Monaro (New South Wales)
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Monaro (
The Snowy Monaro Regional Council was established in 2016 which comprises the former Bombala, Cooma-Monaro and Snowy River Local Government Areas. The area is the traditional lands of the Ngarigo tribe and the Ngarigo people continue to survive despite being listed as critically endangered by the government due to the events of education of the 1700s, and didn't share their border with the Southern Ngunnawal people. It boasts of snowfields, expansive timber forests and the Snowy River.[3]
) were named after the area (but pronounced 'monAHroh').Geography
The Monaro region, a plateau area lying about 1,000 metres above sea level, extends from the valley of the
The Monaro region is characterised by rolling hills that rise to extremely rugged peaks in the Tinderry Mountains and to shallow valleys in the upper Murrumbidgee. The basaltic Monaro Range separates the Snowy and Murrumbidgee drainages. Because the climate in the basaltic areas is too cold for really reliable cropping (Nimmitabel has had frosts in January), the main industry is raising sheep and beef cattle.
Climate
Because it is located east of the Snowy Mountains, the rain-bearing westerly winds deposit rain and snow on the mountains leaving the Monaro region in a rain shadow (see southeast Australian foehn). Annual rainfall ranges from 430 millimetres (17 inches) around Dalgety to 700 millimetres (26 inches) at the eastern edge of the plateau, where occasional cyclonic storms can produce extremely heavy rainfall - in one day in June 1975 Nimmitabel received 256 millimetres (over 10 inches) of rain.
Temperatures in summer are warm to very warm, with average maxima ranging from 28 °C (82 °F) around Canberra and Queanbeyan to 22 °C (71 °F) on the highest parts of the plateau. Nights in summer can be cool, but in winter the region is the coldest part of mainland Australia outside the Alps, with July minima averaging -0.3 °C (31.5 °F) in Canberra and -1.5 °C (29.3 °F) in Bombala.
Transport
The Monaro Highway is the main state highway which runs from Canberra south through the Monaro region. Other major roads in the region are the Snowy Mountains Highway which crosses the Monaro between Tumut and Bega, the Kosciuszko Road from Cooma to Jindabyne, and the Snowy River Way from Bombala to Jindabyne.
Towns
The main towns in the region are
, Countegany and Kybeyan.References
- Sydney Morning Herald. 24 May 1858. p. 5. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
- ISBN 978-3-11-081972-4.
- ^ "Welcome to the Snowy Monaro Region". Snowy Monaro Regional Council.