Dubbo is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 32,327.
It is located at the intersection of the Mitchell, Newell and Golden highways. Dubbo is located approximately 275 m (902 ft) above sea level, 303 km (188 mi) north-west of the state capital Sydney (400 km (249 mi)[7] by road) and is a major road and rail freight hub to other parts of New South Wales. Dubbo is considered the cross-roads of New South Wales.[citation needed] It is linked by national highways north to Brisbane, south to Melbourne, east to Sydney and Newcastle, and west to Broken Hill and Adelaide.
Evidence of habitation by Indigenous Australians dates back approximately 40,000 years.
The explorer, John Oxley, was the first European to report on the area now known as Dubbo in 1818. The first permanent European settler in the area was Robert Dulhunty, described as one of the wealthiest citizens in the Australian colony at the time. There are records of squatters being given permission to set up large sheep and cattle stations in the area in 1824 but these were not maintained.[citation needed] Dulhunty occupied a property, known as Dubbo station (established in 1828),[10] from the early 1830s on a squatting basis. With the passing of the Squatting Act in 1836 he took out a licence on the property.
Dulhunty showed an affinity with Indigenous Australians, his party included some 40 Aborigines and he favoured using Aboriginal names for properties, including Dubbo. Dubbo is now thought to be a mispronunciation of the local Wiradjuri word "Thubbo" but because of a lack of precise records from Dulhunty at the time and an incomplete knowledge of the Wiradjuri language today there is some conjecture over the word's meaning. A popular current theory is the word means "red earth," consistent with the local landscape. It is also possible that Thubbo or Tubbo is Wiradjuri for "head covering" – a theory put forward to support this name is that the shape of Dulhunty's house may have looked like a hat to the local people.