Gunnedah, located beside the great Namoi River, is 434 km north-west of Sydney.
in the wheatbelt, and located on NSW's largest coal seam.
The name Gunnedah originates from the Gunn-e-darr people and is thought to mean the “Place of White Stones”.
Cumbo Gunnerah (also known as the Red Kangaroo), along with a few warriors, according to stories, defeated
another Aboriginal tribe by leading them into a natural landform called the Wallaby Trap at the base of Porcupine Hill.
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| Illustration of fire-making, New South Wales, Frobenius, Leo:, 1909. Wellcome Historical Medical Museum |
"The Kamilaroi blacks say that Baia-me made all things; that he is resting away in the far west. They never saw him, but regard thunder as his voice."
KAMILAROI, AND OTHER AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGES, BY REV. WILLIAM RIDLEY, 2ND ED. (SYDNEY, 1875) - PAGE 29
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| Aboriginal message sticks were usually a solid piece of wood, around 10–30 centimetres (3.9–11.8 in) in length, etched with angular lines and dots. When messengers entered another group’s country, they would first announce their presence with smoke signals, so that they would be taken safely with the message stick to the Aboriginal elders, to whom they would speak their message.[3] Photo: Science of man and journal of the Royal Anthropological Society of Australasia. Vol. 8 No. 1 (1 March 1906) |
"The Kamilaroi people say that after death, their spirits or internal parts, called "Guhdhaddyabi," go away up the Barwon River and
live under the mountains at the sources of that stream." R H Matthews
HereBullroarers have been used by the Kamilaroi in initiation ceremonies and in burials to ward off evil spirits, and for bad tidings.
Here. According to R H Matthews, Females and children are not allowed to see it, much less to use it.
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| Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954), Tuesday 10 January 1893 |
Aboriginal carved trees1800sExplorer John Oxley passed through the district in 1818.
In 1827, Allan Cunningham, a botanist-explorer, was the first European to
explore the Namoi River.
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| The bulletin. Christmas Number Vol. 59 No. 3069 (7 Dec 1938). Allan Cunningham (1791-1839), botanist and explorer, was born on 13 July 1791 at Wimbledon, Surrey, England. He is noted for botanical collecting and exploring in Australia |
1830sMajor Mitchell, a Scottish surveyor and explorer,
journeyed through the area in 1831. Mitchell was inspired by the tall tales of escaped convict and bushranger, George "The Barber" Clarke.
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| BEFORE his arrival in Australia in 1827, Major Thomas Livingstone Mitchell had already had an adventurous career. Born at Craigend, Stirlingshire, in 1792, he joined the British army in Spain as a volunteer at the age of 16. As a mere lad, his survey work in the Peninsula—map-making and topographical sketching—was considered of such value by the War Office that after the campaign hewas specially commissioned to make plans of the battlefields. The journal of these experiences, now in Sydney’s Mitchell Library—so microscopically copperplate that a magnifying-glass is necessary to read it —provides abundant evidence of the thoroughness of his many-sided character. At the age of 28 he relinquished soldiering to come to Australia with the choice of three positions in New South Wales —as a collector, a civil engineer or as second-in-command to John Oxley, the Surveyor-General. He accepted this last, and took up his duties immediately, his work consisting mainly of map-making and road-surveying and the compilation of a general survey of the colony from the many detached ones already made. The bulletin. Christmas Number Vol. 59 No. 3069 (7 Dec 1938) |
Clarke, who lived with Aboriginal people and dressed in a possum skin, described the Namoi River as a large river that ran into the interior and emptied into the Timor Sea. He said the river was called the Kindur and it ran through ideal pastureland and hippopotamuses and orang-utans lived along its lower banks.
In the 1830s, John Johnston established the
Bulomin run on the Namoi River and built his homestead and woolshed by the riverside.
Burburgaterun was taken up by the explorer-politician William Charles Wentworth in the 1840s. (Wentworth is notable for the crossing of the Blue Mountains and being involved in
founding the University of Sydney)
1850sThe town was surveyed in 1854, and the first land sales took place in 1857. Wheat was grown in the area.
