In this work, we report on the synthesis of the GaN powders from gallium oxide hydroxide (GaOOH) powders and on the structural and optical properties of them. Simple heat treatment of GaOOH in the flow of $NH_3$ gas leads to the formation of submicron hexagonal GaN powders even at the low reaction temperature of $800^{circ}C$. XRD measurements show that the powders obtained are the single phase GaN. EDS, FTIR, and PL measurements indicate the oxygen-associated characteristics. It is shown from the low temperature PL measurement on GaN powders synthesized at $1000^{circ}C$ that the shallow donor-acceptor recombination induced emission is more intense than the near band-edge excitonic emission.