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'Kurri Kurri' is a town in Cessnock City Council, in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, Australia. Together with nearby Weston and Pelaw Main, it had a population of 12,326 in 2001.
Kurri Kurri's name is Aboriginal and in the local Awabakal language it meant "the beginning, the first".
The town's economy is based on its aluminium smelter and the surrounding wineries. The Kurri Kurri Hotel (1904) is one of several pubs built during the era of mining prosperity in the early 20th century. It is an impressive three storey building featuring prominent verandahs with cast iron lacework. The Empire Tavern was built during this period. Kurri Kurri has numerous small miners' cottages from the early 20th century.

Contents

History

References

History

Kurri Kurri was founded in 1902 to service the local Stanford Merthyr and Pelaw Main 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 town and suburban land of Kurri was proclaimed on October 25th, 1902 and the first lots in the new development were sold on June 10, 1903.
Mining 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, because the Newcastle coal mines were becoming worked out. During this period there were a number of accidents including the death of six miners at the Stanford Merthyr Mine in 1905, which is commemorated by a monument in the Kurri Kurri cemetery.
Kurri Kurri grew to house a population of 5885 residents by 1911. The Richmond Main mine, also in the Kurri Kurri vicinity, was once the Southern Hemisphere's largest and deepest shaft mine. Coal mining declined after the mid-1920s and the Stanford Main mine closed in 1957, Pelaw Main in 1962 and Richmond Main shut down in 1967.^[1]
Until the creation of the local government area known as the City of Cessnock, Kurri Kurri was the centre of the Shire of Kearsley, which included most of the rural areas and villages around the township of Cessnock and part of the western suburbs of Maitland. From 1946 to 1949 the Shire was unique in Australia in having a majority of the councillors who were members of the Communist Party of Australia.
In 1988 the town established a Tidy Town Committee under the stewardship of the Keep Australia Beautiful competition. The town achieved immediate success and in the space of 6 years took out the best town in NSW in 1993 and was a finalist in the best town in Australia. Since those early days the town has taken out more than 20 awards in this competition. If it wasn't for the start of this project back in 1988 the town wouldn't be where it is today.
This was followed by the establisment of the Small Towns committee known as Towns with Heart. Their work has continued on the great work undertaken by the Tidy Town committee.
It is now becoming internationally renowned for it's murals with more than 40 murals painted around the town and it's environs depicting the history of the region and also recent events.^[2] Each year the town also hosts a Nostalgia Festival featuring rock 'n' roll dancing, and hot rod and bike shows.^[3]
In 1974, the town gave birth to Rugby League professional Andrew Johns and in 1982, Australian and American Supercross champion Chad Reed. Motorcycle racer, Casey Stoner originally came from Kurri Kurri.

References

1. Kurri Kurri

2. http://www.kurrikurri.com Mural Details
3. http://www.kurrikurrinostalgiafestival.com.au