Gundagai, New South Wales

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Gundagai New South Wales
The town and the Murrumbidgee floodplain in July 2005. The Hume Highway can be seen in the middle distance.
Population:	1,998 [1]
Established:	1838
Postcode:	2722
Elevation:	232 m (761 ft)
Location:	390 km (242 mi) from Sydney
LGA:	Gundagai Shire Council
County:	Clarendon
State District:	Burrinjuck
Federal Division:	Riverina
Mean Max Temp Mean Min Temp Rainfall 22.4 °C 72 °F 8.6 °C 47 °F 713.6 mm 28.1 in

Gundagai is a town in New South Wales, Australia. Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become the representation or an icon of the typical Australian country town.^[2]. Located along the Murrumbidgee River and Muniong and Yambla Mountain ranges, Gundagai is 390 km south-west of Sydney, the state capital and largest city in Australia. Gundagai is part of the Gundagai Shire Council Local Government Area. At the 2006 census the population of Gundagai was 1,998.^[1] The town's population was 1,997 in 2001 and 2,064 in 1996.^[3]

[edit] Geography

Gundagai is an inland town with an elevation of 250 metres (820 ft).^[4] As a result it has a warm temperate climate.^[5] Almost all of the shire is located in the South-Western Slopes bioregion and is part of the Riverina agricultural region. The eastern part of the shire is considered part of the South Eastern Highlands bioregion.^[5]

Location of Gundagai within New South Wales

The Shire has been extensively cleared for agriculture and more than 80% of the area is used for dryland cropping and grazing. Less than 1% of the shire is managed for conservation. There are few remaining examples of the original vegetation cover.^[5]

Gundagai is a primarily rural shire with a small population. Eighty percent of the shire's population live in the town of Gundagai. There are four villages in the Shire: Coolac, Tumblong, Muttama and Nangus, with populations ranging from 40 to 90 people.

[edit] History

The Gundagai area is part of the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri speaking people before and post European settlement, and also holds national significance to Indigenous Australians. The geology of the Gundagai Shire and its situation on a sizeable prehistoric highway, (the Murrumbidgee River), indicates it would have been an important mining, manufacturing and trading place before the arrival of the Europeans.^{[citation needed]} The floodplains of the Murrumbidgee below the present town of Gundagai were a frequent meeting place of the Wiradjuri. Initiation ceremony areas, known as bora rings have been identified close to town.^[5]

Some believe the name "Gundagai" derives from the word gundabandoo - bingee which is said to mean 'cut with a hand-axe behind the knee' based on gunda meaning 'sinews at the back of the knee' and bingee meaning cut with a tomahawk. The significance of the meaning is not clear though it has been suggested it might refer to the shape of the river bend. It has also been suggested that the name may mean 'going upstream' or 'poor crows'. In 1826 it was the name of a station run by William Warby and owned by his brother Ben.^[6]

Australian-born Hamilton Hume and British immigrant William Hovell were the first European explorers to visit what is now Gundagai when they passed through the region in 1824. Hovell recorded seeing trees already marked by steel "tommyhawks".^[7]

Sheridan Street scene in the early twentieth century; photograph by Dr Louis Gabriel

Charles Sturt traveled through the area in 1829 at the start of his voyage in search of an inland sea then believed to exist in outback Australia. Sturt again passed through Gundagai on the return leg of this journey in 1830, and returned in 1838 in company with the Hawdon and Bonney overlanding parties.^[8] At the time of Sturt's 1829-1830 journey, he found several settlers in the district: Henry O'Brien at Jugiong, William Warby at Mingay and the Stuckey Brothers, Peter and Henry at Willie Ploma and Tumblong. These settlers were beyond the "limits of location" as the district was not within the Nineteen Counties. This meant that the Government was not obliged to protect them.^[9] Conversely it also meant that settlers were not under the control of British law.^{[citation needed]}

Gundagai was located at a crossing of the Murrumbidgee River and the route eventually became the Great South Road which in 1914 was declared a main road of New South Wales and named the Hume Highway in 1928. The Main Roads Management Act of June 1858 declared the Great Southern Road, from near Sydney through Goulburn and Gundagai to Albury, as one of the three main roads in the colony. However, its southern reaches were described as only a 'scarcely formed bullock track' as late as 1858. The road was improved in the mid 1860s with some sections near Gundagai "metalled" and all creeks bridged between Adelong Creek (approximately 10 kilometres south of Gundagai) and Albury.^[10] The highway bypassed Gundagai in 1977 with the opening of the Sheahan Bridge.^[11]

Gundagai railway station

The railway reached Gundagai in 1886 with a branch line to Tumut from Cootamundra on the Main Southern railway line. The branch line was extended reaching Tumut in 1903^[12] and Batlow and Kunama in 1923. The line was finally closed after flood damage in 1984.^[13]

In 1911 the population of the town was 1,921. It changed little in the course of the twentieth century being 2,308 at the time of the 1981 census and 1,998 at the 2006 census.

