Gundagai

Gundagai New South Wales
The town and the Murrumbidgee floodplain in July 2005. The Hume Highway can be seen in the middle distance.
Gundagai Location in New South Wales
Coordinates	35°4′S 148°6′E / 35.067°S 148.100°E / -35.067; 148.100Coordinates: 35°4′S 148°6′E / 35.067°S 148.100°E / -35.067; 148.100
Population	1,926 (2011 census)[1]
Established	1838
Postcode(s)	2722
Elevation	232 m (761 ft)
Location	390 km (242 mi) from Sydney 95 km (59 mi) from Canberra
LGA(s)	Gundagai Shire Council
County	Clarendon
State electorate(s)	Cootamundra
Federal Division(s)	Riverina
Mean max temp Mean min temp Annual rainfall 22.4 °C 72 °F 8.6 °C 47 °F 713.6 mm 28.1 in

Gundagai /ˈɡʌndəɡaɪ/^[2] is a town in New South Wales, Australia. Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become a representative icon of a typical Australian country town.^[3] Located along the Murrumbidgee River and Muniong, Honeysuckle, Kimo, Mooney Mooney, Murrumbidgee and Tumut mountain ranges, Gundagai is 390 kilometres (240 mi) south-west of Sydney. Gundagai is the administrative centre of Gundagai Shire Council local government area. At the 2011 census the population of Gundagai was 1,926.^[1] The town's population was 1,997 in 2001 and 2,064 in 1996.^[4]

Geography

Gundagai is an inland town with an elevation of 250 metres (820 ft).^[5] Almost all of the shire is located in the South-West 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.^[6]

North Gundagai is situated on top of significant, Jindalee Group, Cambrian period geology from which the chrysotile asbestos bearing Gundagai serpentinite originates^[7] also indicating prehistoric links to the Gondwana supercontinent.

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.^[6]

Gundagai shire is primarily rural, with a small population. Eighty per cent 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.

Climate

Gundagai has a warm temperate climate.^[5][6]

Origin of name

The name 'Gundagai' may derive from 'Gundagair', an 1838 pastoral run in the name of William Hutchinson^[8] to the immediate north of current day Gundagai. the Aboriginal word 'Gair' was recorded at Yass in 1836 by George Bennett (naturalist) and means 'bird', as in budgerigar or good bird. In that context 'Gundagai' means place of birds but that placename may refer to the area to the north of Gundagai not to Gundagai town. The word 'Gundagai' is also said to mean cut with a hand-axe behind the knee.^[9]

Demographics

The Australian Bureau of Statistics National Regional Profile of population in the Gundagai Shire states that 1.9% of the total Gundagai Shire population in 2001 was Indigenous. Thereafter the number of Indigenous people in the Gundagai Shire is noted as not applicable.^[10]

In 1850, 1140 Aboriginal people were recorded in the Murrumbidgee District, comprising eight tribes, one of which was the Gundagai group of forty Aboriginal people.^[11]

In 1911 the total population of Gundagai Shire 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.

At the 2011 census, Gundagai recorded a population of 1,926 people. Of these:^[1]

Age distribution 

The distribution of ages was similar to the country as a whole, apart from having somewhat more elderly people. Residents' median age was 44 years, compared to the national median of 37. Children aged under 15 years made up 19.4% of the population (national average was 19.3%) and people aged 65 years and over made up 22.1% of the population (national average was 14.0%).

Ethnic diversity 

A substantial majority (90%) of residents were born in Australia, compared to the national average of 70%; the next most common countries of birth were New Zealand 1.0%, Scotland 0.4%, England 0.4%, Philippines 0.3% and Germany 0.3%. However, only 37% identify their ancestry as Australian, which was the largest group; the next most common self-identified ancestries were English 36%, Irish 10%, Scottish 4.3% and German 2.3%. The great majority (94.4%) of people only spoke English at home; other languages spoken at home included Greek 0.5%, Filipino 0.2%, German 0.2%, Italian 0.2% and Arabic 0.2%.

