Nimmitabel
Nimmitabel is a small town in the Monaro region in southeast New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council  local government area. At the , Nimmitabel had a population of 320. Etymology
Nimmitabel means "the place where many waters start or divide" in the local Aboriginal language. Many various spellings were adopted for the town, including: Nimmytabell (1837), Nimitabelle (1838), Nimmitabool (1841), Nimmittybel (1844), Nimmitabel(1845), Nimmitybelle, Nimithybale, Nymytable (all in 1848), Nimmitabil(1851), Nimitabille and Nimithy Bell(1856), Nimaty-Bell(1857), Nimmitabel(1858)

Geography
The town is  south of Cooma and  west of Bega. Nimmitabel is on a stretch of highway shared between the Snowy Mountains Highway (HWY B72) and the Monaro Highway (HWY B23). It is on the southern end of the Great Dividing Range, at the west of the Monaro Range, and lies  west of the Wadbilliga National Park. The area around Nimmitabel has the only true chernozem soil in Australia, a very rich, fertile and dark colored soil. Climate
Nimmitabel has a cool oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) with cool to mild summers and cold winters, with evenly-spread, modest rainfall throughout the year. Frosts occur regularly throughout the year, even at the height of summer. It is decently sunny, with 102.2 clear days annually, being largely on account of its leeward location. Because of its elevation and southern latitude, several snowfalls can be expected each year from May through to October; on rare occasions, snow flurries may even occur in December (early summer). Snow can occur heavily at times. History

 1840 Locals started calling the village Nimoitebool
 1845 Appears on Townsend's map as Nimmitabel
 1858 Church was built
 1857 Renewal of licence for hotel
 1858 Post office arrives
 1861 Bell's Store
 1863 Separate Courthouse built
 1865 Geldmacher builds windmill
 1866 Cameron's Store opens
 1869 Nimmitabel Public School opens
 1912 Railway arrives
 1921 Area's first saw-mill opens
 1959 Used as location for multi-Oscar nominated film The Sundowners
 1986 Railway closes

Gallery

References
 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226458343

External links

 Aerial photo of Nimmitabel from Terraserver
 Information about Nimmitabel, including history and photos
 Some history from Peter Goed, particular focus on the 1950s
 Article: "The Day the Stars Came to Nimmitabel..The Making of the Sundowners" by Peter Goed @ Cooma-Monaro website (includes photos from the making of the film in 1959)

Towns in New South Wales
Snowy Monaro Regional Council
Bombala railway line