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Junee
New South Wales
Lorne Street - Junee.jpg
Lorne Street
Junee is located in New South Wales
Junee
Junee
Location in New South Wales
Population 4,762 (2016 census)
Established Late 1870s
Postcode(s) 2663
Elevation 280 m (919 ft)
Time zone AEST (UTC+10)
 • Summer (DST) AEDT (UTC+11)
Location
LGA(s) Junee Shire
County Clarendon
State electorate(s) Cootamundra
Federal Division(s) Riverina
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall
22.9 °C
73 °F
8.6 °C
47 °F
530.6 mm
20.9 in

Junee (/ˈn/) is a medium-sized town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town's prosperity and mixed services economy is based on a combination of agriculture, rail transport, light industry and government services, and in particular correctional services. In 2015 Junee's urban population was 4,762.

Place name

One theory is that word Junee which originates from the Aboriginal word 'Junee' means "speak to me". Another theory is that it is an Aboriginal word "Choo-nee" meaning "frog".

History

The Wiradjuri people are the traditional owners of the local area prior to European settlement. Leopold de Salis (1816–1898), pastoralist and later politician was one of the first squatters to open up the Riverina region to grazing. He established the 'Junee' pastoral run in 1845. Leopold held the licence for this run for a total of three years. Other run licencees followed until Thomas Hammond and Richard Gwynne bought the licence in 1857. The Junee run progressively reduced in area as selectors took up land but Hammond lived on it until his death in 1899, the remaining property having been named "Wyoming" in 1887. A post office opened in 1862 and a village called 'Junee' was gazetted in 1863 on the wool road to Sydney. That same year, Ben Hall and his bushranging gang raided the village.

CountryLink XPT 2018 at Junee 01
Junee railway station with a CountryLink XPT at the platform in 2009

In 1866 Junee's population was recorded as twelve but the discovery of reef and alluvial gold during the 1860s triggered a gold rush. The main sites- Junee Reefs (to the north), was mined on and off until after World War 1, as well as Wantiool and Eurongilly (to the east) until the 1880s.

By 1878 with the southward expansion of the Main South line in New South Wales, the main railway line between Sydney and Melbourne passed 8 kilometres east of the Village. Junee's Post Office was renamed Old Junee in 1885 (Junee railway station). Loftus was the original name of the locality being farm land and as the settlers moved in for the rail line it was renamed. Junee Railway Station Post Office opened on 6 July 1878, was renamed Junee Junction in 1881 and later still, Junee in 1893.

Rail and road

The Main South line between Sydney and Melbourne runs through Junee, as does the Olympic Highway, named for the route of the 1956 Summer Olympics Torch Relay. The advent of rail transport in 1878 provided the impetus for an economic boom providing local agricultural producers with affordable direct access to markets in Sydney. In 1952 the largest wheat terminal in the Southern Hemisphere was constructed at Junee, adjacent to the South West Railway, providing both rail and road transport.

Rail transport makes an important contribution to the local economy with Regional Rail Logistics operating a containerised freight service that delivers various goods from Junee to Sydney, with interstate freight trains also passing through the town.

Ray Warren
Ray Warren statue at Dobbyn Park

Ray Warren statue

On 6 August 2011, a bronze statue of rugby league commentator Ray Warren was erected at Dobbyn Park.

Climate

Junee experiences a climate in between that of the Riverina plain and the South West Slopes. It is classed as a rather dry humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), lying about 75 millimetres or 3 inches above semi-arid classification. It features long, hot and dry summers and cool, cloudy winters, alongside low precipitation year-round. The highest temperature recorded at Junee was 46.1 °C or 115.0 °F on 31 January 1968; the lowest recorded was −5.0 °C or 23.0 °F on 1 July 1971 and 6 August 1974. The average annual rainfall is 530.6 millimetres or 20.89 inches. On rare occasions snow can fall, with the last occurrence in August 2019.

Climate data for Junee Treatment Works (1907–1975, rainfall 1891–2022); 280 metres or 919 feet AMSL; 34.85° S, 147.57° E
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 46.1
(115.0)
44.4
(111.9)
40.6
(105.1)
32.8
(91.0)
25.6
(78.1)
21.6
(70.9)
23.0
(73.4)
26.1
(79.0)
33.3
(91.9)
35.0
(95.0)
38.3
(100.9)
40.6
(105.1)
46.1
(115.0)
Average high °C (°F) 32.4
(90.3)
31.6
(88.9)
28.4
(83.1)
22.8
(73.0)
17.9
(64.2)
13.9
(57.0)
13.2
(55.8)
15.1
(59.2)
18.9
(66.0)
22.7
(72.9)
27.0
(80.6)
30.8
(87.4)
22.9
(73.2)
Average low °C (°F) 15.5
(59.9)
15.6
(60.1)
12.9
(55.2)
8.6
(47.5)
5.5
(41.9)
3.3
(37.9)
2.3
(36.1)
3.2
(37.8)
5.0
(41.0)
7.4
(45.3)
10.2
(50.4)
13.5
(56.3)
8.6
(47.4)
Record low °C (°F) 5.6
(42.1)
7.0
(44.6)
3.9
(39.0)
0.6
(33.1)
−2.8
(27.0)
−4.0
(24.8)
−5.0
(23.0)
−5.0
(23.0)
−3.3
(26.1)
−2.8
(27.0)
1.7
(35.1)
3.8
(38.8)
−5.0
(23.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 40.8
(1.61)
37.2
(1.46)
40.9
(1.61)
40.6
(1.60)
42.9
(1.69)
49.8
(1.96)
47.0
(1.85)
46.8
(1.84)
44.2
(1.74)
50.9
(2.00)
44.7
(1.76)
41.4
(1.63)
530.6
(20.89)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) 4.9 4.6 4.5 5.5 7.8 9.5 11.2 11.0 8.8 8.2 6.3 5.4 87.7
Source: Bureau of Meteorology (1891–2022)

Heritage listings

Junee has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

Demographics

According to the 2016 census of Population, there were 4,762 people in Junee.

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 9.4% of the population.
  • 81.5% of people were born in Australia and 70.9% of people spoke only English at home.
Historical population
Year Pop. ±%
1921 3,560 —    
1933 4,213 +18.3%
1947 4,010 −4.8%
1954 4,064 +1.3%
1961 3,980 −2.1%
1966 3,906 −1.9%
1971 3,772 −3.4%
1976 4,005 +6.2%
1981 3,993 −0.3%
1986 3,720 −6.8%
1991 3,673 −1.3%
1996 3,681 +0.2%
2001 3,589 −2.5%
2006 3,744 +4.3%
2011 4,400 +17.5%
2016 4,762 +8.2%
2021 4,882 +2.5%
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

Sport

The most popular sport in Junee is rugby league. The town's team, the Junee Diesels, compete in the Group 9 Rugby League competition, in which they have won two premierships. The club is notable for having produced New South Wales and Australian captain Laurie Daley.

The town had now defunct Australian rules and rugby union teams, known as the Bulldogs and Rams.

Notable people

Communications

Junee Post Office on Lorne Street in Junee
Junee Post Office, Lorne Street

Junee is served by:

  • Junee Southern Cross newspaper
  • Radio 1RPH transmitter (99.5FM)
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