Finances 

The median weekly household income was $830, compared to the national median of $1,234. Real estate values were in line with this difference: the median mortgage repayments were $1,170 compared to the national median of $1,800.

Housing 

Two-thirds (66.7%) of private dwellings were family households, 31.0% were single person households and 2.3% were group households. Stand-alone houses accounted for 86.2% of dwellings, while 2.2% were semi-detached, 7.0% were flats, units or apartments and 4.6% were other dwellings. The average household size was 2.3 people.

History

The Gundagai area is part of the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri speaking people, while there is a considerable folklore associated with Aboriginal cultural and spiritual beliefs in the area. The floodplains of the Murrumbidgee below the present town of Gundagai were a frequent meeting place of the Wiradjuri.

The first moves to establish 'Gundagai' as a township were in 1838 with plans for the new settlement of Gundagae on the Murrumbidgee, about 54 miles beyond Yass ... advertised for viewing at the office of the Surveyor-General in Sydney.^[12]

Explorers and settlers

Australian-born Hamilton Hume and British immigrant William Hovell passed through the region in November 1824 when they passed to the south, near the future site of Tumut. Hovell recorded seeing trees already marked by steel tommyhawks.^[13][14]

On 25 September 2011, the Right Reverend Trevor Edwards, Vicar General of the Anglican Church and Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, dressed in traditional white mid-nineteenth century garb, led the commemorative church service for the 150th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of St John's Anglican, (formerly Church of England), Church, Gundagai. Bishop Edwards noted that following on the path of the explorers Hume and Hovell, the first Gundagai settlers found a wonderful land on which to establish a town, which was gazetted in 1838 but until 1850, relied on ministry from Yass.^[15] A local settler named 'Warby' is recorded as having followed Hume and Hovell's tracks to the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Tumut Rivers and having taken up a pastoral lease of 19,200 acres ... at a rent of thirty-three pounds per annum. ... He called the property 'Minghee' later called 'Mingay'.^[16]

Charles Sturt travelled 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.^[17] 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^[18] as the district was not within the Nineteen Counties.

In April 1835 William Adams Brodribb junior moved to New South Wales and became a partner in a cattle station at Maneroo. In 1836 he overlanded the second draft of cattle to Melbourne. On returning from Port Phillip Brodribb relocated to what later became the site of Gundagai. In August Brodribb petitioned for a punt over the Murrumbidgee near his Gundagai hut, and in January 1838 Deputy Surveyor General Samuel Perry reported that 'a better site could not have been chosen for a Town of the first class' in reference to Gundagai.^[19]

Lady Jane Franklin, the wife of the governor of Tasmania, Sir John Franklin, travelled through Gundagai on 27 April 1839 and noted Andrews' store and public house establishment, that had a neat verandah and shuttered hut.^[20]

Edward John Eyre, Australian explorer and later Governor of Jamaica, left Sydney in late 1838 in an effort to find a practical route to overland stock to Adelaide, and then on to open communication between Adelaide and West Australia.^[21][22] Eyre left the Limestone Plains near today's Canberra with stock on 5 December 1838. On reaching the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai, Eyre, accompanied by two aboriginal youths, Yarrie and Joey,^[23][24] turned down the river to the westward instead of following further south^[24] and travelled along the northern bank of the river for the better supply of water and feed available for his stock. Eyre crossed the river twice at Gundagai to avoid some ranges.^[24]

Whilst living and working at William Warby's establishment, Caroline McAlister (wife of Thomas McAlister) gave birth to a son 'John' on 21 June 1832,^[25] who may have been one of the first known child of European descent born in the Gundagai area.^[26]

The herds of John Macarthur, Throsby and Ellis, were along the Murrumbidgee by late 1831.^[27]

Notable residents

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

In the 1830s, Horatio Wills and his family lived near Gundagai.^[28] The Wills' son, Thomas Wills who was born in the Gundagai area,^[29] is credited with co-inventing Australian Rules football and for being coach and captain to the first Australian Aboriginal cricket team.