The location of the town was at a ford used by teamsters crossing the Namoi River.
The
area was known to European settlers as "Woolshed".
First Post Office established in 1856.
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| Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), Wednesday 13 May 1857 |
1860s Gunnedah's biggest flood on record occurred in 1864 when the river reached 9.85 metres.
"There were two "pubs" in the town in 1860 and at that time half acre
blocks of land in Connadilly street (the main street) were sold at £4 a block."
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| Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 - 1893), Thursday 18 July 1861 |
"The first store was erected and kept by George Cohen who lost all his goods in the great flood of 1864..."
After the flood, the town moved upwards from the river bank to its present position.
"The first coach to Gunnedah was commenced about 1864. Before that, travellers either rode in bullock waggons or "footed" it."
Manilla Express (NSW : 1899 - 1954) Fri 4 Oct 1935
1870s
George Cohen's Warehouse was built in 1870 on the corner of Maitland and Marquis streets.
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| George Cohen's Warehouse was built in 1870 on the corner of Maitland and Marquis streets. |
In April and May 1870, floods inundated every property on the main street.
In 1872 the telegraphic office opened.
Coal was discovered on Black Jack Hill in 1877.
“Roseneath Manor”, in Maitland Street, was built in 1878, as the residence of George Cohen.
In 1879, the North West railway line was extended to Gunnedah.
Gunnedah Court House was built in 1879, and designed by colonial architect James Barnett.
St Xavier's School (primary) and St Mary's College (secondary) were established by the Sisters of Mercy in 1879.
1880sFirst hospital opened in 1882.
Cohen's Bridge was built over the Namoi River in 1884. (named in honour of George Judah Cohen (1842-1937), banker and financier)
The
town became a municipality in 1885 with a population of about 1000.
Gunnedah Show Society held its first show in 1888.
The Centenary (Preston) Colliery commenced production of coal in 1889.
1890s The Royal Hotel in Gunnedah was built in 1890 for TA (Hungry) Johnston, son of John Johnston.
Private cattle and sheep saleyards built about 1890.
Gunnedah Colliery No 1 opened in 1895.
Walhallow a former Aboriginal reserve (Walhallow) was known as "Caroona" mission. It was first gazetted in 1895. Walhallow was the "....principal camping-
place, as fish and game were plentiful, and the sandstone of this part used to be in demand for sharpening their, stone tomahawks. (
1.)"
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| Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 - 1893), Saturday 20 August 1887 |
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GUNNEDAH BRIDGB OVER NAMOI. NSW, The Australasian pastoralists' review : a monthly journal and record of all matters affecting the pastoral and landed interests throughout Australasia.
Vol. 7 No. 10 (15 December 1897) |
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Gunnedah Outbuildings, NSW, The Australasian pastoralists' review : a monthly journal and record of all matters affecting the pastoral and landed interests throughout Australasia.
Vol. 7 No. 10 (15 December 1897) |
The Centenary (Preston) Colliery commenced production of coal in 1889.
1900s |
| The Gunnedah Show. ALFRED MOPFAT'S COLLECriON OP VEHICLES. Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 1 September 1900 |
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| Gunnedah Show, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 1 September 1900 |
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| COMMITTEE GUNNEDAH AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 1 September 1900 |
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| Gunnedah Hospital, NSW, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Saturday 8 September 1900 |
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| Grainger & Co, Storekeepers in Gunnedah, N.S.W. - very early 1900s, Aussie~mobs |
A man from Carcoar in the Central West established a flour mill in Gunnedah in 1903 or 1904. The venture was registered as WH Short and Co.
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| Wool teams travelling to Gunneadh, NSW, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 19 October 1904 |
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| New grandstand at the Gunnedah Showground, NSW, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 31 August 1904 |
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| Gunnedah Court House in 1905 with picket fence, NSW |
In 1905, Burburgate station was split up into 58 blocks.
