Goodooga, Weilmoringle and surrounding residents were woken from their sleep, after a 3.9 magnitude earthquake was recorded on Tuesday 24 October. 

It follows an earthquake near Tilpa in late August, which measured at a magnitude of 3.1, which seismologists say could have been mistaken for a truck. 

With five registered reports of the latest earthquake, however, locals knew exactly what was happening, even if it was in the middle of the night. ..

“The house was shaking and vibrating for 10 seconds,” a Brewarrina resident reported to the earthquake tracking site Volcano Discovery, 91.4km from the epicentre of the event. 

In Weilmoringle, 26km away, another person reported hearing a different noise and feeling the wall shake. 

According to Geoscience Australia, the quake hit at a shallow depth of 6.2 miles beneath the surface at 11:38pm.

Based on their seismic data, the quake isn’t expected to have caused any damage, although it was strong enough that many people in the area would have felt light vibrations. 

Another earthquake was recorded 34km east of Goodooga at a 3.1 magnitude in April this year. It was 63km away from yesterday's event, which was 24km west of the town.

At the time, one person reported to Volcano Discovery, noting a “sharp ‘crack’...and the house gave a quick bump as though there had been a powerful lightning strike nearby”.

Prior to that, the last recorded earthquake in the area was in 2002, and was a small 2.5 magnitude, likely only felt very close to the epicentre and under calm conditions. 

Over 100 earthquakes of magnitude three are recorded every year in Australia according to Geoscience Australia.