Gundagai Aboriginal Elders, Jimmy Clements and John Noble, attended the 1927 opening of the new Federal Parliament House in Canberra by the Duke of York (later George VI.) Jimmy Clements also known as King Billy whose traditional name was 'Yangar',^[30] walked forward to respectfully salute the Duke and Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother), and after that the two Elders were formally presented to the Royal couple as prominent citizens of Australia.^[31]

Post office

Gundagai Post Office opened on 1 April 1843 as the township (gazetted in 1838) developed.^[32]

Gundagai railway station

Railway

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^[33] and Batlow and Kunama, at the end of the Tumut and Kunama railway lines, in 1923. The line was finally closed after flood damage in 1984.^[34]

Floods

See also: Floods in New South Wales

Memorial to Yarri in the Gundagai cemetery

The original European town that was gazetted as Gundagai 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 Crown Commissioner for the Murrumbidgee District, Henry Bingham, praised the heroic actions of Aboriginal people at Gundagai in rescuing settlers from the 1844 flood. Bingham also requested a reward for local Aboriginal people.^[35]

Gundagai was still considered a frontier town in 1852.^[36] The 25 June 1852 Murrumbidgee flood swept the first colonial town of Gundagai 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. Local Aboriginal men, Yarri, Jacky Jacky, Long Jimmy^[37][38] and one other played a role in saving many Gundagai people from the 1852 floodwaters, rescuing more than 40 people using bark canoes.^[39]

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.^[40] The town commemorated the sesquicentenary of the flood in 2002.^[39]

The flood of June 1891 left several pastoral workers and four rescuers who set out in a boat, stranded in trees just to the south of Gundagai. Edward True dragged a light skiff several miles over hills to the rescue site and managed to save several men from drowning.^[41] True also saved a young boy from drowning in a waterhole in 1887 and was awarded a Royal Humane Society of Australasia bravery award for that rescue as well. Edward True could not swim.^[41]

In recent years the Gundagai wetlands and marshes that were home to many bird species, have disappeared, largely as a result of ground compaction by cattle and Gundagai Shire Council diverting ground water into underground pipes. These wetlands were on the North Gundagai Common; adjacent to the Gundagai High School; between Bourke and West Streets to the north of Punch Street; to the west and north of the North Gundagai cemetery; and at Coolac.

Major floods also occurred in 1974 and 2012.

Bushrangers

Monuments to policemen in Gundagai cemetery

As early as 1838 the Gundagai and Yass areas were being terrorised by armed bushrangers. Four men held up Robert Phillips and took a horse, the property of William Hutchinson, (who had possession of the land to the immediate north of Gundagai), of Murrumbidgee.^[42][43] On one occasion in 1843 a gang of five bushrangers, including the bushranger called 'Blue Cap',^[44] held up and robbed Mr Andrews, the Gundagai postmaster and innkeeper.^[45] Cushan the bushranger was known to be operating in the area in 1846,^[46] and in 1850, to the south of Gundagai near Tarcutta, two bushrangers held up the Royal Mail, stole the Albury and Melbourne mailbags and rode off with the mail coach's horses.^[47] In 1862 at Bethungra to the west of Gundagai in the Gundagai Police District, the bushranger Jack-in-the-Boots was captured.^[48] A plot to rescue Jack-in-the-Boots whose real name was Molloy, from police custody while he was being transferred from Gundagai to Yass gaol, was discovered.^[49] In February 1862, the bushranger Peisley was captured near Mundarlo and by that evening was lodged in the Gundagai Gaol.^[50] Peisley was later hanged at Bathurst.^[51] In 1863, the bushrangers Stanley and Jones were arrested at Tumut after they had allegedly stolen saddles at Gundagai and hatched a plan to rob Mr. Norton's store. Stanley could not be identified.^[52] In 1864, Jones was found not guilty.^[53] 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 that was active in the district in 1863-64.^[54] Patrick Gately and Patrick Lawler held up Keane's pub at Coolac in April, 1866.^[55] Also in the 1860s, to the north of Adelong, the bushranger Hawthorne mistook a man by the name of Grant for William Williams the gold mine owner, and killed Grant.^[56] By 1869, Harry Power, early mentor of famous Australian bushranger, Ned Kelly, was committing holdups near Adelong^[57] and as icing on the cake, by 1874 the bushranger prettily known as Jerry Blossom, was entertaining the district.^[58] In 1880, bushrangers held up the Chinese Camp at Gundagai then fled on horseback towards Burra, a locality known to harbour louts and for the ferocious fires that roar through the area.^[59][60]

