Gundagai railway station

Rusconi's miniature marble carving of a Baroque Italian Palace

Grave of Yarrie, Hero of Gundagai

Yarrangobilly Caves

Power Station, Tumut No.3 Dam

Batlow

Gold battery ruins, Adelong Falls

Regional town in the Eastern Riverina, made famous by a number of colonial era songs and verses in which its name is featured. the most famous is 'Nine Miles From Gundagai', a set of verses written around the turn of the 20th century by Jack Moses, a travelling wine salesman who was inspired by an old bush ballad about teamsters and the dogs who guarded their possessions on the track.

Where is it?: New South Wales: South Agricultural. Gundagai is 402 km south west of Sydney on the Hume Highway.

Things to see and do:

As Jack Moses' song made reference to the camp at Five Mile Creek and the dogs which guarded the teamster's supplies there, the now famous monument of The Dog On The Tuckerbox at Five Mile Creek was erected in 1932 both to commemorate the song, and as a monument to the teamsters and their canine companions of a bygone era. The Dog On The Tuckerbox today stands by the higthway in a picnic area near Snake Gully, which was immortalised in Steele Rudd's tales about Dad, Dave, Mum & Mabel, who lived at Snake Gully.

The Tourist Information Centre contains a miniature marble carving of a Baroque Italian Palace by a local monumental mason named Frank Rusconi, comprising 20,945 pieces of NSW marble. It took 28 years to build and was completed in 1938. Another masterpiece on display is a replica of the Altar of St. Marie's Cathederal in Paris. It was Rusconi who sculpted the Dog On The Tuckerbox statue.

Surrounding area:

27 km south west of Gundagai is the Snowy Mountain Highway turnoff. This road leads to Kosciuszko National Park and the snow resorts of the Snowy Mountains. Adelong (57km south), like Gundagai, is an old goldmining town with quaint historic farmhouses and buildings. People still fossick for gold at the old diggings near Richie's Gold Battery at Adelong Falls Reserve. Adelong Gold and Antique Fair is held every April.

Tumut (33km south) is known for the beauty of the countryside surrounding it and for fine plantations of European trees. It is the northern gateway of the Mount Kosciuszko snow resorts and the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme. There is a display centre at Tumut 3 Power Station at Tabingo. The Old Butter Factory conducts tours. The Festival of the Falling Leaf is held every April.

Yarrangobilly Caves (68 km south) near Talbingo feature huge stalactites in the North Glory Cave, which is open for inspection. The Glory Hole thermal pool at the caves is at a constant 29.4 degrees C. Talbingo Dam is used for water skiing. Talbingo was the childhood home to Australian author Miles Franklin, an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her autobiographical novel, My Brilliant Career, published in 1901.

The small town of Batlow (65 km south) is the centre of a major fruit producing area. Fresh stonefruit, berries, pears, apples and cherries are some of the true delights of the area. Tour of the Batlow Fruit Co-operative are available. Batlow Show in April showcases the finest produce of the region; Batlow Apple Blossom Festival his held in October. Take in the majestic views of Blowering Valley from the Hume and Hovell Lookout.

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 floodplains of the Murrumbidgee below the present town of Gundagai were a frequent meeting place of the Wiradjuri. A bora ring has been identified close to town.
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.
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". 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.
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.
Gundagai Post Office opened on 1 April 1843 as the township (gazetted in 1838) developed. Gundagai was located where the Great South Road crossed the Murrumbidgee River. The settlement grew on both sides of the river, and was originally built on the floodplain. local Aborigines warned the new settlers that the area was prone to flooding but the whites took no notice and the town was surveyed in 1840. Four years later the settlement suffered severe flood damage and in 1852 was the scene of the worst flood in Australian hisatory when 89 residents were trapped and drowned by the raging river. One of the heroes of the tragedy was an aborigine, Yarrie, who saved many townspeople in his bark canoe.
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 recent years. The original find attracted bushrangers Frank Gardiner and Peisley, and later Ben Hall, Gilbert and Dunn and the notorious Captain Moonlight into the area, who plagued the area throughout the 1860s.
Asbestos was first mined commercially in Australia, at Gundagai. Actinolite was mined along Jones Creek just to the west of the town but there are several deposits in the immediate area. 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'.
In 1914 the road was declared a main road of New South Wales and named the Hume Highway in 1928. The highway eventually bypassed Gundagai in 1977 with the opening of the Sheahan Bridge.
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 and Batlow and Kunama in 1923. The line was finally closed after flood damage in 1984.

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