The water tower was built in 1908 and was the first reservoir constructed in Gunnedah.
The poet Dorothea Mackellar, inspired by her
experience on her brothers' farms near Gunnedah, wrote the poem "My Country" (1908). The well-known second stanza, begins: "I love a sunburnt country / A land of sweeping plains, / Of ragged mountain ranges, / Of droughts and flooding rains."
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| On the plains, Gunnedah District, NSW, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 7 April 1909 |
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| Floods receding, Gunnedah, NSW, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 26 January 1910 |
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| Floods, Gunnedah, NSW, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 26 January 1910, |
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| House made of kerosene tins at a campsite, Gunnedah, NSW, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Wednesday 16 November 1910 |
WWI
The Wallaby March from Narrabri to Newcastle, passed through Gunnedah, in December 1915, and recruited around 800 troops for the war effort.
Eighteen year old, Vincent Watley, from Walhallow, joined the march in Gunnedah on the 14th of December. Vincent, who was only five foot three, was Killed in action 15 May 1917. Another Aborignal man from Walhallow was William Allan Irwin who was recognised by Bean in his official histories of World War I. Read
here
In 1915, the Gunnedah Saleyards, known then as the Shire Yards, were built.
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| PTE . H. L. Mc DONAGH, Gunnedah. Killed.Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 21 February 1917 |
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| Private W. J. O'Brien, (Gunnedah), wounded a second time, Dardanelles, Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), Friday 27 August 1915 |
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| Gunnedah's Town Hall, NSW, opened on 25 March 1926. |
The Acropolis Café was a busy café, which seated 140 people with a staircase to the upstairs section that could seat up to 230 people in a licensed restaurant.
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| Acropolis Cafe. Conadilly Street. Gunnedah. N.S.W. c 1934, SANSW |
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| Harvesting at Gunnedah, NSW, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 3 January 1934 |
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| New theatre at Gunnedah, NSW, Construction and Real Estate Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1930 - 1938), Wednesday 22 January 1936 |
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| Main Street of Gunnedah, NSW, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 28 July 1937 |
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| Gunnedah, NSW, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 17 August 1938 |
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| The Busy Bee Cafe in Gunnedah, New South Wales, was run for many years by Greek migrant Lambros Zantiotis and his family. 1938, MUSAUS |
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| Gunnedah Colliery Company, Locomotive No.8, Black Jack Colliery, Gunnedah [1939] Living Histories |
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| Catholic Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1932 - 1942), Thursday 6 April 1939 |
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| Chapel at Convent of Mercy* Gunnedah:, NSW, Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942), Thursday 16 November 1939 |
In 1939 work finally began on Keepit Dam upstream of Gunnedah.
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| Competitors for the Breeders' Trophy, for the best three Merino rams and two ewes bred by exhibitor, at Gunnedah Show, The winning group (nearest camera) was exhibited by F. F. McClung, "Winbri," Gunnedah.Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Wednesday 23 August 1939 |
1940s and WWII
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A locally made producer gas plant installed on a farm tractor on "Lcyburn,
the Gunnndali property of Mr. C. H. Beeson, who is conducting tests. farm tests with a new producer gas plant, known as the Gunnedah Gas Producer, are being made with a tractor on the farm of Mr. C. H. Beeson, "Lcyburn," Gunnedah.Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 6 September 1940 |
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500 Miles A Week To Set Hair "The Flying Hairdresser" from Gunnedah has come to town |
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Driver Frank C. Foster and his two younger daughters, Jean and Heather, who are running their father's Gunnedah farm while he serves on garrison duty with the V.D.C |
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| Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 15 July 1942 |
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COUNTRY GIRL'S WAR JOB IN
THE AIR FORCE
FAIR-HAIRED, blue-eyed Joan
Ipkendanz finds her Air Force job
not only interesting, but a marked con-
trast to life on a sheep station.
