Cooma Attractions 
The first settlers came to the Monaro area (from the Aboriginal word maneroo, meaning a treeless plain) in 1827, and the settlement of Cooma (pop. 8000) was founded in 1849. The finding of gold in 1859 at Kiandra, 90 km west, gave a boost to the development of the town. Cooma is now a favorite tourist center at the junction of the Monaro and Snowy Mountains Highways, the starting point for the Snowy Mountains.
On Lambie Street are 21 19th C buildings, including the Raglan Gallery (the town's first inn), the courthouse, the old jail and the post office.
When the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme was under construction in the 1950s and 1960s the population of the town was swelled by an influx of workers. The Avenue of Flags in Centennial Park displays the flags of the 27 countries from which they came. A monument commemorates the Southern Cloud, an aircraft which crashed in the mountains in 1931 on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne and was discovered only in 1958.
On Lambie Street are 21 19th C buildings, including the Raglan Gallery (the town's first inn), the courthouse, the old jail and the post office.
When the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme was under construction in the 1950s and 1960s the population of the town was swelled by an influx of workers. The Avenue of Flags in Centennial Park displays the flags of the 27 countries from which they came. A monument commemorates the Southern Cloud, an aircraft which crashed in the mountains in 1931 on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne and was discovered only in 1958.
