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Kempsey is a town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia and is the council seat for Kempsey Shire. It is located roughly 16.5 kilometres inland from the coast of the Pacific Ocean, on the Macleay Valley Way near where the Pacific Highway and the North Coast railway line cross the Macleay River. It is roughly 430 kilometres north of Sydney. As of June 2018 Kempsey had a population of 15,309 (2018).

At the start of the British arrival the town lay within the area of the Djangadi people's lands. An Aboriginal presence has been attested archaeologically to go back at least 4,000 years, according to the analysis of the materials excavated at the Clybucca midden, a site which the modern day descendants of the Djangadi and Gumbaynggirr claim native title rights. In the Clybucca area are ancient camp sites with shell beds in the form of mounds which are up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) high. Middens are attested in the Macleay Valley, together with remnants of a fish trap in the Limeburners Creek Nature Reserve and, just slightly north of Crescent Head, at Richardsons Crossing, there is a bora ring. White presence on the Djangadi lands first took off as mostly ex convict cedar cutters, based at a camp at Euroka Creek established by Captain A. C. Innes in 1827, began exploring the rich resources of the area in the late 1820s. The first European settler in the Kempsey district was named Enoch William Rudder, in 1835, who had purchased a land grant of 802 acres (325 ha) from its first owner, Samuel Onions. In 1836, runs held by squatters lying outside the sphere of colonial jurisdiction were absorbed into the southern legal framework. Within a decade the timber cutters had virtually harvested every stand of this highly prized red gold timber in clearances that made the land increasingly attractive to pastoralists,[20] who by 1847, after the passage of the Imperial Waste Lands Act of the preceding year, and the implementation of the Orders in Council (1847) had established 31 stations along the Macleay river from Kempsey inland to Kunderang Brook. This coincided with one of the most violent and sustained examples of warfare in the Macleay gorges, during which it is estimated that around 15 massacres took place in the region targeting Aboriginal people of the area. The Djangadi and other tribes affected adopted guerilla tactics to fight the usurpation of their land, by attacking shepherds, hit and run raids on homesteads and duffing sheep and cattle livestock before retreating into the gorges where pursuit was difficult. Some 2 to 3 dozen people were killed for rustling sheep at a massacre which took place at Kunderang Brook in 1840. The war ended with the establishment of a force of native police at Nulla Nulla in 1851. However, by that time, attrition had devastated tribal numbers. Of the 4,000 Aboriginal people in the area before the settlements, one third are thought to have been killed in a little over two decades. A description of the Djangadi and other Aboriginal groups in the Macleay area was given by Captain John Macdonald Henderson in 1851. Some Djangadi settled the Shark, Pelican Island and the two Fattorini Islands in the Macleay River, gazette as Aboriginal reserves in 1885, and grew corn there. In 1924 the Fattorini island residents were relocated to Pelican Island, and its status as a reservation was cancelled. Eventually the Djangadi moved to Kinchela Creek Station though an unofficial camp remained at Green Hills, resisting attempts to have them relocated, until they were placed under the administration of a white manager at Burnt Bridge Reserve. Discrimination barriers were finally broken in part when the first Aboriginal children were permitted in 1947 to attend Green Hill Public School, though the white community reacted by shifting their children to West Kempsey. In the 1967 referendum on whether Indigenous people should be counted in the census of the Australian population, Kempsey had the highest number of 'no' votes in the country.

Enoch William Rudder is credited with founding the settlement. He arrived from Birmingham in 1834 and bought land on the southern bank of the river in 1836, at what was then the limit of authorised settlement (the boundary of County Macquarie). He was initially attracted by red cedar cutting opportunities but planned also to profit by selling parts of his land. He had riverside blocks surveyed and established a private town, with the first blocks sold in November 1836. He called it Kempsey because the surrounding areas reminded him of the Kempsey Valley in Worcestershire. The collapse in red cedar prices in the early 1840s nearly led to the failure of the town. The main (and most flood prone) part of Kempsey was founded by John Verge, sub dividing a grant on the flood plain opposite Rudder's settlement. 1854, a government town was surveyed at West Kempsey and government facilities moved there when it became clear that no town would form around the police station and courthouse at Belgrave Falls. Rudder's settlement was renamed East Kempsey. Kempsey initially flourished as a centre for logging and sawmilling. Large reserves of Australian red cedar Toona australis, (sold in Britain and the US as "Indian mahogany") were extracted down until the 1920s, and with greater difficulty until the 1960s, by which time the resource was effectively exhausted. Dairying was the major industry in the area until the 1960s, with a Nestlé Milo factory at nearby Smithtown, and several cheese and butter factories.

