The road to Gundagai – by Jack O’Hagan There’s a scene that lingers in my memory Of an old bush home and friends I long to see That’s why I am yearning Just to be returning Along the road to Gundagai There’s a track winding back To an old-fashioned shack Along the road to Gundagai Where the blue gums are growing And the Murrumbidgee’s flowing Beneath that sunny sky Where my daddy and mother Are waiting for me And the pals of my childhood Once more I will see. Then no more will I roam, When I’m heading right for home Along the road to Gundagai. When I get back there I’ll be a kid again Oh! I’ll never have a thought of grief or pain Once more I’ll be playing Where the gums are swaying Along the road to Gundagai Gundagai  (wikipedia) is a town in New South Wales, Australia. Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become a representative icon of a typical Australian country town. Located along the Murrumbidgee River and Muniong, Honeysuckle, Kimo, Mooney Mooney, Murrumbidgee and Tumut mountain ranges, Gundagai is 390 kilometres (240 mi) south-west of Sydney, the state capital and largest city in Australia. Gundagai is the administrative centre of Gundagai Shire Council local government area. At the 2011 census the population of Gundagai was 1,926. The town’s population was 1,997 in 2001 and 2,064 in 1996. Gundagai is an inland town with an elevation of 250 metres (820 ft). Almost all of the shire is located in the South-West 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. North Gundagai is situated on top of significant, Jindalee Group, Cambrian period geology from which the chrysotile asbestos bearing Gundagai serpentinite originates also indicating prehistoric links to the Gondwana supercontinent. 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 shire is primarily rural, with a small population. Eighty per cent of the shire’s population live in the town of Gundagai. There are four villages in the Shire: Coolac, Tumblong, Muttama and Nangus, with populations ranging from 40 to 90 people. Origin of name The name ‘Gundagai’ may derive from ‘Gundagair’, an 1838 pastoral run in the name of William Hutchinson to the immediate north of current day Gundagai. the Aboriginal word ‘Gair’ was recorded at Yass in 1836 by George Bennett (naturalist) and means ‘bird’, as in budgerigar or good bird. In that context ‘Gundagai’ means place of birds but that placename may refer to the area to the north of Gundagai not to Gundagai town. The word ‘Gundagai’ is also said to mean cut with a hand-axe behind the knee. Combining the two meanings results in the place of birds near where there is a large bend in the Murrumbidgee River that was caused by a cut in the back of the knee. This meaning presupposes that for there to be a knee there is a leg and a body which History The Gundagai area is part of the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri speaking people, while there is a considerable folklore associated with Aboriginal cultural and spiritual beliefs in the area. The floodplains of the Murrumbidgee below the present town of Gundagai were a frequent meeting place of the Wiradjuri. The first moves to establish ‘Gundagai’ as a township were in 1838 with plans for the new settlement of Gundagae on the Murrumbidgee, about 54 miles beyond Yass … advertised for viewing at the office of the Surveyor-General in Sydney. Mount Kosciuszko is a mountain located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales. With a height of 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level, it is the highest mountain on the Australian continent (i.e., not including its external territories). It was named by the Polish explorer Paul Edmund Strzelecki in 1840, in honour of the Polish national hero and hero of the American Revolutionary War General Tadeusz Kościuszko, because of its perceived resemblance to the Kościuszko Mound in Kraków. The Snowy Mountains, known informally as “The Snowies“, is an IBRA subregion and the highest mountain range on the island country/continent of Australia. It contains the Australian mainland’s highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches to a height of 2,228 m (7,310 ft) above sea level. The range also contains the five highest peaks on the Australian mainland (including Mount Kosciuszko), all of which are above 2,100 m (6,890 ft). They are located in southern New South Wales and are part of the larger Australian Alps and Great Dividing Range. Unusually for Australia, the mountain range experiences large natural snowfalls every winter. Snow normally falls the most during June, July and early August. Therefore, most of the snow usually melts by late spring. The Tasmanian highlands makes up the other (major) alpine region present in Australia. The Dog on the Tuckerbox is an Australian historical monument and tourist attraction, located at Snake Gully, five miles (8 km) from Gundagai, New South Wales. The dog section of the monument was cast in bronze by ‘Oliver’s Foundry’ Sydney and its base sculpted by Gundagai stonemason Frank Rusconi. It was unveiled by the then Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons on 28 November 1932 as a tribute to pioneers. The statue was inspired by a bullock driver’s poem, Bullocky Bill, which celebrates the life of an allegorical driver’s dog that loyally guarded the man’s tuckerbox (Australian slang for lunch box) until death. 15^th November, Saturday Here we are in the lovely picturesque town of Gundegai. The road to Gundegai is through some lovely scenery, mainly farmland and this time of the year is quite dry although it is raining at the moment and it’s a nice cool change from Canberra. We arrived on a very big horse racing event for this area on this weekend.  They had their cup races yesterday and today it is ‘hair of the dog races’ and judging from the condition of some people around town you can see why they have called it that and they are all going out to do it again today – it’s awesome. The caravan park is Magic, magic, magic.  We have a spot on the Murrumbidgee River and it is heaven, heaps of space for ourselves overlooking the river and the sounds of the bird life is abundant and so relaxing….. sitting here with a glass of wine and just listening to the sounds – we couldn’t wish for a better place to stop. The river is flowing quite fast and Ralph has been told that there is cod, trout and Yellow belly to be caught.  He is quite excited because he can get out of the van in the morning and put his chair right on the banks without having to go anywhere and fish until his heart is content and I can serve him coffee.  We have booked for 3 days but we think that we will extend to 5 days.  The town is friendly and they make you feel right at home and for this reason that’s why we prefer these country towns to the coast. On the way in we stopped and saw ‘The dog on the tuckerbox monument’, it was a lovely stop to see a bit of History and to stretch the legs. We decided to stay longer because of the tranquility and apart from that this is an old scenic town with a lot of History and it is also the gateway to the Snowy mountains, Mount Kosciuszko which we want to visit.

