Concepts for new town, village signs now on public exhibition

Narrabri Shire Council is seeking community input into new proposed town and village signs.

The new signs would be in a vertical format and feature a design element relating to each area.

In an update at last Wednesday afternoon’s council meeting, it was noted that significant community engagement had already occurred relating to the signs.

“$80,000 will be included in the 2026/2027 Capital Works Budget for the project,” the business paper states.

Shire general manager Eloise Chaplain told the meeting new signage had been in the pipeline for some time.

“It’s one vertical sign, so a little bit different,” she said, noting that the soon-to-be-replaced displays featured a sign at the top of two poles.

“I myself think they’re quite good … but we’re putting it out to the community.

“What we want from the community is any tweaks. Does that represent them? Do they have any feedback.

“Each township has their own picture which is meant to represent them.”

Mayor Darrell Tiemens told the meeting the signs had been a long time coming.

“It’s important we get these up,” he said.

Councillors debated the imagery at the top of some town and village signs. It was noted this had come from earlier discussions with local communities.

Cr Tiemens emphasised the need for durability.

“We don’t want these signs to fade after three years. There are too many faded signs around the shire … and I think they look sloppy,” he said.

Cr Ethan Towns said the new vertical sign format would be more noticeable.

He acknowledged that the Wee Waa community had extensively gone over sign options.

There had been initial debate about using an image different to a cotton boll to show that there was more to Wee Waa than cotton.

“We said we should play on our strength. And we said cotton should be our thing,” he said.

The imagery for other proposed signs include the Nandewar Ranges for Narrabri, a stockman with cattle for Maules Creek, forestry for Gwabegar, the Yowie for Pilliga, sheep for Edgeroi, silos for Bellata, a tractor in a field for Boggabri, and sheep under a windmill for Baan Baa.

The motion to endorse the designs for public display was moved by Cr Towns and seconded by Cr Ryan Whillas.

Council will place the design concepts on public exhibition for 28 days, with the details to be published in its weekly Courier advertisement, social media, website and other channels.