Werris Creek is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, near Tamworth, in Liverpool Plains Shire. It is north of Quirindi and is at the junction of the Main North railway line to Armidale and Moree. At the 2011 census, Werris Creek had a population of 1,437. History The area was originally occupied by the Gamilaraay people. "Werris" appears to derive from an Aboriginal word first written as "Weia Weia", but the exact meaning is not known. There is a similar aboriginal word pronounced "werai", which means "look out", which might be related, because there are prominent hills in the area. In earlier years, Werris was written in a variety of ways, including Werres, Werries and Weery's. The first European settlers came to the area in the 1830s and the Weia Weia Creek Station was established by the Reverend Francis Vidal around 1841. By the 1870s, there were 20 pastoral families occupying the valley and, on the eastern side of the present townsite, was Summer Hill station, belonging to John Single, after whom the main street is named. Werris Creek Post Office opened on 1 January 1878 and a railway station was built there in 1879, designed by the NSW railway engineer John Whitton. It is from Sydney by rail and was termed 'the first railway town in Australia'. On 2 October 2013 Werris Creek was slated to be the location for a film, Unbroken, written by the Coen brothers, and directed by Angelina Jolie. Heritage listings Werris Creek has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Main Northern railway: Werris Creek railway station Geography Werris Creek is overlooked by Mount Terrible, known to the locals as 'Terrible Billy'. It is 380m or 1246 feet above sea level. It has an average annual rainfall of 685 mm or 27 inches. On 18 July 1965, for the first and only time in recorded history, Werris Creek was blanketed by three inches of snow. Facilities Werris Creek has one school, Werris Creek Public, which was established in the 1880s, The town previously had two schools, with St Joseph's Catholic school having been established in 1915 but it closed on 9 April 2009. The town has a swimming pool (opened in 1968), tennis courts, bowling green and golf club. There is a rugby league team, the Magpies, which is part of the NSW Country Rugby League, Group 4 competition. In 1996 the Werris