About

Originally known as Galariinbaraay, the village of Collarenebri is located near a shallow rocky ford on the Barwon River. The ford provided a hard bottomed shallow river crossing for travellers making the town an important location in North-Western NSW.

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The Gamilaroi Nation of Aboriginal Australians resided in this area for more than 50,000 years prior to British colonisation.

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In 1860 William Earl settled near the Collarenebri crossing and established "The Squatters Arms" to capitalise on the increasing agricultural traffic through the area. Earl and his pub later became famous for having been held up by bushranger Captain Thunderbolt. Earl is credited with having established present day Collarenebri.

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Collarenebri has long been a significant Aboriginal heritage site. There are many cultural artifacts, including carved trees and rocks, that hold the history and language of the people of these lands. The town is also home to the only Aboriginal cemetery in New South Wales with graves covered in crushed and melted glass and decorated with items that represent that person. Collarenebri continues to be a significant community for Aboriginal people.

Collarenebri was also the home of one of Australia’s most important Aboriginal leaders, Isobel Flick.  Flick is renowned for challenging racial segregation in the town and subsequently becoming a leader of both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community. Her work predated and informed the subsequent Freedom Rides, which travelled to Collarenebri during an intense period of Aboriginal activism in the 1960s.

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Galariinbaaray-Collarenebri remains one of the most significant places in the history of the Aboriginal human rights and reconciliation movement to this day.

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In 2023 the community honoured that legacy through the formation of the Galariinbaraay-Collarenebri Reconciliation and Renewal Corporation, working together as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people with a shared history to preserve this ancient site and culture for future generations, and to forge a new future together built on reconciliation.