View source for Cowra

{{Infobox Australian place
| type                     = town
| name                     = Cowra
| state                    = NSW
| image                    = {{Photomontage
| photo1a = Kendal Street, the heart of the CBD.jpg
| photo2a = Cowra Welcome.jpg|thumb
| photo3a =|thumb
| photo3b = Canola Fields (Cowra).jpg|thumb
| photo4a = Cowra Bridge Pilons.jpg|thumb
| photo4b = Cowra World Peace Bell.jpg|thumb
| photo6a = Lachlan River.jpg|thumb
| size = 300
| position = center
| spacing = 3
| color = #FFFFFF
| border = 3
}}
| caption                  = <small>From top to bottom, left to right: Kendal Street divides the CBD, the Eastern entrance to the town, the Japanese War Cemetery, Crops of canola create 'fields of gold', decorated in Aboriginal art, the pylons of the Cowra Bridge, Australia's World Peace Bell and the [[Lachlan River]] which flows through the heart of the town</small>
| image_alt                = 
| relief                   = 
| coordinates              = {{coord|33|50|6|S|148|41|33|E|display=inline,title}}
| pushpin_map_caption      = 
| pushpin_label_position   = 
| map_alt                  = 
| pop                      = 10,063
| pop_year = {{CensusAU|2016}}
| pop_footnotes            = <ref name=census>{{Census 2011 AUS|id=SSC10631|name=Cowra (State Suburb)|accessdate=2 April 2015|quick=on}}</ref>
| poprank                  = 
| density                  = 
| density_footnotes        = 
| established              = 1846
| established_footnotes    = 
| abolished                = 
| gazetted                 = 1849
| postcode                 = 2794
| elevation                = 310
| elevation_footnotes      = 
| area                     = 
| area_footnotes           = 
| timezone                 = [[Australian Eastern Standard Time|AEST]]
| utc                      = +10
| timezone-dst             = [[Australian Eastern Daylight Time|AEDT]]
| utc-dst                  = +11
| dist1                    = 72
| dir1                     = SW
| location1                = [[Orange, New South Wales|Orange]]<ref name=DistfromOra>{{cite web|url=http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/distancedraw2?rec1=108333&placename=cowra&placetype=0&state=0&place1=ORANGE&place1long=149.101196&place1lat=-33.281799|title=Great Circle Distance between ORANGE and COWRA|accessdate=16 August 2011|publisher=Commonwealth of Australia|work=Geosciences Australia website|archive-date=20 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020195939/http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/distancedraw2?rec1=108333&placename=cowra&placetype=0&state=0&place1=ORANGE&place1long=149.101196&place1lat=-33.281799|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| dist2                    = 96
| dir2                     = SW
| location2                = [[Bathurst, New South Wales|Bathurst]]<ref name=DistfromBat>{{cite web|url=http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/distancedraw2?rec1=108333&placename=cowra&placetype=0&state=0&place1=BATHURST&place1long=149.580714&place1lat=-33.416811|title=Great Circle Distance between BATHURST and COWRA|accessdate=16 August 2011|publisher=Commonwealth of Australia|work=Geosciences Australia website|archive-date=15 June 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615164033/http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/distancedraw2?rec1=108333&placename=cowra&placetype=0&state=0&place1=BATHURST&place1long=149.580714&place1lat=-33.416811|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| dist3                    = 170
| dir3                     = N
| location3                = [[Canberra]]<ref name=DistfromCan>{{cite web|url=http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/distancedraw2?rec1=108333&placename=cowra&placetype=0&state=0&place1=CANBERRA&place1long=149.133331&place1lat=-35.299999|title=Great Circle Distance between CANBERRA and COWRA|accessdate=16 August 2011|publisher=Commonwealth of Australia|work=Geosciences Australia website|archive-date=20 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020195948/http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/distancedraw2?rec1=108333&placename=cowra&placetype=0&state=0&place1=CANBERRA&place1long=149.133331&place1lat=-35.299999|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| dist4                    = 305
| dir4                     = SW
| location4                = [[Sydney]]<ref name=DistfromSyd>{{cite web|url=http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/distancedraw2?rec1=108333&placename=cowra&placetype=0&state=NSW&place1=SYDNEY&place1long=151.209595&place1lat=-33.873199|title=Great Circle Distance between SYDNEY and COWRA|accessdate=16 August 2011|publisher=Commonwealth of Australia|work=Geosciences Australia website|archive-date=20 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020195953/http://www.ga.gov.au/bin/distancedraw2?rec1=108333&placename=cowra&placetype=0&state=NSW&place1=SYDNEY&place1long=151.209595&place1lat=-33.873199|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| lga                      = [[Cowra Shire]]
| seat                     = 
| region                   = 
| county                   = [[Forbes County, New South Wales|Forbes]], [[Bathurst County, New South Wales|Bathurst]]
| division                 = 
| stategov                 = [[Electoral district of Cootamundra|Cootamundra]]
| fedgov                   = [[Division of Riverina|Riverina]]
| visitation_num           = 
| visitation_year          = 
| visitation_footnotes     = 
| managing_authorities     = 
| url                      = 
| maxtemp                  = 23.0
| maxtemp_footnotes        = 
| mintemp                  = 8.3
| mintemp_footnotes        = 
| rainfall                 = 598.3
| rainfall_footnotes       = 
| near-n                   = 
| near-ne                  = 
| near-e                   = 
| near-se                  = 
| near-s                   = 
| near-sw                  = 
| near-w                   = 
| near-nw                  = 
| near                     = 
| footnotes                = 
}}
'''Cowra''' is a city in the central west of [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]]. It is in [[Cowra Shire]].  It is 310m above [[sea-level]] and about 300 [[kilometre|km]] west of [[Sydney]]. Cowra is on the banks of the [[Lachlan River]].