Early in 1879, some Gundagai residents were in fear that the Ned Kelly gang was going to pay the town a visit and while Extra rifles and ammunition to defend the town..^[61] were applied for and special constables were sworn in, the Kelly Gang did turn up in the town.

The North Gundagai Anglican cemetery contains the graves of two policemen shot in the district by bushrangers. Senior Constable Webb-Bowen was killed by Captain Moonlite in November 1879 in a hostage incident at McGlede's farm.^[62] Trooper Edmund Parry, killed in an encounter with Ben Hall's gang near Jugiong, lies at rest next to the grave of Senior Constable Webb-Bowen. Captain Moonlite is also buried in the North Gundagai Anglican cemetery.^[63] Captain Moonlite had been asked to be buried at Gundagai near his friends James Nesbitt and Augustus Wernicke . Both had been killed in the shoot-out at McGlede's Hut. Moonlite's 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.^[54]

In the 1950s bushrangers reappeared in the Gundagai area, jumping into the trailers of heavy transports moving along the Hume Highway and throwing contents out to nearby accomplices.^[64][65]

In 1993 a Gundagai native, Tony Percival, was shot dead in the northern NSW mining town of Hillgrove by the perpetrators of the Cangai siege, Len Leabeater, Raymond Bassett and Robert Steele in their nine-day, two-state murderous rampage.^[66]

Tent cities

The old Gundagai Flour Mill in Sheridan Lane was also known as 'The Sundowners' for the swaggies that camped there each night.^[67] 'Sam the Sundowner' a famous Australian swaggie and principal character in the Australian comedy drama, 'The Road to Gundagai',^[68] was a regular resident at the Gundagai 'Sundowners' and was known for the rescues he made of near to drowning people from the inland rivers.^[67]

In 1901, there was a very large camp of unemployed men and their families at South Gundagai waiting for the proposed Gundagai Rail Line to begin construction. Five hundred of these men marched from south to north Gundagai accompanied by the town band, to try to move commencement of the project, forward.^[69] There was a railway worker canvas town near the Gundagai Rail Station. Rail workers and their families who moved to Gundagai to work on the rail line, lived in tents in that area into the 1950s. The Chinese camp was in the area of today's Bowls Club as were the Chinese gardens. Burials of deceased Chinese people were in the pagan ground.^[70] All mine sites, of which there were several around Gundagai such as Burra, Reno, Jackalass, Jones Creek and Coolac, had miner's camps at or near them. The hill to the north of Gundagai known as Flower Hill once had a large tent settlement that was larger than the permanent North Gundagai residential area. Likewise the Spring Flat goldfield adjacent to the North Gundagai cemetery resulted in a sizeable tent township appearing there.

Riverboat trade

There were several riverboats associated with Gundagai. The 'Explorer', the 'Gundagai', the 'Albury', the 'Nangus' and the 'J.H.P.'. Captain Francis Cadell ran the first steamer on the Murray River in 1853. In 1856 the sister steamers, the 'Albury' and the 'Gundagai' were bought from Scotland to Goolwa in pieces, by Captain Cadell, assembled at Goolwa then launched.^[71]

In 1855 Captain Cadell was aboard the paddlewheel steamer 'Gundagai' for the first journey in it north of Goolwa,^[72] then in 1856 explored the Edward River system as Captain of the 'Gundagai'.^[73] By 1865, the steamer 'Gundagai' under the command of Captain Cadell, was providing a transport service between Wanganui and the Waitotara in New Zealand, and getting supplies to troops,^[74] in support of the British Crown and the Crown's involvement in the New Zealand Wars. Captain Cadell became 'Superintendent of Colonial Transport (water)' for New Zealand.^[75] On 25 June 1866 near Patea New Zealand, the little paddlewheel steamer and expert crosser of sandbars, the 'Gundagai' went onshore and broke in half. All hands were rescued.^[76]

