The Dog on the Tuckerbox and Snake Gully Tourist Centre
The 'Dog on the Tuckerbox' is a famous bronze sculpture located out the front of a restaurant and gift-shop complex eight kilometres north of the town on the western side of the Hume Highway.
The Dog On The Tuckerbox first emerged into Australian folklore through an anonymous teamster's song of uncertain date. A version of this song appeared in the Gundagai Times in the 1880s in the form of a poem called 'Bullocky Bill' which focuses on a hardy, stoic and unlucky teamster who gets bogged at Five Mile Creek (a teamsters' meeting place five miles from Gundagai). The yoke of his bullock team breaks and, to make matters worse, 'the dog shat on the tucker-box/ Five miles from Gundagai'. Salesman and balladeer Jack Moses wrote a cleaned-up version in the 1920s in which the dog sits on and guards the tuckerbox. For unknown reasons he called it 'Nine Miles from Gundagai'. The lyric was very popular and inspired the commission of the sculpture for the 1932 'Back to Gundagai' celebrations. It was made by Frank Rusconi (see next entry) and unveiled by Prime Minister Joe Lyons.
Opposite is the Snake Gully Tourist Centre (tel: 02 6944 1156). In the park outside the complex is a tribute in copper to Steele Rudd's famous Snake Gully characters - Dad, Dave, Mum and Mabel (in Rudd's stories, Snake Gully is on the Darling Downs in Queensland). A series of early Australian films were based on these tales and they became the basis of a very popular radio serial which was introduced by the song 'Along the Road to Gundagai'. Nearby are the ruins of the old Five Mile Pub.
Tourist Information Centre and Marble Masterpiece
The Gundagai Tourist Information Centre is located in Carberry Park, Sheridan St. It is open daily, tel: (02) 6944 1341 or (02) 6944 2145.
It features the 'Marble Masterpiece' - an elaborately detailed Baroque Italian palace in miniature (1.2 m high) set within a formal square. The entire construction consists of 20 948 pieces of marble selected from 20 different varieties of marble which were collected throughout NSW. Each piece has been cut, turned and polished by hand. It was created by distinguished Gundagai mason Frank Rusconi who worked on it in the evenings for 28 years (1910-38).
The centre also contains another of his miniatures - a replica of the altar of St Marie's Cathedral outside Paris. Rusconi worked on the original in his youth. The replica took him seven years to complete.
Rusconi, born near Braidwood, NSW, in 1874, served an apprenticeship in the marble trade in Europe and worked around the continent as a foreman on projects which included the marble stairway at Westminster Abbey. He returned to Australia in 1901 and set up a marble quarry at Orange which proved a great success, supplying marble to major projects such as Central Railway Station in Sydney.
He settled at Gundagai in 1905 where he established a monumental-masonry business and earned a reputation as a distinguished craftsman, noted for his figurative work, tombstones and grand funerary monuments (some are at Gundagai cemetery). He also designed the marble altar at Tumut Catholic Church and the two war memorials at Gundagai.
His most famous work, however, is the Dog On The Tuckerbox. Rusconi worked into old age despite the loss of sight in one eye in 1922. When crippling arthritis put an end to his marble work, he made small plaster souvenirs of the Dog on the Tuckerbox for tourists. Rusconi died in 1964 and is buried in the Catholic section of Gundagai cemetery.
The centre also has a gemstone collection and a Flood Inundation Display. A National Trust Guide to the town's historic buildings is available for a small charge and the centre has its own Two Foot Tour of the town's history and architecture.
Walking Tour
Sheridan St
Opposite the information centre is the Services Club. The dining room was originally part of a flour mill (1870). Note the thick slate walls. There is a display of historic photographs in the foyer.
Head east along Sheridan St, over Otway St, and turn left into Kitchener St. At the south-western corner of Kitchener and First Ave is the former Literary Institute, a two-storey Italianate building with decorative facade built in 1870 as a single-storey structure.