Before joining the W.A.A.A.F.
nearly two years ago, Joan lived on
the family property "Killawarra,"
Tambar Springs, near Gunnedah.
She spends all her recreation leave
on the property, helping to musterLand (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 12 May 1944 |
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| Handling the Wheat at Gunnedah, NSW, Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 30 January 1942 |
In 1943 the NSW Soil Conservation Service bought a 214 ha property 6 km south of Gunnedah to demonstrate how eroded farmland could be rehabilitated.
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| Gunnedah, NSW, 1945, SLNSW |
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| Gunnedah, NSW, 1945, SLNSW |
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Waiting to unload wheat. HALF A MILE of trucks,loaded with wheat at Gunnedah silos, NSW,
Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955), Monday 1 December 1947 |
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| The bulletin. Vol. 68 No. 3537 (26 Nov 1947) |
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| Departmental Officers attending the Gunnedah School of Instruction in Soil Conservation. Journal of the Soil Conservation Service of New South WalesVol. 5 No. 1 (January, 1949) |
1950sThe water tower was replaced by a steel reservoir that had been erected nearby.
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| CONADILLY STREET, Gunneddhs main street, Rooking east. The town has electricity, water-and sewerage services.Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 26 September 1952 |
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| Country Women's Association conference at Gunnedah, Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 30 October 1953 |
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| Attractive new premises of the Curlewis Formers' Co-J operative Society Ltd., in the main shopping centre of Gunnedah, which were officially opened recently. Land (Sydney, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Friday 6 August 1954 |
In 1955, devastating floods after 250mm of rain over 24 hours.
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| Christmas party at 'Walhallow ( Caroona Aboriginal Station, N.S.W), , meaning 'place of much water,' Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 4 January 1956 |
1970s
AgQuip Australia's largest and premier primary industry field days began in 1973.
1980s
In 1987, the Creative Arts Centre opens.
1990sVickery Open Cut Mine opens, 1992.
2000s
Gunnedah district recordied the only koala population increase in NSW in 2006.
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| The three-storey building at the Marquis and Abbott St corner was the first store in town, owned by a Mr Cohen. Gunnedah, NSW, Burnt down and destroyed by fire on November 5, 2011, (photo 2010) trent shepherd |
2020s
In 2021, Gunnedah solar farm joined the grid.
Gunnedah Shire Council lodged plans for the 50-acre bush sanctuary and wildlife centre, with koala hospital, and koala sanctuary.
Gunnedah was ravaged by flooding in 2022.
Around Gunnedah
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| Gunnedah Court House, NSW, built 1879, John |
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| Imperial Hotel, Gunnedah, NSW |
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| The Gunnedah Services and Bowling Club, NSW, built 1905 |
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| Old bank buildings, Gunnedah, NSW |
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| The Sisters of Mercy came to Gunnedah on January 3, 1879, four years after they had left Ennis in Ireland. The convent dates dates back to the late 1800s |
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| Park View Hotel, Gunnedah, NSW.141 Conadilly Street, Gunnedah. Established in 1935, on the site of the Freemasons' Hotel established c 1880s |
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| The Miners Memorial was erected to commemorate twenty minerswho lost their lives in mining accidents in Gunnedah, NSW over 89 years |
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| Gunnedah Town Hall, NSW, opened in 1926. The Soldiers' Memorial Arch and a Memorial Clock Tower were added in 1937 |
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| Gunnedah shop, NSW |
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| Gunnedah shop, NSW |
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| The Civic in Chandos Street, Gunnedah, NSW (2023). This is the 16th Highwheeler Rally , sponsored by the National Trust and supported by the Veteran Car Club of Australian (NSW). |
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| Gunnedah shops, NSW |
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| Former Acropolis Café, 168 Conadilly Street, Gunnedah, NSW |
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| House at Gunnedah, NSW |
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| The Gunnedah Station, NSW, opened on 11 September 1879 when the line was extended from Breeza |
Things To Do and Places To Go
Gurre Kamilaroi, or, Kamilaroi Sayings (1856)