On 16 September 1858, the steamer 'Albury', under the command of Captain George Johnston with Captain Cadell on board, moored at Gundagai^[77] on the north bank of the Murrumbidgee at what was hoped to be named the 'Albury Wharf', after taking a bit over a month to ascend the Murrumbidgee from Lake Alexandrina. The 'Albury' was the first steamer known to visit Gundagai. The steamer 'Albury' was tied up to an old gum tree at Gundagai by Mr Norton of Gundagai who two years previously had the honour of naming the boat that set off from Gundagai to survey the Murrumbidgee under the command of Captain Robinson, the 'Explorer'.^[78] Captain Robinson's 1855 survey of the Murrumbidgee in the 'Explorer' was for the purpose of ascertaining If that river presents any serious impediments to internal navigation and the incentive for that survey came from Captain Cadell.^[79]

The steamer 'Nangus' was constructed by the engineer Mr. Chapman of Sydney, at Nangus Station near Gundagai for Mr Jenkins, owner of Nangus Station, to ply the Murrumbidgee River between Gundagai and Hay and she made her maiden journey in 1865. The steamer 'Nangus' was a 12-horsepower, 70 feet long iron vessel, with two side paddles and towing two iron barges.^[80] The 'Nangus' sank near Wagga after hitting a snag in 1867.^[81]

The steamer 'J.H.P.' was launched in 1866 and sank between Hay and Balranald in October 1868. It was raised but sank twice more than was dismantled in 1879.^[82] On 20 September 1870, the 'J.H.P.' then owned by Edward Warby,^[83] journeyed up the Murrumbidgee from Wagga to Gundagai without incident.^[84]

River crossings

Gundagai is located at a crossing place of the Murrumbidgee River. There were several places at Gundagai that travellers could and did cross the river. The route across the Murrumbidgee at Gundagai eventually became the Great South Road.

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.^[85] The highway bypassed Gundagai in 1977 with the opening of the Sheahan Bridge.^[86] In 1914 was declared a main road of New South Wales, and subsequently designated as state highway 2 and named the Hume Highway in 1928.

Fords and former bridges

There are several old fords at Gundagai including:

• the one at the western end of Hanley Street that crosses Jones Creek
• a ford on the southern continuation of Bourke Street across Jones Creek
• one at the western end of Sheridan Lane that crosses Jones Creek
• a ford at the western end of William Street that crosses Jones Creek
• the Otway Street ford across Morleys Creek
• a 1950s concrete ford that crosses Morleys Creek on the immediate western side of Yarri Bridge
• a very old ford that crosses Morleys Creek east of the Yarri Bridge
• the Warramore Ford that crosses the Murrumbidgee across to Tarrabandra between the Gundagai showground and Mingay
• the Sandy Falls ford
• the ford across Muttama Creek at the Nine Mile, Coolac, that is a well noted crossing place in local poetry, folklore and history
• the Gundagai township ford of the Murrumbidgee in line with Otway Street
• 'Adelong Crossing Place', now 'Tumblong', where there used to be a ford across Adelong Creek

There is also the Wantabadgery crossing place that these days has been replaced by the low level Mundarlo Bridge, downstream of Gundagai.