Return along Kitchener St and turn left back into Sheridan St. Walk past the Art Deco theatre (1929) to the Family Hotel (1858). In the early days, when it was Fry's Hotel, the premises were shared by a Cobb & Co booking agency and the Commercial Bank. Note the typical country-town verandah.
Adjacent is the National Bank, built as the CBC Bank in 1877. The Chan Kong Chinese Restaurant nearby was built as a doctor's residence in 1875.
Gabriel Gallery
A little further along is the Gabriel Gallery on the first floor of Butcher & Roberts Mitre 10 store. Amongst its collection are Henry Lawson's walking stick, dictionary and chair, and his letters to Grace McManus who cared for him in 1920 at Coolac. There are also items relating to 'Banjo' Paterson, Jack Moses, Jim Grahame and Jack O'Hagan who wrote 'Along the Road to Gundagai'.
The main exhibit is a photographic collection of works by Dr Charles Louis Gabriel who lived at Gundagai from 1887 until his death in 1927. Cliff Butcher, who established the gallery, found about 1000 ten-centimetre glass negatives after Gabriel died, donating 450 to the National Library of Canberra in 1971. Prints of those photographs, which capture Gundagai at the turn of the century, now line the walls. Also on display is a portion of Gabriel's library, along with his medical instruments, personal possessions and letters.
The gallery also retains the first X-ray brought into country NSW by the brother of famous Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. It is open weekdays and Saturday mornings and admission is free.
Police Station and Gaol
Turn left into Byron St. On the left are the police station and gaol. The first stage of the gaol was built as a watch-house in the 1860s. The cell block, residence and slate wall were built in 1880 (it is not open for inspection). Until the 1920s the police station (also built in the 1860s) was occupied by mounted troopers who escorted the mail coach and fought bushrangers such as Ben Hall, Johnny Gilbert and Captain Moonlite.
Courthouse
Return along Byron St and turn left back into Sheridan St. On the left is a prominent feature of the town's streetscape - the courthouse (1859). This was one of the first stone buildings to be erected after the 1852 flood and was the site for the trial of Captain Moonlite. Unfortunately the red cedar interior was destroyed by a fire in 1943, although it was rebuilt with mountain ash. There is a Boer War monument atop the steps.
Sheridan St Continued
Further along Sheridan St is St Patrick's Catholic Church (1885). To inspect the interior ring (02) 6944 1029. Over the road, at 116 Sheridan St, is the decorative entrance to 'Surrey', built c.1880 by Billie Payne, a Cobb & Co. coach driver who owned the adjacent Royal Hotel.
On the other side of Homer St is the three-storey brick post office and residence (1879-80).
Gundagai Historical Museum
To the rear of the post office in Homer St is the historical museum. It contains old coins and crockery recovered from the original townsite after the devastating floods of 1852, gorgets presented to Yarri and another Koori in appreciation of their tremendous efforts in saving the townsfolk during the flood, a first-hand account of the floods by James Gormly, a sundial that the Horsley family erected as a tribute to Yarri's rescue of Fred Horsley and an inscribed marble plaque in Yarri's memory.
The collection also includes a T-model ford, machinery, wagons, equipment, clothing, gold scales, household items and other paraphernalia from the 19th century. The photographic display includes shots of Captain Moonlite's 'gang' and the troopers who captured them.
It is open from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. weekdays, until 2.00 p.m. on Saturdays and from 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. on Sundays, tel: (02) 6944 1995 or (02) 6944 1361. Entry is $2 for adults, $1 for children and $5 for a family.
Niagara Cafe
A classic old Greek country town cafe which in 1942, in the middle of the war, played host to the Prime Minister John Curtin who asked it to open up and commented that he had a wonderful meal. It still is an authentic Greek cafe with the same food and the same atmosphere. It is now newly owned.
