km/h with lesser speeds on winter mornings.

Cobar, New South Wales

History

Economy

Climate

See also

External links