Often bridges have replaced fords but not always in exactly the same location, as bridges require high stream banks, whereas fords favour low banks. Two known old bridges on Morleys Creek no longer exist. Learys Bridge, a wooden bridge that crossed Morleys Creek in line with Byron Street, Gundagai was burned down by Gundagai Shire Council in the 1990s. Rileys Bridge that crossed Morleys Creek at the midpoint between Byron and Homer Streets was washed away in the 1851 Gundagai flood.^[87]

Bridges

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

The Prince Alfred Bridge; part of the old Hume Highway

In 1865 a wrought iron truss bridge, the Prince Alfred Bridge, was completed across the Murrumbidgee River. The bridge was designed by William Christopher Bennett^[88] and was constructed by Francis Bell^[89] and Frederick Augustus Franklin and had a total length of 314 m, including three wrought iron truss spans each of 31.4 m across the river itself, two southern approach spans of timber, and twenty-three northern approach spans of 9.14 m, also of timber, rising on a gradient of 1 in 30 from the level of the floodplain.^[90] It was the first iron truss bridge to be built in New South Wales.^[91]

Sometime before 1896, the twenty-three northern spans were replaced with a longer structure consisting of 105 timber spans varying from 4.6 m to 9.14 m long, crossing the full width of the floodplain. In that year a ramp was installed on the western side of the bridge six spans north of the three main spans, in roughly the same location as the present ramp, in order to divert traffic from the timber approach spans, presumably because of maintenance problems with these spans.^[92]

In 1896 the 105 northern approach spans were replaced by a new approach structure of seventy-six spans on a different alignment, and the southern approach was slightly lengthened, giving a total length of 922 metres, which was 12 m less than the previous length. Nonetheless until 1932 when the Sydney Harbour Bridge was completed, it remained the longest bridge in New South Wales.^[86] In this configuration the bridge remained in use until 1977, but extensive repair work was carried out in the early 1930s.

In 1903 a second (railway) bridge across the Murrumbdgee with a total length of 819 metres was built for the extension of the railway from Gundagai to Tumut.

In 1977 a third bridge, the Sheahan bridge was opened, a prestressed concrete bridge as part of the Hume Highway bypass of Gundagai, to replace the Prince Alfred Bridge. It closely follows the alignment of one of the options considered in the early 1930s for a replacement bridge as an alternative to the repair of the Prince Alfred Bridge. It is 1,143 metres (3,750 ft) long, 6 m shorter than the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was named after Bill 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.^[93] In 2010 it was duplicated to carry the southbound carriageway of the Hume Highway.^[94]

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.^[6] The latter firm has produced work for major construction projects, including building steel spans for the Olympic Stadium.^[95]

Gold mining

Gold was identified by the geologist Rev. W. B. Clarke at Gundagai in 1842.^[96] 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^[97]) 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.^[98]

'Nangus Island' in the middle of the Murrumbidgee River at Nangus is marked as one of the early goldfields and was previously named 'M'Arthur Island'. The island is adjacent to where the highly auriferous Adelong Creek enters the Murrumbidgee.^[99]

Asbestos mining

Asbestos was first mined commercially in Australia, at Gundagai.^[100] 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.^[101] 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.^[102]

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

Notable places

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.^[54] Rusconi was also the sculptor of the base of the Dog on the Tuckerbox monument. As bronze was not Rusconi's medium, the rest of the monument was cast at Oliver's Foundry in Sydney.^[103][104]

Niagara cafe

The Niagara cafe opened in 1938 and was a notable stop on the Hume Highway.^[105] 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.^[63]

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.^[106]

• Gundagai rail bridge over Murrumbidgee River^[106][107]
• Gundagai Railway Station and yard group^[108]
• Gundagai Courthouse^[54][109]
• Gundagai District Hospital^[106]
• Murrumbidgee River Underbridge, Gundagai^[106]
• Gundagai Rail Bridge Approaches^[110]
• Old Gundagai Town Site^[111]
• Prince Alfred Bridge^[112]

As an iconic Australian town

Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers, including writers of poems and songs,^[113] and has become the representation of the typical Australian country town. Gundagai also has a long and strong oral tradition or folklore related to both Aboriginal and European events, as the location was an important gathering place and river crossing for teamsters (or bullockys), bush travellers, swagmen, shearers and drovers,.^[3]

