Cooma

Cooma.org

The town of Cooma is located in southern New South Wales, Australia. The main access to the town is via the Monaro Highway, 114 kilometres (71 miles) south of Canberra, the national capital of Australia. It is also located on the Snowy Mountains Highway which connects the coastal town of Bega and the Riverina district. The town is located 5 kilometres (3 miles) south of the Murrumbidgee River which is a main tributary of the Murray-Darling basin and sources its water from the river.

Cooma had a population of 6,742 in the 2016 census and is the main township in the Monaro region. Cooma is 800 metres (2,620 feet) above sea level and is the gateway to the Snowy Mountains area. The name of the town is believed to be based on the Aboriginal word Coombah, which variously means either "open country", "big lake", "sandbank", or "big swamp".

Captain J. M. Currie explored the Cooma district in 1823 and the area was originally surveyed in 1840. The town was gazetted in 1849 and proclaimed a municipality in 1879.