The first name for Cowra was ''Coura Rocks''. This may have been the name of one of the first cattle farms. This name is probably the name of the river [[ford]] (crossing) where people could cross the [[Lachlan River]].

The name Cowra comes from a local [[Indigenous Australian|aboriginal]] word meaning "[[eagle]] on the rocks".

It should not be confused with another New South Wales town named [[Corowa, New South Wales|Corowa]].

==History==
[[Image:03. Japanese Garden, Cowra, NSW, 22.09.2006.jpg|thumb|left|200px|An egret rests on a stone lantern in the upper lake of the Cowra Japanese Garden]]
The first people to live in the area were the [[Wiradjuri]] people. The first [[Europe]]an explorer, [[George Evans (explorer)|George Wilson Evans]], came into the Lachlan Valley in 1815. He named the area the [[Oxley Plains]] after his boss, the [[Surveyor-General]], [[John Oxley]]. In 1817 he said the area was "unfit for white settlement". An army camp was set up soon after at Soldiers Flat near present-day Billimari. Arthur Ranken and James Sloan, from [[Bathurst, New South Wales|Bathurst]], were amongst the first European settlers on the Lachlan. They moved to the area in 1831.

The township of Coura Rocks began in 1840. By 1847 the township was called Cowra. The village was officially listed in 1849.

In the 1850s many people looking for [[gold]] went through on their way to the gold fields at [[Lambing Flat]] ([[Young, New South Wales|Young]]) and [[Grenfell, New South Wales|Grenfell]]. The first school was started in 1857. The first [[bridge]] over the Lachlan River was built in 1870. Gold was found at [[Mount McDonald, New South Wales|Mount McDonald]] in the 1880s. The [[railway]], from Sydney, reached Cowra in 1886. Local government started in 1888. The first [[telephone]] were connected in 1901. The town water supply was started in 1909, the gas in 1912, and town supplied [[electricity]] was connected in 1924.

Cowra is home to the Australian copy of the [[United Nations|United Nation's]] World Peace Bell. These are normally kept in a nation's capital city. It was given to Cowra because of its special role in [[international]] understanding, world peace and as a centre of world friendship.

== The Cowra breakout ==
[[Image:07. Japanese Garden Pano, Cowra, NSW, 22.09.2006.jpg|thumb|right|500px|View from the Symbolic Mountain at the Japanese Gardens.]]

During [[World War II]] Cowra was the site of a [[prisoner of war]] (POW) camp. Most of the prisoners were captured [[Japan]]ese and [[Italy|Italian]] soldiers, sailors and airmen. On August 5, 1944  about 545 (some sources say over 1000) [[Japan]]ese POWs attempted a mass escape from the camp. This is perhaps the largest [[prison]] escape in the world. At the same time, other Japanese prisoners killed themselves, or were killed by their countrymen, inside the camp.

The POWs tried to capture [[machine gun]] posts, armed only with home made weapons. The [[Prime Minister of Australia|Prime Minister]] [[John Curtin]] said this was a "suicidal disregard of life", and had no chance of success.

During the escape 231 Japanese and 4 Australian guards were killed, and 108 prisoners were wounded. The dead Japanese were buried in Cowra in a specially made Japanese War [[Cemetery]]. This is the only such cemetery in Australia. It also has some of the dead from the WWII air raids on [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]].

An [[Avenue of Honour]] also remembers those who died in [[World War I]].

==Japanese Garden==
The Japanese War Cemetery was looked by members of the Cowra [[Returned and Services League of Australia|RSL]] and given to [[Japan]] in 1963. In 1971 the Cowra Tourism Development decided to celebrate this link with Japan. They planned a [[Japanese garden]] for the town. The [[Japan|Japanese Government]] agreed to help as a sign of thanks for the respectful treatment of their war dead. The garden also received money from the Australian Government and private groups.

The garden was designed by [[Ken Nakajima]] (1914 - 2000). He was a world famous designer of Japanese gardens. The first part was opened in 1979, with a second part opened in 1986.

The gardens were built in the style of the [[Edo period]]. They are a ''kaiyū-shiki'' or strolling garden. They are designed to show all of the landscape types of Japan. At five hectares, the Cowra Japanese Garden is the largest Japanese garden in the [[Southern Hemisphere]]. An annual [[Sakura|''Sakura Matsuri'']] ([[Sakura|cherry blossom]] festival) is held in the gardens during late September and/or early October each year. The garden also has other events during the year.
{{-}}
{|align=center
|[[Image:02. Japanese Garden, Cowra, NSW, 22.09.2006.jpg|thumb|240px|Japanese lake with stone lantern]]
|[[Image:05. Japanese Garden, Cowra, NSW, 22.09.2006.jpg|thumb|240px|Looking across the lake to the teahouse]]
|[[Image:06. Japanese Garden, Cowra, NSW, 22.09.2006.jpg|thumb|240px|Lower lake with spring blossoms]]
|}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Other websites ==
{{Commons|Cowra, New South Wales}}
* [http://www.cowraregion.com.au/ Cowra Shire Council] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140516201013/http://cowraregion.com.au/ |date=2014-05-16 }}
* [http://www.naa.gov.au/Publications/fact_sheets/fs198.html Fact sheet on 1944 Cowra outbreak] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050901171134/http://www.naa.gov.au/Publications/fact_sheets/fs198.html |date=2005-09-01 }}, [[National Archives of Australia]]
* [http://www.vinodiversity.com/cowra.html/ Cowra Wine Region]{{Dead link|date=January 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd0Sty7LfEc YouTube Video Featuring Cowra]

[[Category:Towns in New South Wales]]