Kurri Kurri

Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. In the its population was 5,772. Kurri Kurri is the largest town in a group of towns and hamlets, including Stanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main, Weston and Abermain, for which the ABS publishes population estimates. The estimated population of Kurri Kurri - Weston was 17,241 as at June 2014.Kurri Kurri's name comes from the local Awabakal language where it has a meaning similar to "the beginning" or "the first".The town's economy today is largely based on the surrounding wineries now that the aluminium smelter closed in 2012.FoundationKurri Kurri was founded in 1902 to service the local Stanford Merthyr and Pelaw Main collieries and mining communities. The town was named by District Surveyor T. Smith who chose the name because he believed it meant 'hurry along' in a local dialect.The Kurri Kurri Hotel (1904) is one of several built during the era of mining prosperity in the early 20th century. It is an impressive three-story building featuring prominent verandas with cast-iron lacework. The Empire Tavern was also built during this period. Kurri Kurri has numerous small miners' cottages from the same period.Coal-miningMining at the South Maitland Coalfields began at East Greta in 1891, after an 1886 exploration by Sir Edgeworth David, a government geological surveyor, uncovered the potential of the Greta coal seam. More mines were opened in the early 1900s, supplanting those older pits at Newcastle where the Australian Agricultural Company enjoyed almost a monopoly. During this period there were a number of accidents including the death of six miners at the Stanford Merthyr Colliery in 1905, which is commemorated by a monument in the Kurri Kurri cemetery.