[edit] Floods

Memorial to Yarri in the Gundagai cemetery

The original European town that was gazetted in 1838 was situated on the right hand bank of the Murrumbidgee River floodplain at the place colloquially known as 'The Crossing Place'. This town was hit by several large floods of the Murrumbidgee River. The June 25, 1852 flood swept the town away, killing at least 78 people (perhaps 89) of the town's population of 250 people; it is one of the largest natural disasters in Australia's history. Following an even higher flood in 1853, North Gundagai was redeveloped at its current site on Asbestos Hill and Mount Parnassus, above the river, and at South Gundagai on the slopes of Brummies Hill, using pre-existing surveyors plans.^[14]

The efforts of Yarri, Jacky Jacky, Long Jimmy and one other Indigenous man in saving many Gundagai people from the 1852 floodwaters were heroic. Between them, these men, rescued more than 40 people in bark canoes.^[15] Yarri and Jacky Jacky were honored with bronze medallions for their efforts, and were allowed to demand sixpences from all Gundagai residents, although Yarri was maltreated on at least one occasion after the flood.^[16] Long Jimmy died not long after his rescues, possibly from the effects of being exposed to the freezing cold and wet conditions.

It is claimed that the Gundagai community developed a special affinity with the Wiradjuri people and that the flood and its aftermath was the birthplace of reconciliation.^[5][15]

The town commemorated the sesquicentenary of the flood in 2002.^[15]

[edit] Bushrangers

Monuments to policemen in Gundagai cemetery

The Gundagai cemetery contains the graves of two policemen shot in the district by bushrangers.

Sergeant Parry was shot and killed in 1864 by the bushranger John Gilbert in a hold-up of the mail coach near Jugiong. Gilbert was a member of Ben Hall's gang which was active in the district in 1863-64.^[17]

Senior Constable Webb-Bowen was killed by Captain Moonlite in November 1879 in a hostage incident at McGlede's farm.^[18] Captain Moonlite is also buried in the cemetery.^[19] Scott had been asked to buried at Gundagai near his friends James Nesbitt and Augustus Wernicke . Both had been killed in the shoot-out at McGlede's Hut. His request was not granted by the authorities of the time, but his remains were exhumed from Rookwood Cemetery and reinterred at Gundagai near to the unknown location of Nesbitt's grave in January 1995.^[17]

[edit] Bridges of Gundagai

The Prince Alfred bridge crosses the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai, photographed c. 1885

The Prince Alfred Bridge; part of the old Hume Highway

In 1867 an iron truss bridge, the Prince Alfred bridge, was completed across the Murrumbidgee River, with a timber viaduct leading to it across the river's flood plain. The bridge has a total length of 921 metres and probably was the first truss bridge built in Australia and is the oldest metal truss road bridge in New South Wales. Until 1932 when the Sydney Harbour Bridge was completed, the Prince Alfred bridge was the longest bridge in New South Wales.^[11] In 1902 a second (railway) bridge was built, with a total length of 819 metres.

In 1977 the Sheahan bridge was opened, a concrete and steel bridge on the Hume Highway. At 1143 metres, it is the second longest bridge in Australia after the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It replaced the Prince Alfred bridge as the crossing of the Murrumbidgee River. The bridge was named after Billy Sheahan (1895-1975), who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Yass from 1941-1950 and for Burrinjuck from 1950-1973 and held various ministerial portfolios.^[20]

[edit] Economy

Other than tourism generated by romantic bush appeal and the historic bridges, Gundagai's economy remains driven by sheep and cattle, as well as wheat, lucerne and maize production.

