Junee

Junee, New South Wales, Australia

Junee, town, south-central New South Wales, Australia. It lies just north of Wagga Wagga in the fertile Riverina district.

It was founded in 1863 as Jewnee and was known as Jewnee Junction or Loftus when it was proclaimed a town in 1883. The town was gazetted a municipality in 1886, and it became a shire in 1981. Its name is Aboriginal for “speak to me.” On the main southern rail line from Sydney (216 miles [348 km] northeast), Junee has large locomotive maintenance and storage facilities that were hard hit by dieselization of the railroads. It serves an area of wheat and sheep farms and vineyards. On the Olympic Way to Sydney, the town holds the annual Riverina Schoolboys Football Carnival. Pop. (2006) local government area, 5,774; (2011) local government area, 5,878.