Great family holiday, Gundagai New South Wales

Gundagai court house

1859

Gundagai, a small rural town in NSW, was surprising well known around Australia. The town is located at a crossing place of the Murrumbidgee River. There were several places at Gundagai that travellers used to cross the river. In 1858 the Great Southern Road, from Sydney via Goulburn, Gundagai then south to Albury, became one of the three main roads in the NSW colony. It was, however, very rough.

A second important issue was the growing riverboat trade on the Murrumbidgee River that made Gundagai a natural port. Capt Francis Cadell ran the first three steamer on the Murray River in 1853. In 1856 two sister steam­ers, the Albury and the Gundagai were bought from Scotland, assembled locally then stationed at Gundagai’s Albury Wharf.

Gundagai NSW

On the Mrrumbidgee River

And Capt Robinson’s 1855 survey of the Murrumbidgee in the Explorer was to examine if the river was suitable for internal nav­i­g­ation. The steamer Nangus was powerful, towing two iron barges.

Thirdly the Gundagai area had been terrorised by armed bush rangers for years. But once gold was located, the hold ups became worse. 4 bushrangers held up a farmer and took his horses. In 1843 a gang of five bushrangers, including the bush ranger called Blue Cap, held up and robbed Gundagai’s postmaster and innkeeper. Cushan the bush­ranger was known to be operating in the area from 1846-50. And bush­rangers held up the Royal Mail, stole the Melbourne mail bags, and rode off with the mail coach’s horses.

In 1862 the bushranger Jack-in-the-Boots was captured to the west of Gundagai. In Feb 1862, the bushranger Peisley was captured near Mundarlo, locked up in the Gundagai Gaol and later hanged at Bathurst. In 1863, the bushrangers Stanley and Jones were arrested after they had stolen saddles at Gundagai. Sergeant Parry was shot and killed in 1864 by the bush­ranger John Gilbert in a hold-up of the mail coach. Gilbert was a member of Ben Hall’s infamous gang that was active in the district in 1863-66. By 1869, Harry Power was committing holdups.

Early in 1879, some Gundagai residents were anxious that the infamous Ned Kelly gang was going to arrive. Special constables were sworn in and the Kelly Gang did turn up in the town. And in 1880, bushrangers held up the Chinese Miners’ Camp at Gundagai.

The North Gundagai cemetery has the graves of policemen shot in the district by bushrangers. Senior Constable Webb-Bowen was killed by Captain Moonlite in Nov 1879 in a hostage incident on a farm. Trooper Edmund Parry, killed in an en­counter with Ben Hall’s gang, was buried next to the grave of Senior Constable Webb-Bowen. Captain Moonlite’s remains were reinterred at Gundagai in Jan 1995.

Lastly Gundagai was the centre for many gold mines. Mines like Burra, Reno, Jackalass, Jones Creek and Coolac had large tent camps for the diggers near them. The hill to the north of Gund­agai once had a large tent settlement that was larger than the town itself.

Descriptions of the town highlights come from the Visitor Information Centre booklet 

Gundagai railway station

1885 

One of Gundagai’s most historically important buildings is the court house, the first stone building to be built after the 1852 flood. Completed in 1859 it was built in a commanding position and lined with red cedar. Note its connection with the bush-ranging days, the most famous trial being in Nov 1870 when Captain Moonlite and his gang were imprisoned in the old goal and tried. Early in 1943 the interior of the court building was completely burnt out. So it was rebuilt and re-lined, this time with local mountain ash, and the court house reopened in 1944.

Following the devastating 1852 flood, the town lock-up needed to be rebuilt as a fullblown gaol in 1859. The Government Architect expanded the facilities in the 1860s and the stone boundary wall arrived in 1866. See the Gaolers resid­ence, external kitchen block, original hospital, exercise yard and an outhouse. Prisoners with short-term sentences who had been sentenced at Gundagai or at courts in the surrounding district were gaoled here.

In 1870 the Gundagai Gaol was strengthened and could accommodate up to 20 prisoners. Gundagai Gaol is one of the few intact gaol compounds dating from 1859 but alas it was closed in the 1970s and a hold­ing cell was constructed at the new Gundagai Police Station.

Explore the Highlights of the Gold Trails. From the first Australian gold discoveries in 1851 and for several years after, the history of New South Wales was dominated by the search and the dramatic impact gold discoveries had on rural societies and economies in this part of NSW.

Gundagai’s Post Office was built in 1879. The town had the last official pony express who delivered mail on horseback until 1980s.

Gundagai Railway Station was built in 1885 and the new branch line started when the line was officially opened up to Gundagai. Passengers first and then mail/freight were added to the train trips. Featuring NSW’s only slate roofed goods shed, the railway station was restored to its original glory in the 1990s. Displays in the railway station today remind us of the travelling past. A photographic record of the restoration project as well as many railway items, can also be viewed.

Histoically minded visitors will enjoy the Gundagai Historical Museum, including displays of pioneer life and bushrangers. See the Wiradjuri men’s medal for saving flood victims, T-model ford, farm machinery, wagons, clothing, coins, stamps and household items from the 19th and early C20th.

"The dog sat on the tucker box, 5 miles from Gundagai"

The statue was installed in 1932

The iconic dog statue is located 8 km north of Gundagai, off the Hume Highway. The legend began in the 1850s with a poem Bullocky Bill, describing the bullockies who opened up the land to settlers, and the guard dogs who accomp­anied them. The move to create a monument to the early pioneers, featuring the now famous dog, grew through the 1920s. Finally they unveiled the Dog on the Tucker Box statue in 1932 and immortalised him in popular song .