Koorawatha, New South Wales

Koorawatha is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia, on the Olympic Highway between Cowra and Young. It was once a large and thriving centre of activity but now has only a hotel and a cafe.At the 2006 census, Koorawatha had a population of 258. The town's name is derived from an aboriginal word for "pine trees".Koorawatha is located near the Illunie Range which contains the Koorawatha Nature Reserve, an important tract of virgin bushland. Keen bird watchers may find much to reward them at the Koorawatha Falls area at the Nature Reserve.For several years until recently Koorawatha had its own newsletter, the "Koora Chat", which could be picked up from the Triple J cafe.The German Greens activist Petra Kelly once owned a building block of land in the centre of the village, which she had never actually visited. The photographer Olive Cotton (1911-2003) lived on a farm near Koorawatha for more than fifty years.The township is famous for a gun battle between police and the bushranger Ben Hall. On 20 May 1864 Hall, ably assisted by Tom Gordon and Jimmy Dunleavy attempted to hold up the Bang Bang Hotel (demolished in the 1940s) but found themselves involved in a desperate gun battle with two policemen. Hall and his accomplices were forced to retreat.