Old Flour Mill
Turn left into Sheridan Lane. On the right is the town's oldest intact building, the three-storey former flour mill built in 1849 on what were clearly very solid stone foundations as it is the only building remaining from the original townsite. It became a rabbit-freezing works in 1918.
Cenotaph and Bridges
Continue along Sheridan Lane back to Sheridan St. On the south-western corner is 'Araluen' where Frank Rusconi finished the 'Marble Masterpiece'. On the roadside is a cenotaph designed and built by Rusconi.
The railway bridge, erected in 1901, heads off to the south-west from this point while the Prince Alfred Bridge extends southwards over Morley Creek and the Murrumbidgee. Work started on the road bridge in 1866 and it was opened in 1867, although it was not completed until 1869. The iron section spans the river proper while the approaches over the river flats are of timber. The piers were cast at the country's first foundry, at Mittagong. Possibly the first wrought-iron truss bridge in NSW it was, at the time, one of the longest in the state. New spans were added from 1896-99 to take it right across the flat, tripling its length. It was part of the old Hume Highway until 1976 and is now open to pedestrian traffic only.
If you walk along the bridge and gaze down, it is possible to see, adjacent O.I. Bell Drive, a cairn on the floodplain where the National School stood before it, along with the headmaster and pupils, was washed away by the 1852 flood. The foundations remain.
First Ave
From the cenotaph head north along Virgil St and take the first left into First Ave. On the corner, at no.45, is 'Gunyah Karadgee'. This brick residence, with its decorative cast-iron verandah, was built in 1884 by the aforementioned Billie Payne. It has a 15-m hall, doors and woodwork of solid cedar, cellars, stables and wunderlick ceilings.
At 49 First Avenue is 'Kiora' (1860) and at 55 is 'Moonlite Cottage' (c.1880-85), so named as it was built by a policemen with reward money received for the capture of Captain Moonlite. At no.59 is 'Tara', built for the first mayor of Gundagai. 'Fontenoy', on the north-western corner of First Ave and Homer St, was the home of Dr Gabriel.
Catholic Group
Diagonally opposite is the former Catholic presbytery (now an administration office). Note the stone wall. Head along Homer St, across First Ave, to the polychrome brickwork of the Catholic convent (1867-70).
Punch St
Turn right into Punch St. The house on the left, at no.53, was built in 1879 and 'Croydon', at no.45, is also noteworthy. Over the road, at no.48 is 'Janeva', built in 1895.
Turn back along Punch St, headed west. To the right, just past Homer St, are 'the Plantation Cottages' - three interesting brick and weatherboard double-storey houses. The building in the next block, at no.88, was built prior to 1873. It is thought to have been the home of the first Anglican minister. The community centre at the Otway St corner was built in 1858 as a school.
St John's
On the other side of Punch St is a sandstone gateway which leads up to the Anglican rectory (1883) and the Gothic Revival design of St John's Church (completed in 1867), built of local asbestos stone. It was renovated and extended in 1926. Much of the interior and roof were destroyed by fire in 1975 but it was thoroughly restored. To inspect the interior ring (02) 6944 1063. The church hall dates from 1897.
Old Hospital
The second building past the church is the town's first hospital, built of local slate in 1858. The original plaster stucco has been removed and it is now a residence. Over the road, at 44 Otway St, is the first masonic lodge (1904).
Scenic Lookouts
The summit of Mt Parnassus can be reached by car (via Hanley St), offering fine views of the town and river flats. Another way of reaching the summit is by a walking track (3 km return).
Rotary Lookout lies at the end of Luke St in South Gundagai. For hikers, there is Mt Kimo above the Gundagai Caravan Village.
Reno, 12 km north of town on the Burra Rd, offers a panoramic view of Gundagai and the surrounding countryside.
Fishing
Fishing (especially for trout) is popular in the Murrumbidgee River and there is a boat ramp close to the Gundagai Caravan Village on Nangus Rd.
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