MURWILLUMBAH
Murwillumbah is a surprise, insofar as
this is a quite sizable and very progressive town and community.
Murwillumbah is encounted by making the effort to visit. For most
travellers, in the past Murwillumbah has been a by-pass town where the
Gold Coast or Ballina have held sway as stop over preferences.
The name
Murwillumbah derives from an Aboriginal word meaning "camping place" –
from Murrie, meaning "aboriginal people", Wolli, "a camp"; and Bab,
"the place of". Nearby Mount Warning and its attendant national park
are known as Wollumbin, meaning "Cloud Catcher", in the Bundjalung
language.
Timber-getters
were drawn to the region in the 1840s. The river port at Tumbulgum was
initially the main settlement. In 1902, a local government
municipality was declared with Murwillumbah as its centre.
Most of the
town's business district was destroyed by fire in 1907. Murwillumbah
is the location for Australia’s largest-ever bank robbery which
occurred in 1978 and has not been solved.
Heritage is
clearly important within the community._small.JPG) _small.JPG)  _small.JPG) _small.JPG) 
The Museum is
central within the town.
The Astral Café
is a really nice discovery and the fact that the café still exists is
amazing.   
The major
industry of the area, apart from tourism, is sugarcane growing. There
are a number of alternative lifestyle retreats nearby as well, notably
one belonging to the Hare Krishna religion.The
Murwillumbah Hotels are over 100 years old_small1.JPG) _small.JPG)  
The Catholic
Church
is cathedral dimensions.
The United
and
Presbyterian
quite old, and the Anglican
is modern.
The Murwillumbah
War Memorial is a multi facet type memorial and will be of interest to
most.   
For those with a sense of
history Murwillumbah is a recommended visit and stop over location.
Heritage diary_small.JPG)
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