Attunga, New South Wales

Attunga is a small farming community in the New England region of New South Wales Australia.

History
The name is an Aboriginal word for "a high place", and was originally the name for a nearby farm operated by pastoralist John Brown in the 1840s. The land had previously been part of a 313000 acre grant to the Australian Agricultural Company in 1834 and had been used to graze 6,000 sheep.

The village of Attunga was gazetted in 1847 but early settlement appears to have been slow. The first recorded burials at the Attunga Cemetery date from 1872 with the earliest inscriptions dated 1881.

Population growth remained slow until the mid-twentieth century. The current population of 633 includes families of commuters to Tamworth. Services in Attunga currently include a primary school, supermarket, hotel and sports ground, and rural fire service headquarters.

The English singer-songwriter Max Bygraves owns "Attunga Park", an 84 hectare farm near the village.

Industries
The main industries are sheep and cattle farming, and limestone mining from a mine to the east of the town. The town abuts the Attunga State Forest, a popular walking and camping destination.

The town was served by the Barraba branch railway line until the local station was closed in 1985.

Environmental issues
Recent drought conditions have caused bank erosion along Attunga Creek, as a result of stock movements across and along the creek bed. In 2006 the town of Attunga received funding for a major program of bank stabilisation and revegetation to restrict stock movements to defined corridors near the waterway.