Brindabella, New South Wales: Travel guide and things to do

Located 350 km from Sydney and 40 km south-west of Canberra (on a difficult road which runs through the mountains and connects Canberra and Tumut), Brindabella is a quite breathtakingly beautiful and isolated valley on the edge of the Snowy Mountains.

Before European settlement it was inhabited by the Ngunawal, Walgalu and Djimantan Aborigines who reputedly named the valley 'brindabella' meaning 'two kangaroo rats'

The valley was first settled as a stock outstation for the Yarralumla property (now part of Canberra) as early as the 1830s. In 1849 Joseph Franklin purchased the land and tried to settle in the valley. The Aborigines killed his cattle and drove him out. He did not return until 1863, by which time the Aborigines had been largely decimated by the gold miners who had poured through the valleys in search of new goldfields beyond Araluen, Kianda and Adelong.

Joseph Franklin's son John Franklin (born 1846) married Susannah Lampe from Talbingo (on the far side of Tumut) and their daughter was Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin. She was born at Talbingo in 1879 and grew up in Brindabella where she was educated by a private tutor, Charles Blyth. In 1889 the family moved to Goulburn and in 1897 Miles Franklin became a governess to a family near Yass. It was while working here that she completed her most famous book, My Brilliant Career. She also wrote an autobiographical work, Childhood at Brindabella, which told of her early life in the valley.

In recent times the Brindabella Valley has become a popular retreat for people wanting to get away from the hurly-burly of life in the national capital. Weekend residents have included well known television personalities and senior public servants. There are still members of the Franklin family living in the valley.

Things to see

Brindabella Homestead
Miles Franklin's family home is not open for inspection and, over the years, it has changed enormously. It is possible to identify the Franklin homestead from the main road. Both the home and the outbuildings have very distinctive red roofs. It is positioned near the Goodradigbee River and surrounded, as are so many homes in rural Australia, by poplars and willows.

Accommodation and Eating
There are no accommodation or eating facilities in the valley.