Attractions in Cooma
Aviation Pioneers Memorial
On the corner of Boundary Street is the Southern Cloud Memorial Park. The park commemorates the disappearance of the Southern Cloud aircraft which crashed in the Snowy Mountain in 1931.
It was on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne and was Australia’s first major air disaster. Due to the difficulty of the terrain and the wildness of the area the wreckage, in which 8 people were killed, wasn’t found until 1958 when a Snowy worker, Tom Sonter, found it in the Kosciuszko National Park.
The display includes interesting remnants of the wreckage which were retrieved from the site.
Where: Corner of Sharp and Boundary Streets, Cooma, NSW
Lambie Town Walk
The Lambie Town Walk was designed in 1985 and consists of 5 km of easy walking around Cooma which focuses on a total of 24 buildings and places of historic interest in a circular route which starts at Centennial Park, encompasses Lambie Street and winds past the town’s churches – St Paul’s Anglican, St Andrew’s Uniting and St Patrick’s Catholic Church – before returning to Centennial Park.
The entire walk, complete with detailed information about each of the places of interest and a very good map, can be downloaded at http://visitcooma.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Discover-Coomas-Rich-History-Feb-2014.pdf. It can also be obtained from the Visitor Centre.
Particular highlights include:
1. Centennial Park (1890)
Located on the Monaro Highway in the centre of town, the Centennial Park, once a swamp, became a football field in the 1890s and had trenches dug in it during World War II in anticipation of an imminent Japanese invasion.
The park as it currently exists dates from the 1950s. It is an ideal place to stop and have a much-needed break or a picnic. The attractions in the park include the unusual “Man from Snowy River” sculpture, an avenue of 22 flags recalling the 22 nationalities which helped build the Snowy Mountains Scheme and the “Cooma Mosaic Time Walk” which dates from 1988 and is a sequence of murals which record the history of the region from Aboriginal times. The park is particularly impressive during autumn.
Man from Snowy River Sculpture
This small sculpture was inspired by A.B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson’s poem, “The Man from Snowy River”, created by the acclaimed South Australian-born sculptor, Ian McKay, and unveiled in 1961 as part of the Fifth Festival of the Snows.
Avenue of Flags
There is a fascinating explanation of the origins of the flags which includes information that between 1947 and 1952 Australia accepted 170,000 people who had been displaced by World War II and that some 60-70,000 of those people ended up working on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme. In 1959, to mark the tenth anniversary of the start of the project, the Avenue of Flags was erected in Cooma. It was refurbished and expanded in 1999 and remains a reminder of the true roots of Australian multiculturalism.
5. Cooma Post Office (1872)
Designed by the great Colonial Architect, James Barnet, and built by John Harris, the Post Office is characterised by an ornate Italianate style. It is part of a collection of important public buildings all designed by Barnett.
6. Cooma Court House (1886)
This elegant and impressive building was constructed out of granite gneiss. It was designed in what is known as the Victorian Mannerist style and still retains its original cedar fittings. It is located in Vale Street.
7. NSW Correctional Services Gaol Museum
The NSW Correctional Services Gaol Museum is located in Vale Street next to the Cooma Gaol. The gaol was built in the 1870s, cost £11,000 and housed 98 inmates. Over the years it has been used as an insane asylum and from 1957-1990s it was a prison. In 2001 it reopened as a minimum-security prison which currently houses around 120 inmates.
The correctional museum explores the history of incarceration from convict days to the present day. It takes the visitor on a journey from convict times (the travails of sailing from England to Australia) through to modern prisons and focuses on those aspects of prison life that few know or understand.
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Boundary Street, Cooma NSW, Australia
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