About

Starting at Goondiwindi, in Queensland on the border with New South Wales, the Newell Highway travels south across the fertile agricultural land of North Western NSW, through the regional centres of Moree, Narrabri and Coonabarabran.

This area is where much of Australia's cotton is grown, with plentiful warm sunshine and rich soil. Moree is renowned for its thermal springs, which come from the underground artesian basin.

Between Narrabri and Coonabarabran, the highway passes through the Pilliga Forest. A unique habitat of open, semi arid bushland and sandy soils. There are at least 900 plant species here, supporting 40 native mammals, 50 reptiles and a dozen or more frog species.

There are also rumours of the Pilliga Yowie living in this area.

Gilgandra and Dubbo occupy the Western Plains, where wool production and tourism are the main industries.

Dubbo is renowned for being the home of the Western Plains Zoo, which is part of the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Here, the wild animals of Africa roam in an open environment, providing visitors a unique opportunity to observe them in a close to natural habitat.

Further south along the Newell Highway is the city of Parkes, named after Sir Henry Parkes, known as the Father of Federation. He was one of the early advocates of the creation of a Federal Government system in Australia.

The Transcontinental Railway passes through Parkes. The town is also famous for its role in transmitting TV pictures back to earth from the first moon landing in 1969, when Neil Armstrong set foot on that far away place. Subsequently the movie The Dish, was set in this town.

Forbes is a town with an interesting history, having attracted an early influx of people when gold was found here in 1861. Among those buried in Forbes cemetery are Kat Kelly, sister of bushranger Ned Kelly and the bushranger Ben Hall, who was shot not far from this town. Kate Kelly drowned while attempting to save a child in the lake.

Further south-west, the town of West Wyalong is at the crossroads of the Newell Highway, being a major route from Brisbane to Melbourne and the Mid Western Highway which is a major route from Sydney to Adelaide.

Narrandera is an important centre located on the Murrumbidgee River. From here to the Murray we are in the MIA, or Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, a region rich in production of stone fruit, grapes, cotton, sheep and cattle. The MIA is irrigated from the Murrumbidgee and the Murray Rivers through a system of irrigation channels, which criss cross their way across the country like miniature rivers, bring water and wealth to this sundrenched land.

The highway continues down through the MIA to Jerilderie, Finley and finally to Tocumwal on the Murray River.

From Goondiwindi to Tocumwal, the highway has covered 1,062km from north to south. The route to Melbourne continues from Tocumwal on the Goulburn Valley Highway. The total journey from Brisbane to Melbourne, taking the route that includes the Newell Highway, is 1,680km.