Wee Waa (/wiːwɑː/) is a town located on the north-western slopes of the New England region in New South Wales, Australia.
[1] Wee Waa is 42 kilometres from the Newell Highway, and is referred to as a gateway to the far west centres of Walgett, Collarenebri, Lightning Ridge opal fields and beyond.
The town is known to be the "Cotton Capital of Australia"[2] as a rural community situated in the rich agricultural heartland of the Lower Namoi Valley in NSW.
[6] The town has two motels, four schools, a preschool, Nurruby Wee Waa Early Education Service, two hotels and two caravan parks as well as eating-places, a public swimming pool, a nine-hole golf course, bowling club, tennis courts, a modern sporting complex, a hostel for the aged and a new medical centre.
[9] The Wee Waa Echo called them "radicals and professional troublemakers", adding that "it is not fanciful to see the Aboriginal problem as the powder keg for Communist aggression in Australia".
[10] It was in Wee Waa police station that rugby player Eddie Murray died in 1981, one of the Aboriginal deaths in custody that prompted a Royal Commission to be set up.
[12] On 17 May 2013 at the 79th Annual Wee Waa Show, Columbia Records held the global launch party for the French electronic music duo Daft Punk's album Random Access Memories.
[20] A club junior, Lyon famously left his professional career with the Parramatta Eels to return for a season with the Wee Waa Panthers.
[22] Lyon returned to professional football with St Helens for two years to play in the European Super League.