Manilla, New South Wales


Manilla is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, located on Fossickers Way 45 kilometres northwest of the regional city of Tamworth and 27 kilometres northeast of the historic village Somerton. At the 2006 census, Manilla had a population of 2,550 people. Manilla is famous for its setting as a fishing and paragliding area and soon to be the destination for ABCs Triple J "one night stand" music festival. The name Manilla comes from the Gamilaraay language, and is said to mean 'winding river'.
Manilla was established in the 1850s at the junction of the Namoi River and the Manilla River. It was formerly the centre of Manilla Shire local government area, but this was amalgamated with Tamworth City Council and portions of Parry, Barraba and Nundle Shire Councils to form Tamworth Regional Council in 2004. It lies next to the Bundarra-Barraba Important Bird Area which is important for the conservation of the critically endangered regent honeyeater. Manilla is also well known for Split Rock Dam on the Manilla River and Lake Keepit on the Namoi River.

Services

The junction of the Manilla and Namoi Rivers was for generations, a camping ground for the local indigenous people, members of the large Kamilaroi tribes of northwestern New South Wales. During the 1850s, teamsters with bullock waggons were regularly transporting goods from the Hunter District through the Manilla area to outlying cattle stations and the northern goldfield settlements of Bingara and Bundarra. Teams were often delayed at the junction of the Namoi and Manilla Rivers by high water. In 1853, enterprising Englishman George Veness arrived at ‘The Junction’ to set up a store and wine shop at the teamsters’ camping ground. In doing so, Veness led the way to town settlement and is acknowledged as the Founder of Manilla. The town's early prosperity was founded on the highly productive wheat and pastoral industries.
Manilla also features a new library centre. Located within the Tamworth Regional Council office in the main street of Manilla, the library is a new type of facility which is known globally as a convergence centre. This means there are many facilities on offer including Centrelink Agency, the Manilla Book Club, a free weekly Storytime for preschool aged children and many other community activities.
Australian singer-songwriter Darren Hanlon immortalised the town of Manilla in his song 'Manilla NSW' which appeared on his 2006 record, 'Fingertips and Mountaintops'.

Heritage listings

Manilla has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
In recent years, Manilla has become famous throughout the world as a major sports flying centre supporting hang gliding, paragliding, ultralight aircraft, gyrocopters and gliders. It boasts nearby Mt Borah, one of the world's best paraglider and hang glider launch sites. In 1998 local paragliding instructor and developer of Mt Borah,, gained the world distance record with a flight of. Major free-flight competitions are staged annually during the summer months. The 10th FAI Paragliding World Championships were held at the site in 2007, attended by 150 pilots from 41 nations. In the week prior to the event Manilla was in the headlines around the world for the survival of paraglider pilot Ewa Wiśnierska of Germany who was sucked up into a thunderstorm to. The dramatic story was made into a TV documentary Miracle in the Storm which won an AFI award and was nominated for a Logie Award.

Notable residents