Narara, New South Wales


Narara is a suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located north of Gosford's central business district. It is part of the local government area.
The suburb is mostly residential but also holds Narara railway station on the Central Coast & Newcastle Line. It also contains a corner shop and bottleshop, a number of parks, sporting grounds, and a concrete public skatepark. It is the home of Narara Valley High School, a NSW government public high school, and , a private school educating children from kindergarten to year twelve.
It is also home to the , which aims to research, design and build a stylish, intergenerational, friendly demonstration Ecovillage, blending the principles of ecological and social sustainability, good health, business, caring and other options that can evolve from our well-being. Narara also hosts the annual festival, awarded Best Community Event by Gosford City Council in 2015.
The name 'Narara' can be traced back to the local Aboriginal term for 'black snake', which appears on the official emblem of Narara Valley High School and the scarf of 1st Narara Scout Group.
Narara's claim to fame is that the Narara Music Festival was held nearby in Somersby in 1983 and 1984. The Angels, an Australian rock band, produced an 11 track live album recorded at the festival named, appropriately enough, "Live at Narara".
Narara largely consisted of orchards and small mixed farms. Water from the small dams that used to be accessible from Narara Creek Road was piped in wooden piping across Narara Creek to the Railway station to supply steam trains. The dams were also a popular swimming spot especially when the ladder and walkway still existed on the lower dam wall.