Barraba, New South Wales

Barraba is a town in the New England region of northern New South Wales, Australia. It was formerly the centre of Barraba Shire Local Government Area, but most of this, including Barraba, was absorbed into Tamworth Regional Council in 2004. On Census night 2006, Barraba had a population of 1,161 people.

The town was the termination point for the Barraba branch railway line until it was closed.

Mining
Copper was discovered at Gulf Creek, near Barraba, in 1889 and the first mine was established there in 1892. At its peak, in 1901, the copper mine was one of the largest in the state.

Asbestos was first mined at Woodsreef, also near Barraba, from 1919 to the 1980s. The Chrysotile Corporation of Australia carried out large-scale mining at the site from 1970 to 1983. The open-cut mine produced approximately 500,000 tonnes of chrysotile, or white asbestos, from 100 million tonnes of mined material.

The mine closure left a 75-million tonne waste rock dump covering an area of approximately 117 hectares. A 25-million tonne tailings dump also remains, covering approximately 43 hectares. This tailings stockpile has an average height of 45 metres, reaching a maximum height of 70 metres.

On 13 August 2008, an episode of The 7.30 Report described growing concern that the waste left by the derelict mine could pose a health risk to locals and passing tourists. The Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia called for an urgent clean-up of the site and a ban on members of the public going anywhere near it.

The 7.30 Report story led to Hunter New England Health being directed to undertake an urgent study of the health implications for the Barraba community. This report has been completed but not released, despite the efforts of the Northern Daily Leader and the ABC to have its findings made public.

According to a November 2010 report from the NSW Ombudsman, the Woodsreef site is the only known asbestos mine site in NSW that has yet to be remediated.

Water supply
The water supply for the town is usually taken from the Manilla River, the Barraba Creek and Connors Creek Dam. When these sources dwindle, Barraba depends on emergency bores.

Split Rock Dam, which was built in 1988, has a draw valve in the wall in preparation for a pipeline to Barraba, but the pipeline itself was never built. At the end of 2007 the Minister then responsible for water, Phil Koperberg, wrote to Tamworth Regional Council stating that he would examine a $10-million proposal for the pipeline to be built.

By 2011, the estimated cost of the pipeline from Split Rock Dam to Barraba had reached $20 million. The Tamworth Regional Council has allocated $10 million towards the cost, and is lobbying the State and Federal governments to meet the shortfall.

In August 2010, when Prime Minister Julia Gillard had to persuade independent members to form a Federal government, among the many concessions she made was one to Tony Windsor, Member for New England, for "an appropriate water supply for Barraba." The Tamworth Regional Council commissioned Sinclair Knight Merz to run a nine-month trial of the bores in Barraba to assess their viability as a permanent water supply. As of January 2011, this report had been received by the Council but its results have not been made public.