Coonamble will be one of 14 towns in the national spotlight when the ABC's Back Roads program returns in March.

It will features in episode 11 of the season, broadcast on 21 May, but is available for streaming on iview now.

A TV crew followed four Coonamble locals - Travis Jones, Jill Kelly, James 'Mags' Nalder and Kevin 'Sooty' Welsh - in August 2025 as they prepared to share their stories as part of the bespoke live show Hello, Coonamble!.

During her week-long stay in the town, presenter Lisa Millar said a conversation with local arts leader Jamie-Lea Trindall changed how she viewed rural decline.

"I always feel a bit depressed when I come to small towns like this and there are lots of empty shop fronts. It makes me feel like the town is dying,” said Ms Millar, who is originally from the small Queensland town of Kilkivan.

"She said, 'Oh, this town is not dying. The world is changing.

"Young people and their businesses don't need shop fronts on the main street anymore.

"You've got to look behind the shop fronts, you've got to understand there's so much going on that you don't necessarily see.'

"I felt like it was someone turning on a light switch for me. I thought how silly have I been to have this very old-school thought that shop fronts have to be full to be a sign of what's going on in a town."

Lisa Millar (left) chats to Travis Jones at Coonamble's Plaza Theatre after an evening showing of Hello, Coonamble! in August 2025. [IMAGE: River McCrossen]

The Back Roads team drew their talent from a group of more than 20 of the show's performers, who each had three minutes to tell a story about an event that changed their life.

The stories had to resonate, and the talent had to be comfortable enough on camera.

Over the week, they filmed on farmland, in an arts workshop, by scar trees and along the Castlereagh River.

On stage, clay artist Mr Welsh shared his experience as a survivor of the Stolen Generation.

He said he wasn't nervous speaking about that part of his life as he's gradually built the confidence to share over the last 20 years.

"It was all about Coonamble and I thought 'well, why not?'," he said when asked why he accepted the interview.

"These stories have to be told."

Kevin 'Sooty' Welsh took Ms Millar to see some of the scar trees in the area. The trees were modified by Aboriginal people, often over centuries. [IMAGE: ABC]

He said Ms Miller is his favourite Back Roads' host so far.

Mr Nalder, who spoke to Ms Miller about farm life and his family background, said he was a little more nervous.

"I'm just not sure what footage they're going to use and how the context comes across," he said.

Mr Jones took Ms Millar fishing along the Castlereagh as he explained the river's place in his song 'Where the River Flows'.

He was hoping to make good television with a catch, but the fish weren't biting that day. 

"There was a lot of retakes, especially down by the river - lot of walking back and forth for the drone," he said.

Ms Millar said Coonamble came on the radar through someone "who spoke to someone who spoke to someone" about a trip by playwright Hannie Rayson and producer Michael Cathcart (a host on Radio National) to create and stage Hello, Coonamble!.

She said there were moments of the shoot that brought her to tears.

"I am just in awe of the courage of all of these people," she said.

"What I hadn't anticipated was how emotional I would feel.

"We were there for that final week of rehearsals and I got connected to the stories.

"Because we went to all of the rehearsals, I knew the stories really well. So when someone started faltering or losing their way with the story, I started feeling anxious for them."

Outback Arts is planning a community screening of the Back Roads episode.