"I know that reading the agenda papers over the weekend I looked at that splash, and we were just talking about pigeons, maybe that's what they were trying to portray," Cr Phillips said.

The proposal was eerily similar to a widely-panned design for a logo to represent Australia at overseas trade missions, which hit the news the previous day and was ruled out almost immediately by prime minister Morrison.

It, too, was supposed to represent a stylised wattle blossom, but many commentators said it looked more like a Covid-19 organism blob.

There was an almost universal preference for the Australian-made kangaroo symbol, with one commentator saying she wouldn't have identified the wattle logo "in a month of guesses".

Fortunately, the council's design agency presented another option - an alternate version of the wattle silhouette but instead of a single flower, the wattle is represented as a small bunch of blossoms and leaves.

"The shape is less abstract than the wattle in the previous option, but still uses the same landscape featuring key points of interest in the Cootamundra region." the designers said.

This was welcomed by the Tourism Action Group, which recommended it to council as the one they should adopt.

The new logo is accompanied by a tagline, 'Let Your Rural Spirit Play".

The designers said rural refers to our location and agricultural base, we have a strong Cootamundra "spirit" often referenced by the community, and play is in reference to our long sporting history, current sport offerings, opportunities to play with train spotting, our parks, our arts & culture etc.

Only one silhouette was presented for Gundagai, that of the iconic Dog on the Tuckerbox, with a tagline 'unleash your freedom'.

The 33-page Brand Strategy was prepared after a workshop with key council staff in October last year. This was followed up by a survey set out to residents and local businesses for input, which attracted 57 responses.

Those surveyed selected nine different types of visitors as target markets, being 45-65 year olds, Canberra residents, travellers stopping over, city dwellers wanting a scenery change, cricket fans, golfers, short stay visitors and wedding groups.

Among several marketing recommendations was to use empty shopfronts on the main streets to showcase local artists' work, both paintings and sculptural. There could be "pop up gallery windows" available on rotation. Visitors would have great visuals walking down the main street, as opposed to seeing closed-up shopfronts.

Council agreed that the marketing documentation should be revised and adopted after the Boundaries Commission makes it decision on de-amalgamation.