16^th November, Sunday It rained all night last night. This morning is still very rainy and quite heavy at times with thunder and wind and quite a bit chilly and the river is running quite quickly (the have evidently let some water out of the dam because of the rain), apparently it’s going to ease this afternoon and the rest of the week is going to be sunny. It’s that windy that Ralph had to put ropes over the awning. We visited the Information centre to get some info on the area and the snowy mountains and what to go and see. There is loads around and it was wise to book the extra days. We took some pictures around town and of the old bridges and visited a cemetery where a bush ranger is buried. His name was Andrew George Scott otherwise known as “Captain Moonlite” and he and his gang were as notorious as Ned Kelly and his gang. He was captured and hanged along with another one of the gang in a shootout with the police. His companion/lover (James Nesbitt) whom he met in prison was shot by the police in the same shootout and died in his arms. Before Moonlite was hanged he left a letter saying “My dying wish is to be buried beside my beloved James Nesbitt, the man with whom I was united by every tie which could bind human friendship, we were one in hopes, in heart and soul and this unity lasted until he died in my arms.” His request was not granted by the authorities of the time, but his remains were exhumed from Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney and reinterred at Gundagai next to Nesbitt’s grave in January 1995. I love these bits of History.  The sun is trying to come out so we will head out of the caravan in a little while and watch the river flowing……….life is tough.

17^th November, Monday

The rain has gone and it’s a beautiful sunny fresh morning. We got an email yesterday from some people we met in Normanton in Queensland ages ago.  Bev and Graham who we mentioned before, we met them in 3 other caravan parks after that quite by chance. They are the ones from Port Adelaide who we will visit when we go through there on our home run.  Anyway, the email said “how are you, ra, ra, ra and where are you?” We answered back and told them that we are in Gundegai and they wrote back saying that they are in Tumut which is only 32kms from here, it was so bizarre. We teed up to have lunch in Tumut and thought that we would leave early to see the town and another town before we met them.  The drive is beautiful as it’s the gateway to the snowy mountains so you can imagine how pretty it is. We arrived in Tumut quite early and decided to go to the next town which was Adelong (which is a very small town) to have a look see. It was about 8 am when we got there and we hadn’t had any breakfast and there was a little coffee shop on the main road that was open. We ordered toast and coffee and sat outside on the verge because Hugo was in the car and he could see us.  Along comes an elderly fellow with a lady and a border collie that is Hugo’ twin, right down to the size and the markings, it was uncanny.  We start chatting as you do and the next thing he’s inviting us to come to his house for coffee and for Hugo to have a play and he runs the local museum and he’ll open it up for us and Ralph can go gold prospecting and he’ll tell him where to go and give him the panners. It’s a very sweet gesture and so we finish our coffee and decide that it would be rude not to go to his place because country people are like that. We find the house and he’s waiting at the gate with his dog and tells us to come in and Hugo is allowed in the house.  We go into the house, it’s old and well kept.  The dining table is set for the Queen, the most beautiful crockery and cutlery and it’s set correctly and you can tell that it’s quality stuff.  There seems to be no Missus around but there must have been at one stage because the place has a womans touch.  The lady he was with is a friend (younger lady that lives in town with her hubby and kids) and she keeps him company some days.  He’s probably in his 70’s and lost his dad about 2 weeks ago. Hugo is right at home in this place and finds the dog bowl and polishes off all the food, talk about embarrassment.  Jason (that’s his name) says that the food is there for the dogs, so don’t worry.  He has another Border Collie there and she is 19 years old and so gorgeous but she has incontinence. He starts showing us the house and says that “this is the guest room” and it’s gorgeous, all old furniture, dressing table, beautiful linen, towels folded on the end of the bed and then he shows us the bathrooms, saying that “this one is the ladies, and that one is the gents”, it’s only a little house remember.  The back room has a collection of the most amazing old cameras, heaps of box brownies, etc.  He asks us where we are staying and have we paid for it, so we tell him that we are in the caravan park in Gundegai and yes we have paid up until Thursday night and he says “Oh, bugger”.  This used to be a gold mining area and there is a flowing creek running through and it has rained in the last few days so he gives Ralph a panner and tells him where to pan and sends us on our way, Ralph came back with flecks of gold on his fingers so it is there.  He said that when we come back just to walk in the house because the door is not locked and there is beer and wine in the fridge and to please help ourselves and it would be nice if we could come and stay for a few days, again, if we want to stay, just let yourself in and you know where the bedroom and everything is.  So, off we go for Ralph to do some panning and me to take some pictures.  Ralph came back in ½ hour and he had gold flecks all over his hands and he was quite excited.  We decided that we would stay here from Friday for 2 days so that Ralph could do some panning because Hugo is welcome and we can park the van in the street.  We get back to the house to tell him that we will book in for 2 nights and what is the rate so that we can pay him up front.  He was so offended that we offered to pay him and said “we are country people and we are not like that and if you try and pay me I would be insulted”, so, there’s me and Ralphie who never have a lend of anyone thinking…..”Far out, we wouldn’t have asked if we had known that as we thought that he ran it as a business”, at the end of the day, country people, country values, it counts for a lot.  Anyways, we have sorted it out and we will take him out for dinner and we have bought him 2 bottles of his favourite wine, which that lady friend said that he liked and she said that it would do him good to have people stay for a few days as he does get lonely. We just can’t believe how today has panned out.  We had a lovely lunch with Bev and Graham at the pub which lasted till about 3.30 and 2 bottles of wine for us ladies and not much for the gents as they both had to drive.  It was the most awesome day and I just can’t believe the people that we meet along the way and how lucky we are to meet them. Back to the caravan park and Ralphie has put his chair by the river and thrown a line in and chillaxing. Tomorrow we are going into the snowy mountains to see the Hydro Electric scheme and hopefully Mount Kosciuszko, we will probably only see it from a lookout though as it’s a bit of a hike and a climb.

