Orana is a vast region in north-central

New South Wales, Australia New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

. it had an estimated population of 113,824 people. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2015. It has an area of and is the largest region in New South Wales, comprising approximately 25% of that state. The major localities include

Dubbo Dubbo (; ) is a city in the Orana (New South Wales), Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the ...

and Cobar.Orana Region Business Enterprise Centre
Dubbo City Online website, accessed 11 November 2006 This region corresponds approximately with the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is an List of Australian Government entities, Australian Government agency that collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, Natural environment, environmental, and social issues to advi ...

' North Western Statistical Division.

History

Geography

Etymology

The term 'Orana' is said to mean "welcome" in an Aboriginal language, perhaps that of the local

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

group. Orana was popularised as an Australian Aboriginal word in the carol ''Orana to Christmas Day'', released in 1948, though its true origins are obscure. Linguist David Nash suggests that Orana's true origin may be a

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

n language, noting that ''Kia orāna'' is a common greeting on

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 10,898 of a total population of 15,040. The Parliament of the Cook Islands, Coo ...

, the largest of the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

and ''Ia Orana'' in Tahitian means "hello". He says the word was first ascribed as Aboriginal in the 1920s and specifically Wiradjuri only from the 1970s, and does not fit the usual form of Wiradjuri words.

Economy

Agriculture is the predominant industry in the Orana region, with 86% of the area under agricultural land use.Regional Overview
ORANA Development & Employment Council (ODEC), accessed on th

website 12 November 2006 This land makes up 27% of the total agricultural land in New South Wales. The output equals approximately 658 million or 11.7% of the state's agricultural production. Agriculture industry jobs provide over 20 percent of the employment in the region. Wine made from the small number of vineyards in the Orana region may be labelled as Western Plains.

References

External links