Cultural Plan 2013-2016 final.pdf - Coffs Harbour City Council ...

As adopted by Council on 28 February 2013
3. Coffs Harbour in brief
Coffs Harbour is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, about 540 kilometres
north of Sydney and 430 kilometres south of Brisbane. The local government area of Coffs
Harbour encompasses a total land area of nearly 1,200 square kilometres, including many
areas of exceptional natural beauty in national park, state forest, parkland, coastline and
beaches. Settlement is based around the main town of Coffs Harbour, and the townships of
Sawtell, Toormina and Woolgoolga, with many small villages and localities along the coast
and inland. The Pacific Highway runs the length of the municipality and effectively bisects
the Coffs Harbour CBD.
The traditional custodians of the Coffs Harbour area are the Gumbaynggirr Aboriginal
people. The Aboriginal population is both younger and growing more quickly than the
population as a whole.
European settlement dates from the 1840s, with land used mainly for agriculture and cedar
logging. Significant development did not occur until the post-war years, particularly during
the 1950s and 1960s. Rapid growth took place during the 1970s and 1980s, spurred by
tourism. The population of the City grew from 15,000 in 1966 to 70,000 in 2011 3 . The
population is predicted to reach between 95,000 and 100,000 by 2030.
In 2011, 17.9% of the population of Coffs Harbour was born overseas, and two or more
languages were spoken in 6.6% of homes. These figures may be compared with 31.4% and
24.5% respectively for NSW as a whole. There is a large and growing Punjabi-speaking
population. Coffs Harbour is a refugee resettlement area and continues to welcome people
from countries including many African nations, Burma, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The major industries in the Coffs region include health, manufacturing and education as well
as tourism and agriculture, particularly banana and blueberry production.
The City also has a good range of educational, health and transport facilities, including:
Coffs Harbour Education Campus (CHEC), which includes Southern Cross University
(SCU), TAFE NSW North Coast Institute and the Coffs Harbour Senior College;
National Marine Science Centre and the UNSW Rural Clinical School;
3 ABS – Coffs Harbour LGA 2011 Census Profile. This figure includes visitors to Coffs Harbour on the census
date.
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