Kempsey features a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with hot, humid, rainy summers and mild, drier winters, albeit with cool nights. The town features 116.6 clear days annually with the bulk of clear weather occurring in late winter.

Geographically, Kempsey stretches out around a long loop of the Macleay River at the top of the floodplain. It is famous for its floods. The 1949 flood was particularly destructive, having washed away a large part of the town centre when the railway viaduct (which was acting as a dam wall due to a build up of debris against the approaches to the railway bridge) gave way. The area most affected by this flood is now the site of playing fields. The shire council has a policy of buying up land in areas designated as flood plains and many houses have been transported to higher ground in recent years. Other major floods occurred in 1949, 1950, 1963, 2001, 2009, 2013, 2021, late February to March 2022

Kempsey has a history of economic problems and disadvantage. Of the 10,374 residents in the area 1,573 worked full time and 1,105 worked part time. The area has an unemployment rate significantly higher than the national average. A plurality (35.1) of children live in families in which no member works. The median weekly household income is $691, nearly half the national average. Despite a period of economic stagnation in past decades compared to nearby coastal centres of growth, Kempsey has a growing local economy based on tourism, farming and service industries. As a local centre it has many shops and services including three major supermarkets and fast food chain stores. In 2014, the Australian Bureau of Statistics ranked Kempsey as one of the poorest Local Government areas in New South Wales. A Coles supermarket development (known as the "Kempsey Central Shopping Centre") has been built and is situated where the Tattersalls Hotel and various small businesses were in Little Belgrave Street. This shopping centre opened on 6 December 2008. Target Country closed their department store on 9 June 2018 this ends a 33 year connection to the Macleay Valley (Fosseys was formerly in town before being rebranded as Target Country). Growing industries include wineries, nut and finger lime production. Kempsey is a service centre for the nearby coastal resorts of South West Rocks, Arakoon, Hat Head, Crescent Head and for the heritage listed mountain village of Bellbrook, which are popular places for retirees and holiday makers alike.

According to the 2021 census, the median age in the Kempsey area is 42. 18.3% of residents are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. 84.4% of people were born in Australia. compared with the national average of 66.9%. The next most common country of birth was England at 1.6%. 71.9% reported having both parents born in Australia; this is significantly higher than the national average of 45.9%. 84.4% of Kempsey residents spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 35.2%, Catholic 19.4%, and Anglican 15.8%.

In recent decades Kempsey has attracted attention for its high and rising rate of crime when compared with state averages. In 2016 crime figures released by the NSW Police Force revealed crime levels in Kempsey are two times the state average. Break and enter is a particular problem, with a rate three times the state average. From 2014 to 2016, most crimes increased in Kempsey, with domestic violence, robbery with a firearm and break and enters all rising. In 2015 it was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald that Kempsey was experiencing violent crime linked to ice addiction. Offences for methamphetamine trafficking are roughly twice the state average. There followed a proactive program of crime prevention and community safety initiatives funded through the Australian, NSW and local government that has seen the town revitalised and crime incidents reduced. The 2016–17 Annual Report of Kempsey Shire Council indicated 80% of residents felt safe in their homes and public spaces.

Government buildings such as the council chambers, library and several offices are located west of the North Coast Railway line in West Kempsey. This area is not subject to the flooding that the CBD occasionally sees and is seen as a second business district with a variety of businesses and banking facilities. Opened in July 2004, the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre, a minimum to medium prison for 500 male and female inmates, is located in Aldavilla, approximately west of Kempsey. as of 2019 there are plans to add extra housing for more inmates by 2020.

Until a new 14.5 kilometre bypass opened on 27 March 2013, the Pacific Highway passed through Kempsey. The former alignment is now known as the Macleay Valley Way. The new bypass included a 3.2 kilometre Macleay River Bridge, the longest bridge in Australia. Kempsey railway station is located on the North Coast line providing a connection to Sydney and Brisbane.

Tom Keneally's novel A River Town, (1995), a mystery novel centred on the lives of an Irish settler Tim Shea and his family in the period on the eve of Federation, is set in Kempsey.