Wee Waa

Wee Waa is a town located on the north-western slopes of the New England region in New South Wales, Australia.

Wee Waa is a town located on the north-western slopes of the New England region in New South Wales, Australia. The town is within the Narrabri Shire local government area and is on the Namoi River. Wee Waa is 41 kilometres (25 mi) north-west of Narrabri and 571 kilometres (355 mi) northwest of Sydney on the Kamilaroi Highway. At the 2016 census, Wee Waa had a population of 2,080.Wee Waa is 42 kilometres from the Newell Highway, and is referred to as a gateway to the far west centres of Walgett, Collarenebri, Lightning Ridge opal fields and beyond.The Aboriginal meaning of Wee Waa is "Fire for Roasting" from the language of the Kamilaroi people.The town is known to be the "Cotton Capital of Australia" as a rural community situated in the rich agricultural heartland of the Lower Namoi Valley in NSW.The town services a far greater rural community as well as the villages of Burren Junction, Pilliga and Gwabegar.

The town is situated approximately 190 metres (620 ft) above sea level.

Before the arrival of European settlers, the Wee Waa area was inhabited by the Gamilaraay/Kamilaroi Aboriginal people.The Wee Waa run was taken up by squatter George Hobler in 1837 and the settlement developed. It became an administrative centre in the late 1840s. A police station and court of petty sessions were established in 1847 and a post office opened two years later.It is the oldest established town in the area and is the birthplace of the commercial cotton industry in Australia.

Rail services were extended in 1901 from Narrabri to Walgett, passing through the town.

The first commercial cotton plantation was established in 1961, irrigated with water from the Keepit Dam on the Namoi River.It was the first town built on the Namoi River.The town is subject to regular floods and is protected by a levee bank.However thousands of people were isolated on properties around Wee Waa in February 2012.