Moree

Moree is a large town in Moree Plains Shire in northern New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Mehi River, in the centre of the rich black-soil plains.Moree is a major agricultural centre, noted for its part in the Australian cotton-growing industry which was established there in the early 1960s. The first cotton plant in Moree was from a farm called Wilga. It was grown by Bill and Betty Lynch. The town is located at the junction of the Newell Highway and Gwydir Highway and can be reached by daily train and air services from Sydney. It is situated in the Moree Plains Shire. Like many towns and cities in Australia, Moree shares its name with a much smaller community in Northern Ireland in County Tyrone. At the 2016 census, Moree had a population of 9,346.Moree is home to artesian hot spring baths which are famous for their reputed healing qualities.HistoryThe Kamilaroi people, whose descendants are still in the town, were the early inhabitants of the area. Major Sir Thomas Mitchell went to the district at the request of the acting governor after the recapture of escaped convict George Clarke who told of a great river called the Kindur in 1832. Clarke had been living in the area to the south with the Kamilaroi from 1826-1831. Squatters soon followed in Mitchell's wake establishing pastoral runs, among which was 'Moree' (1844), from a Kamilaroi term believed to mean either 'long waterhole' or 'rising sun'.