18^th November, Tuesday

Another glorious morning and we have decided to chill out today.  We went to see a few of the sights around town and apart from that did not much else.

19^th November, Wednesday

Another beautiful sunny morning here in Gundagai.  We decided to take a drive today to see the Snowy mountain scheme and get a good viewing of Mount Kosciuszko.  The scenery is something out of this world and I have taken heaps of pictures which I am not going to put up today for the reason being is that we were half way there and Ralphie said that his clutch was slipping and he wasn’t happy with doing the mountain roads with a dodgie clutch.  We turned around and came back to Gundagai and booked the car in with a mechanic.  The clutch needs replacing (not bad for a 10 year old girl that has been everywhere and done some extreme stuff, beaches, dunes, off road etc.) and he needs to get it sent from Wagga Wagga.  He has rescheduled all his work to get us on the road as quickly as he can.  The clutch is ordered and should be on the truck tomorrow afternoon.  We will drop the car off at lunch time tomorrow so that he can get the engine out and he reckons she will be good to go by Friday afternoon, let’s just hope that there is nothing else to be found.  How awesome is that?  Country service, country values, I can never say it enough.  We have booked into the caravan park in Tumut from Saturday so will do the Snowy River scheme and then I will put the photos up because I will hopefully have them all. We got back to the caravan park and a couple with a tent had been put next to us.  They are farmers from Queensland and on their way to visit their son in Melbourne.  What an awesome couple they are (not bad for Queenslanders, Hahaha), we landed up chatting and having drinks for the rest of the afternoon.  Goodnight peeps and I probably won’t have much to tell you for tomorrow as the car is going in so we will be staying home. xxxx

20^th November, Thursday

No news today peeps.  It’s a hot one today so we are chilling while we wait for the car to be fixed. Drinks with our farmer friends as it is her (Chrissie) birthday tomorrow and their anniversary, he is another Geoff, they leave for Melbourne to visit family in the morning.  We do meet some lovely people.

21^st November, Friday

Another warm day today. Our farmer friends left this morning and Hugo was sad to see them leave as they spoiled him rotten.  They took him for walks, took things out of his coat and gave him lots of pats. They took him for a walk just before they left.  We got the car back at 3 as it was a big job.  They had to take the whole engine out and the suspension to get the new clutch in.  We were so lucky that they had rescheduled all their other jobs to get us back on the road for which we are very grateful. So, again peeps not much to tell you for today.  We leave for Tumut in the morning which is not very far from here and have booked into the caravan park there, they have given us a spot under the trees as it’s going to be 40 degrees – EISH.  Ralph is going panning for gold while we are there and we will visit that Snowy mountain scheme that we set off for and had to turn back. Someone is really looking after us, because it could have been pretty bad if the clutch had gone while we were towing the van. We will pack up slowly in the morning because there is no rush to leave considering the distance we have to go.