Coonabarabran

Coonabarabran is a city in New South Wales in Australia, with 2,609 inhabitants. It is located 451 km north-west of Sydney on the Newell Highway and Oxley Highway. It is the administrative headquarters of the Warrumbungle Shire.

Lewis Gordon founded Coonabarabran in 1859. The area had already been developed by a Regierungsexpediton 1817 and the Aboriginal, the Kamilaroi, since 7,500 years lived in this area. Coonabarabran is the gateway to Warrumbungle National Park and the Pilliga Forest and it leads a tourist office. In the resort there are motels, hotels, restaurants and trailer parks. There is also a collection of minerals, the Crystal Kingdom, and a golf club.

In Coonabarabran an astronomical observatory with a telescope is 3.9 meters in diameter, the largest telescope in Australia, the Siding Spring Observatory on the Siding Spring Mountain in the Warrumbungle National Park. For astronomy students and astrophysicists the Australian National University, there are 12 telescopes in the building on the Siding Spring Mountain.