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Gundagai is a town and Local Government Area located on the Murrumbidgee River 390 km south-west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. At the 2001 census the population of the shire was 3,792.

History

The area is the traditional home to the Wiradjuri speaking Indigenous people before and post European settlement and also has national Indigenous significance. Some believe the name "Gundagai" derives from the word gundabandoobingee. Gunda means 'place or person of'. Bandoo means the Clyde River and Bidgee means the Murrumbidgee. Others think 'Gundagai' means 'cut with a hand-axe behind the knee'. This meaning has relevance to the location as it refers to the significant river bend, but it is not a meaning for the town's name. Gundagai the word derives from the Wiradjuri word 'Gundaghar' recorded by RH Mathews. Gundagair was a 'station' to the immediate north of present day Gundagai occupied by William Hutchinson. Again Gunda means 'place of' and 'Ghar' was recorded by George Bennett curator of the Australian Museum, in 1834 at Yass as meaning 'bird'. (As in budgeri.ghar or good bird.) Gundagai means 'place of birds'.

The floodplains of the Murrumbidgee below the present town of Gundagai were a frequent meeting place of the Wiradjuri. Traditional bora rings have been identified close to town.

Australian-born explorer Hamilton Hume and British immigrant William Hovell were the first Europeans to visit when they passed through Gundagai in 1824, and Charles Sturt passed through the area in 1829 at the start of his voyage to the mouth of the Murray River.

At the time of Sturt's 1829 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.

Floods

The original 1838 town was hit by several 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, and in the process becoming one of the largest natural disasters in Australia's history. Following an even higher flood in 1853, the town was redeveloped at its current site on the hill, Mount Parnassus, above the river.

The efforts of Yarri, Jacky Jacky, Long Jimmy and one other Indigenous man in saving many Gundagai people from the 1852 floodwaters were heroic. The Aborigines rescued more than 40 people in a bark canoe. The community is said to have developed a special affinity with the Wiradjuri people and Gundagai people believe that the flood and its aftermath was the birthplace of reconciliation.

Kicking Yarri in the Name of Reconcilation

"A gentleman, who passed through South Gundagai on Monday, complains that he saw some individuals whom he supposes, would expect to be considered men, maltreating and teasing an unfortunate blackfellow, who he subsequently ascertained was 'Old Yarri'.

He reminds us that this blackfellow was instrumental in saving the lives of many white people in the disastorous flood of 1852, and that the only thanks he received was to be kicked aroudn by a lot of white rascals. ..."

The town celebrated the sesquicentenary, 150 year anniversary, of the flood in 2002.

Bridges of Gundagai

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. 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 William Francis Sheahan (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.

Bushrangers

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.

Senior Constable Webb-Bowen was killed by Captain Moonlight in November 1879 in a hostage incident at McGlede's farm. Captain Moonlight's name was Andrew George Scott (1842-1880) and he is also buried in the cemetery. 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 next to Nesbitt's grave in January 1995.

Geography

Gundagai is in inland New South Wales at relatively low elevation. As a result it has a warm temperate climate.

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.

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.

Gundagai is a primarily rural shire with a small population. 80% of the shire's population live in the town of Gundagai. There are four other towns: Coolac, Tumblong, Muttama and Nangus, with populations ranging from 40 to 90 people.

Governance

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Gundagai was declared a Municipality in 1889, and Adjungbilly Shire Council created in 1906 to administer the district. These two were amalgamated in 1923 to form the Gundagai Shire Council, which still administers local government today.

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.

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

Gold

Gold was identified by the geologist Rev. W. B. Clarke at Gundagai in 1842. 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 1905.

Asbestos

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 and 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'.

Notable places

Niagara cafe

The Niagara cafe opened in 1938 and was a notable stop on the Hume Highway. The cafe makes much of a stop by then Prime Minister, John Curtin, in 1942, with a display in the window of the cafe of the crockery used by Curtin.

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 took 28 years to build from 1910 to 1938. It can be seen in the Gundagai tourist office. Rusconi was the sculptor of the Dog on the Tuckerbox bronze also, although bronze as not his medium.

Gundagai in literature

The gold mining made the town prosperous, a centre for bushrangers, and gave the town a romantic bush appeal that resulted in Gundagai becoming a byword for outback town in Australia. Evidence of this can be seen via the number of stories, songs and poems that reference Gundagai. These include the Jack O'Hagan composed 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, as well as Banjo Patterson's The Road to Gundagai and the traditional ballad Flash Jack from Gundagai. Additionally, the town is mentioned in Henry Lawson's Scots of the Riverina and C.J. Dennis' The Traveller.

Events

The Turning Wave Festival

See also

• Dog on the Tuckerbox

Notes and references

1. "Population in Gundagai". State of the Environment Reporting for the Australian Capital Region. ACT Commissioner for the Environment. 2004. Retrieved 2006-07-05. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
2. See Bennett, G. Wanderings in NSW and Batavia, 1834.
3. ^ "Gundagai Shire". State of the Environment Reporting for the Australian Capital Region. ACT Commissioner for the Environment. 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-18.
4. ^ "Potted History of Gundagai". Gundagai Shire Council. 2005. Retrieved 2006-07-12.
5. 'Gundagai Times' 29 June 1879 in Cliff Butcher "Gundagai: A Track Winding Back" published by Cliff Butcher, p.3
6. Mr Carr (Maroubra—Premier, Minister for the Arts, and Minister for Citizenship) (25 June 2002). "Gundagai Flood Sesquicentenary". NSW Legislative Assembly Hansard; Ministerial statement. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 2006-01-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
7. "Prince Alfred Bridge over Murrumbidgee River". Heritage and conservation register. Roads and Traffic Authority (NSW). 2004. Retrieved 2006-08-21.
8. "Sheahan, William Francis". Law and History New South Wales: Attorneys General. Lawlink NSW. 1999. Retrieved 2006-08-21.
9. ^ "Gundagai". Walkabout: Australian Travel Guide. Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 2006-07-12.
10. "Andrew George Scott (alias "Captain Moonlight")". Australian Bushrangers. Ned Kelly's World. 1999. Retrieved 2006-07-12. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
11. ^ Heydon, Ian (2006). "There's A Track Winding Back - Growing up in Gundagai". Australian Travel Stories. The Small Guide To A Big Country. Retrieved 2006-07-12. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
12. "About the Shire". Gundagai Shire Council. 2005. Retrieved 2006-07-12.
13. Mundy, Godfrey Charles. Our Antipodes or, Residence and Rambles in the Australasian Colonies, with a Glimpse of the Goldfields (pdf download). Originally published by Richard Bentley, London; digital publication by The Sydney Electronic Text and Image Service (SETIS), part of the University of Sydney Library. pp. page 669. Retrieved 2006-08-25. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
14. Butcher, C. 2002 Gundagai: A Track Winding Back, Cliff Butcher self-published p.107
15. McGirr, Michael (2005-02-14). "The road most travelled". Travel. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2006-07-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. "The Turning Wave Festival" (html). Gundagai Shire Council. Retrieved 2006-09-13.

• Local Government Areas of New South Wales
• Towns in New South Wales