| Attunga New South Wales | |
|---|---|
  Attunga Location in New South Wales | |
| Coordinates | 30°55′46″S 150°50′42″E / 30.92944°S 150.84500°E |
| Population | 633 (2006 census)[1] |
| Postcode(s) | 2345 |
| Elevation | 374 m (1,227 ft) |
| Location | |
| LGA(s) | Tamworth Regional Council |
| State electorate(s) | Tamworth |
| Federal division(s) | New England |
Attunga is a small farming community in the New England region of New South Wales Australia.
The name is an Aboriginal word for "a high place", and was originally the name for a nearby farm operated by pastoralist John Brown in the 1840s.[2] The land had previously been part of a 313,000-acre (1,270 km2) grant to the Australian Agricultural Company in 1834 and had been used to graze 6,000 sheep.[3]
The village of Attunga was gazetted in 1847[4] but early settlement appears to have been slow. The first recorded burials at the Attunga Cemetery date from 1872 with the earliest inscriptions dated 1881.[5] BHP opened a limestone quarry there in 1919.[6]
Population growth remained slow until the mid-twentieth century. The current population of 633 includes families of commuters to Tamworth. Services in Attunga currently include a primary school, supermarket, hotel and sports ground, and rural fire service headquarters.
The late English singer-songwriter Max Bygraves owned "Attunga Park", an 84-hectare farm near the town of Murwillumbah.
The main industries are sheep and cattle farming, and limestone mining from a mine to the east of the town. The town abuts the Attunga State Forest, a popular walking and camping destination.[7]
The town was served by the Barraba branch railway line until the local station was closed in 1985.
Recent drought conditions have caused bank erosion along Attunga Creek, as a result of stock movements across and along the creek bed. In 2006 the town of Attunga received funding for a major program of bank stabilisation and revegetation to restrict stock movements to defined corridors near the waterway.[8]
Vodafone will serve the town and surrounding area with mobile phone service as part of the National Blackspot Program from Q4 2016.