As of 2005, secondary industries in Gundagai included the Gundagai Meat Processors Plant and D J Lynch Engineering. The meatworks is the shire's largest single employer with over 100 employees.^[5] The latter firm has produced work for major construction projects, including building steel spans for the Olympic Stadium.^[21]

[edit] Gold mining

Gold was identified by the geologist Rev. W. B. Clarke at Gundagai in 1842.^[22] A gold rush hit the area in 1858 following further discoveries of gold and mining continued initially until 1875 and following a second gold rush in 1894, mines operated again until well into the 20th Century with some mining activity still occurring in 2007. The best known historical mines were the 'Robinson and Rice's Mine' (Long Tunnel Mine) a few miles to the south west of Gundagai and the 'Prince of Wales Mine' (where Herbert Hoover, the future President of the United States, was the mining engineer in about 1900^[23]) a few miles to the immediate west of Gundagai. Both mines struck the orebody in quartz reefs along serpentine/diorite contact zones with finds of gold telluride (of bismuith origin) also found.^[24]

[edit] Asbestos mining

Asbestos was first mined commercially in Australia, at Gundagai.^[25] Actinolite was mined along Jones Creek just to the west of the town but there are several deposits in the immediate area. Some fibres were two feet long.^[26] Prior to 1918 this was the only source of asbestos in New South Wales. Northern Gundagai is built on a hill sometimes known as 'Asbestos Hill' and excavations in the area free the asbestos into the air.^[27]

Gundagai is situated on top of significant, Jindalee Group, Cambrian period geology from which the asbestos bearing Gundagai serpentinite originates^[28] also indicating prehistoric links to the supercontinent, Gondwana.

Chromite, talc, magnesite, copper and slate were also mined at Gundagai.

[edit] Notable places

[edit] Rusconi's marble masterpiece

Local monumental mason, Frank Rusconi, carved a miniature Baroque Italian palace from 20,948 pieces of marble collected from around New South Wales. The work is 1.2 metres high and, commencing in 1910, took 28 years to complete. It can be seen in the Gundagai tourist office.^[17] Rusconi was also the sculptor of the Dog on the Tuckerbox bronze, although bronze was not his medium.^[29]

[edit] Niagara cafe

The Niagara cafe opened in 1938 and was a notable stop on the Hume Highway.^[30] The cafe makes much of a brief visit by then Prime Minister, John Curtin, in 1942, with a display in the window of the cafe of the crockery used by Curtin and Curtin's link to the cafe.^[19]

[edit] Heritage listed items

Court House, completed in 1859, was one of the first stone buildings to be erected after the floods of 1852. The interior was originally of red cedar but was destroyed by a fire in 1943 and it was rebuilt with mountain ash. The monument in front of the building is a Boer War memorial.

A number of places in Gundagai are on the New South Wales state heritage register and on the Register of the National Estate.^[31]

• Gundagai rail bridge over Murrumbidgee River^[32][31]*Gundagai Railway Station and yard group^[33]
• Gundagai Courthouse^[34][17]
• Gundagai District Hospital^[31]
• Murrumbidgee River Underbridge, Gundagai^[31]
• Gundagai Rail Bridge Approaches^[35]
• Old Gundagai Town Site^[36]
• Prince Alfred Bridge^[37]

[edit] Gundagai as iconic Australian town

Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become the representation of the typical Australian country town. It has been suggested that this is due to the area becoming a popular meeting place in the nineteenth century for bush travellers, swagmen, shearers and drovers.^[2]

Statue of the Dog on the Tuckerbox at Snake Gully, five miles from Gundagai. The statue was unveiled by the then Prime-minister Joseph Lyons in 1932 as a tribute to pioneers.

Gundagai, perhaps more than any other Australian locality, is referenced in stories, songs and poems. These include the Jack O'Hagan songs Where the Dog Sits on the Tuckerbox (five miles from Gundagai), Along The Road To Gundagai and When a Boy from Alabama Meets a Girl from Gundagai ^[38]

Other references in literature include Banjo Patterson's The Road to Gundagai ^[39] and the traditional ballad Flash Jack from Gundagai ^[40]. Additionally, the town is mentioned in Henry Lawson's Scots of the Riverina ^[41] and C. J. Dennis' The Traveller ^[42]. Miles Franklin's Brent of Bin Bin saga is set in the area and it includes an account of the flood of 1852.^[43]

[edit] Photographs of Gundagai

In the early twentieth century, Louis Gabriel, the town's doctor, took up photography. The negatives were preserved and presented to the National Library of Australia after his death and a selection were published in 1976 as a Gundagai Album.^[44]

[edit] Cultural Events

• The Snake Gully Cup festival is held each November featuring the Snake Gully Cup two-day Racing Carnival. It is one of southern New South Wales' premier race events. It is named for the Snake Gully Cup featured in the Dad and Dave 'On Our Selection' stories by Steele Rudd. The theme music to this serial was Along The Road To Gundagai.^[45]

• The Turning Wave Festival is a music and cultural festival held each September and celebrates Irish and Celtic migration to Australia.^[46]

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Gundagai, New South Wales

[edit] See also

• Dog on the Tuckerbox

[edit] Notes and references

Coordinates: 35°4′0″S, 148°6′0″E