Tumbulgum

Tumbulgum  is a town in northern New South Wales, Australia. The town is in the Tweed Shire local government area, at the confluence of the Rous and Tweed Rivers, 818 km north east of the state capital, Sydney and 120 km south east of Brisbane. At the 2006 census, Tumbulgum had a population of 349.

History
The Australian Red Cedar growing in the Tumbulgum area attracted timber-cutters from the 1840s and by the early 1860s a small community and river port had been established on the northern side of the Tweed River where it met the Rous. The town was originally called "Tweed Junction" but in 1880 the residents petitioned to have the name changed to "Tumbulgum". This was claimed to mean "meeting place of the waters" in an Aboriginal language but others claimed translations include "a large fig" or "wild fig tree". By 1885, the town had mostly moved to the southern bank of the Tweed.

In the 1880s Tumbulgum was the principal town in the Tweed Valley with an active commercial sector, including a bank. It was not until construction of the rail line to Lismore in 1897 and the Murwillumbah Bridge in 1901 that Murwillumbah supplanted Tumbulgum as the major centre on the Tweed.

Today
Tumbulgum is now an historic village with many buildings in the town&mdash;some constructed from the local Red Cedar&mdash;having National Heritage classification, including the Tumbulgum Hotel. As well as the hotel, facilities in the town include a General Store, newsagency, post office, and antiques store. The town is a popular fishing and boating destination.

In 2010, Tumbulgum became the third town in New South Wales to ban retail outlets providing disposable plastic shopping bags to customers.