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 Theta's poem,'Ode to the Dead of Gundagai'.^[114] James Riley, 'The Gundagai Calamity',^[115] Jack Moses and others in 'Nine Miles From Gundagai',^[116] Jack O'Hagan songs 'Where the Dog Sits on the Tuckerbox (five miles from Gundagai)', 'Along The Road To Gundagai',^[117] 'Snake Gully Swagger',^[118] and 'When a Boy from Alabama Meets a Girl from Gundagai,'^[119] Gundagai also features in the song 'The Grand Old Hills of Gundagai,'^[120] It is referenced in Scottish band Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie's song 'Dust'. A 2010 publication 'Purple Threads' by Jeanine Leane has won a major literary award, the David Unaipon Award and has been shortlisted for a Commonwealth literary award.^[121]

Other references in literature include Banjo Paterson's 'The Road to Gundagai,'^[122] and the traditional ballad 'Flash Jack from Gundagai'.^[123] The great British folksinger A L Lloyd, who spent time in Australia, recorded both the shearing song ‘Flash Jack from Gundagai’ and ‘The Road to Gundagai’.^[124] Additionally, the town is mentioned in Henry Lawson's 'Scots of the Riverina,'^[125] and C. J. Dennis' 'The Traveller.'^[126] Miles Franklin's 'Brent of Bin Bin,' saga is set in the area and it includes an account of the flood of 1852.^[127]

Photographs of Gundagai

Between 1899 and 1900, Dr Louis Gabriel, took up photography, photographing townlife in the period up to c.1906, when his responsibilities for the new hospital took precedence. He is considered one of Australia's best early documentary photographers, partly for his observant, astute and dispassionate approach. However, they are sometimes highly stylised by integrating his and others shadows in the image, or by making full use of the radical perspective of a wide-angle lens. The question of how and why his images are outstanding is central to the novel 'Belonging' written by G McDougall.^[128] The equally interesting story of how Gabriel's glass-plate negatives can into the National Library's possession is found in the NLA's 'Gundagai Album'.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.^[129][130]

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. The idea of conducting a race called the Snake Gully Cup was originally floated in a committee meeting of the Gundagai Adelong racing club in the early 1970s. The race however did not materialise due to the lack of he support from the committee of the day. The idea gained real momentum at the unveiling of the statues of Dad,Dave,Mum and Mabel at the Snake Gully Service Centre in November 1979 when Ted Tout, one of the principles of the centre mentioned the possibility of a Snake Gully Cup being run as a picnic race meeting similar to the very popular Bong Bong Cup meeting. In November 1982 the Gundagai Adelong Racing Club conducted a mid-week race meeting as part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations for the Dog on the Tuckerbox. The feature race at the meeting was the Snake Gully Flying Handicap, a 1000 meters which was sponsored by the Tout Family. The Snake Gully Flying Handicap remained as the feature race of the clubs November meeting for the next two years. In 1984 the Club applied for TAB status for the 1985 meeting when the proposal was to conduct the first Snake Gully Cup over 1400 meters. The application was unsuccessful. This was the beginning of the Snake Gully Cup in its current format. The Tout family continued to sponsor the Snake Gully Cup until 1991. In 1990 the club once again applied for TAB status for the Cup and were successful in securing this for the 1992 Cup. From that date the cup has only been conducted on a Friday. The second day of the meet is called 'Hair Of the Dog' and is a more family orientated race day.

The town's rugby league team competed in the Maher Cup.

The Turning Wave Festival (a music and cultural festival celebrating Irish and Celtic migration to Australia) was held in Gundagai up to 2011, but moved to Yass in 2012.^[131]

