Moree () is a town in Moree Plains Shire in northern New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Mehi River, in the centre of the rich black-soil plains. The town is located at the junction of the Newell Highway and Gwydir Highway and can be reached by daily train and air services from Sydney.
The Weraerai and Kamilaroi peoples are the earliest known inhabitants of the area, and the town's name is said to come from an Aboriginal word for "rising sun," "long spring," or "water hole". The town was established by the British in the 1850s, and local Aboriginal residents were placed in missions, later Aboriginal reserves.
The town, and in particular the Moree Baths and Swimming Pool, are known for being visited by the group of activists on the famous 1965 Freedom Ride, an historic trip through northern NSW led by Charles Perkins to bring media attention to discrimination against Indigenous Australians.
Moree is a major agricultural centre, noted for its part in the Australian cotton-growing industry which was established there in the early 1960s. It is situated in the Moree Plains Shire. Moree is home to artesian hot spring baths which are famous for their reputed healing qualities.
At the 2021 census, the town of Moree had a population of 7,070.
History
Aboriginal people
The Weraerai and Kamilaroi peoples, whose descendants are still in the town, were the earliest known inhabitants of the area.
British colonisation
In 1832, Major Thomas Mitchell led a large expedition to the district after an escaped convict by the name of George Clarke told the colonial authorities of the supposed existence of a great river called the "Kindur" that flowed through the region. Clarke had been a bushranger living in a mostly tribal lifestyle with a Kamilaroi clan in the area to the south from 1827 to 1831 and had obtained geographical knowledge important to the colonists. In January 1832, Mitchell crossed what is now known as the Mehi River around ten kilometres east of where the town Moree is now located.
Squatters soon followed in Mitchell's wake, establishing pastoral runs in the vicinity, among which were 'Mungie Bundie' formed by brothers John Henry Fleming and Joseph Fleming in 1837, 'Boolooroo' formed by Robert Marshall in 1837, 'Wee Bolla Bolla' formed by Thomas Simpson Hall in 1838, and 'Mooree' (from a Kamilaroi term believed to mean either "long waterhole", "rising sun", or "long spring") which was formed by James Cox in 1838.
Conflict between the colonists and Aboriginal people occurred soon after the arrival of the pastoralists, which resulted in the murder of hundreds of Aboriginal people. Punitive expeditions against the local Kamilaroi were conducted by both squatters and the New South Wales Mounted Police in what was termed at the time "a war of extermination". For example, a large massacre of Aborigines occurred at John Cobb's Gravesend station in 1837, while in 1838 Major James Nunn and his mounted police killed at least forty at Waterloo Creek. Some of the surviving Mehi and Gwydir River Aborigines fled east to avoid the massacres. They were pursued by gangs of colonists, including one led by John Henry Fleming of 'Mungie Bundie' station which in June 1838 perpetrated the Myall Creek massacre. Those Kamilaroi who stayed in the region continued to be killed, including a massacre of nine Aborigines perpetrated by Charles Eyles at Pallamallawa in 1838.
There were also many deaths caused indirectly, through the introduction of new diseases, displacement, and lack of access to life-sustaining resources,as their water holes and hunting grounds were taken over by pastoralists. This led poaching of livestock, and subsequent bouts of retribution from settlers and retaliation by the Aboriginal groups. The impact on the local Aboriginal people continues to the present day.
Township of Moree
In 1851 James Brand and Mary Geddes arrived with their Aboriginal servant girl Jane Laney, and built a general store on the banks of the river in 1852. A post office was added the following year. The family sold up and moved to the Hunter Region in 1857 but James died in 1858 leaving Mary with six children so she returned opened another business and in 1861 she opened Moree's first inn.
Moree was gazetted as a town in 1862, with land sales proceeding that year.
A court of petty sessions was established in 1863, and there was a severe flood in 1864. The first constable arrived and a police station was set up in 1865. The first church (Wesleyan) was built in 1867 when the town had a population of 43.