History
Allan Cunningham a botanist-explorer, in 1827 became the first white man to explore the Namoi. Cunningham, named this river 'Mitchell' after a surgeon in Sydney who was dismissed from Government Service because he refused to attend the flogging of a convict at Hyde Park barracks. Various meanings of the name have included: the Kamilaroi 'ngamu' for 'breast'; Aboriginal for ‘forked stick’; ‘meeting of the waters’ or Namoi (Nammoy) the native name for a species of acacia.
Keepit Dam near Gunnedah is an important dam for flood control and irrigation. The floodplains of the lower Namoi around Wee Waa are an important area for growing cotton which is irrigated using water from the dam.
The Namoi River Road Bridge, which was built at Manilla in 1886, has been placed on the Register of the National Estate. This bridge has eleven metal lattice truss spans and is one of the longest six or seven metal truss bridges completed in Australia by that time.
Read more about this topic: Namoi River
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