See also

Media related to Gundagai at Wikimedia Commons

• Dog on the Tuckerbox
• Gundagai lore

Notes and references

Riverina – New South Wales Cities Albury Griffith Wagga Wagga Local government areas Albury Balranald Berrigan Carrathool Conargo Coolamon Cootamundra Corowa Deniliquin Griffith Greater Hume Gundagai Hay Jerilderie Junee Leeton Lockhart Murray Murrumbidgee Narrandera Temora Tumbarumba Tumut Urana Wakool Wagga Wagga Towns / Communities Adelong Adjungbilly Alfredtown Alma Park Ardlethan Ariah Park Ballbank Balldale Balranald Barellan Barham Barnes Barooga Batlow Beckom Bectric Beelbangera Beggan Beggan Berrigan Bethungra Bidgeemia Bilbul Binya Birrego Blighty Book Book Bookham Booligal Booroorban Borambola Boree Creek Bowna Brawlin Brocklesby Brookdale Brungle Brushwood Bulgandry Bullenbung Bundure Bungowannah Bunnaloo Buraja Burraboi Burrandana Burrinjuck Burrumbuttock Caldwell Carabost Carrathool Cavan Coleambally Collingullie Colinroobie Combaning Conargo Condoulpe Cookardinia Coolac Coolamon Cootamundra Coree Coreen Corobimilla Corowa Cowabbie Culcairn Cunninyeuk Currawarna Darbalara Darlington Point Daysdale Deniliquin Dilpurra Dirnaseer Downside Euberta Eurongilly Euston Ferndale Finley Frampton French Park Galore Ganmain Gidginbung Gerogery Gobarralong Gocup Gogeldrie Goolgowi Goorawin Grahamstown Greenvale Grong Grong Gulpa Gunbar Gundagai Hanwood Harefield Hay Henty Hillston Holbrook Hopefield Howlong Humula Illabo Illilliwa Jerilderie Jindera Jingellic Jugiong Junee Junee Reefs Kamarah Khancoban Koraleigh Kyalite Kyeamba Kywong Lacmalac Ladysmith Langtree Lankeys Creek Laurel Hill Leeton Little Billabong Lockhart Lowesdale Mairjimmy Malebo Mangoplah Mannus Marinna Marrar Mathoura Matong Maude Mayrung Merriwagga Merungle Hill Methul Milbrulong Millwood Mirrool Mitta Mitta Moama Moira Moolpa Moombooldool Morago Morundah Morven Moulamein Mullengandra Mulwala Mundarlo Munderoo Murrami Muttama Nangus Narrandera Niemur Nyora Oaklands Oberne Old Junee One Tree Osborne Oura Ournie Oxley Penarie Perekerten Pleasant Hills Pretty Pine Pulletop Rand Rankins Springs Rannock Rennie Rosewood Ryan Sandigo Sangar Savernake Sebastopol Speewa Springdale Stanbridge Stockinbingal Stony Crossing Stony Point Tabbita Table Top Talbingo Talmalmo Talmo Tantonan Tarcutta Temora The Rock Tocumwal Tooleybuc Tooma Tootool Tullakool Tumbarumba Tumblong Tumut Tuppal Urana Urangeline Urangeline East Uranquinty Waddi Wakool Walbundrie Walla Walla Wallendbeen Walleroobie Wamoon Wanganella Wantabadgery Warburn Warragoon Wee Jasper Welaregang Westby Whitton Widgelli Widgiewa Willbriggie Womboota Wondalga Woodend Woolgarlo Woomargama Wymah Yalgogrin South Yallakool Yanco Yenda Yerong Creek Yoogali Yuluma National parks Cocoparra Lachlan Valley Livingstone Murray Valley Murrumbidgee Valley Oolambeyan Woomargama Yanga Rivers, Water and irrigation entities Other watercourses Darling Edward Goodradigbee Lachlan Little Murray Murray Murrumbidgee Niemur Paddys Rufus Tooma Tumut Wakool Yass Murray Irrigation Area Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area Murrumbidgee Irrigation Limited Riverina Water County Council Adelong Adjungbilly Back Barmedman Bendy Berthong Billabong Black Joes Bland Bowning Broadway Brooks Bulls Head Bungendore Burkes Cohen Dairy Derringullen Gum Flat Hell Hole Little Jerra Jerra Kindra Mannus Maragle Mirrool Mulwala Canal Murrumbateman Peelwood Pugilistic Reedy Sandy (Mirrool) Spring Tarcutta Taylors Tumbarumba Yellow Bog Landmarks Charles Sturt University Ettamogah Pub Hume Dam Hume Power Station Hume and Hovell Track Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area Wyangala Dam