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Gundagai is a town of 8,500 and Local Government Area located on the Murrumbidgee River 390 km south-west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

History

The area is the traditional home to the Wiradjuri aboriginal people before and post European settlement and also has national Indigenous significance. It is believed the name "Gundagai" derives from the Wiradjuri word gundabandoobingee, which some have thought to mean 'cut with a hand-axe behind the knee'.

Gundagai is known for an image of a dog on a box. This symbolism is more recently based on a poem about a bullock waggon stuck in the mud near Gundagai pre gazettal of Gundagai as a town in 1838. This bullock waggon carried a load of flour for the European settlers. The flour had to come from the mill at Goulburn. There was a severe drought happening. The flour on the bogged bullock wagon was rifled while the bullock driver was in the nearby hotel and subsequently, the remaining flour was laced with arsenic. More flour was taken from the waggon by Aboriginal people with the end result being there were many deaths. The massacre was heard about in Sydney and was investigated, but no one was able to be held to account. For many years the event was told and retold and a dog figure, representing an aspect of Australian Aboriginal lore, was placed on a stick at the Nine Mile near where the massacre happened. A photo exists of this earlier Dog monument. The story was passed down among long-time Gundagai residents and is still spoken about in Gundagai today but for many years when it was mentioned, people were told not to speak about it. The story was also retold in a popular Australian poem by Jack Moses but from a different, perhaps less challenging, perspective which explained the lingering tale that just would not go away. The known disparity between, and debate about, whether the event happened at the Five Mile or Nine Mile is to do with this. There are archival records documentating this iconic and significant Australian cultural heritage.^{[citation needed]}

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 made an appearance in 1829 at the start of his voyage to the mouth of the Murray River.

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. An even higher flood in 1853 caused the town to be redeveloped in its current site on the hill, Mount Parnassus, above the river.

A gold rush hit the area in 1858 following the discovery of gold and mining continued initially until 1875 and following a second gold rush in 1894, mines operated again until 1905.

Bridges of Gundagai

File:Gundagaibridge.jpg

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

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.[1] 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 m 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- ), who was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Yass from 1941-1950 and for Burrinjuck from 1950-1973 and held variousl ministerial portfolios.[2]

Gundagai in literature

Template:Austlocalgovtarea 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.

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.

Economy

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

External links

Gundagai Historic Bridges
"Gundagai". Age newspaper Travel pages. 2004/02/08. Retrieved 2006-01-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |accessyear= (help)
Mr Carr (Maroubra—Premier, Minister for the Arts, and Minister for Citizenship) (2002/06/25). "Gundagai Flood Sesquicentenary". NSW Legislative Assembly Hansard; Ministerial statement. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 2006-01-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |accessyear= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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 The area is the traditional home to the [[Wiradjuri]] [[Indigenous Australians|aboriginal people]] before and post [[Europe]]an settlement and also has national Indigenous significance.  It is believed the name "Gundagai" derives from the Wiradjuri word ''gundabandoobingee'', which some have thought to mean 'cut with a hand-axe behind the knee'.
-Gundagai is known for an image of a dog on a box.  This symbolism is more recently based on a poem about a bullock waggon stuck in the mud near Gundagai pre gazettal of Gundagai as a town in 1838. This bullock waggon carried a load of flour for the European settlers. The flour had to come from the mill at Goulburn. There was a severe drought happening. The flour on the bogged bullock wagon was rifled while the bullock driver was in the nearby hotel and subsequently, the remaining flour was laced with arsenic. More flour was taken from the waggon by Aboriginal people with the end result being there were many deaths. The massacre was heard about in Sydney and was investigated, but no one was able to be held to account. For many years the event was told and retold and a dog figure, representing an aspect of Australian Aboriginal lore, was placed on a stick at the Nine Mile near where the massacre happened. A photo exists of this earlier Dog monument. The story was passed down among long-time Gundagai residents and is still spoken about in Gundagai today but for many years when it was mentioned, people were told not to speak about it. The story was also retold in a popular Australian poem by Jack Moses but from a different, perhaps less challenging, perspective which explained the lingering tale that just would not go away. The known disparity between, and debate about, whether the event happened at the Five Mile or Nine Mile is to do with this. There are archival records documentating this iconic and significant Australian cultural heritage.
+Gundagai is known for an image of a dog on a box.  This symbolism is more recently based on a poem about a bullock waggon stuck in the mud near Gundagai pre gazettal of Gundagai as a town in 1838. This bullock waggon carried a load of flour for the European settlers. The flour had to come from the mill at Goulburn. There was a severe drought happening. The flour on the bogged bullock wagon was rifled while the bullock driver was in the nearby hotel and subsequently, the remaining flour was laced with arsenic. More flour was taken from the waggon by Aboriginal people with the end result being there were many deaths. The massacre was heard about in Sydney and was investigated, but no one was able to be held to account. For many years the event was told and retold and a dog figure, representing an aspect of Australian Aboriginal lore, was placed on a stick at the Nine Mile near where the massacre happened. A photo exists of this earlier Dog monument. The story was passed down among long-time Gundagai residents and is still spoken about in Gundagai today but for many years when it was mentioned, people were told not to speak about it. The story was also retold in a popular Australian poem by Jack Moses but from a different, perhaps less challenging, perspective which explained the lingering tale that just would not go away. The known disparity between, and debate about, whether the event happened at the Five Mile or Nine Mile is to do with this. There are archival records documentating this iconic and significant Australian cultural heritage.{{fact}}<!--very interesting but need some sources please-->
 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]] made an appearance in [[1829]] at the start of his voyage to the mouth of the [[Murray River]].