Tourist Information
Gunnedah's Information Centre is situated in Anzac Park, at the eastern end of South St, tel: (02) 6740 2230. It provides pamphlets outlining a self-drive town tour and the Bindea Walking Track.
Dorothea Mackellar Memorial
Gunnedah calls itself 'Town of My Country', a reference to poet Dorothea MacKellar (1885-1968) who is memorialised in a life-size bronze statue which is also located in Anzac Park. Mackellar spent a great deal of time on a local property from 1905 (the year she wrote her best-known work, 'My Country', which is thought to have been inspired, in part, by the local terrain) until the late 1930s. 'Dawn' and 'Burning Off' are considered to have especially direct connections with the Gunnedah area. A broadcast of the author reciting her own poetry can be heard by tuning your radio to FM88 within 100 m of the statue.
Water Tower Museum
Also in Anzac Park is the Water Tower Museum where there is a collection of local memorabilia and photographs. A spiral staircase leads from the third floor to an observation deck from where there are fine views of the town. The complex was the first town reservoir (built in 1908 and operative until the 1950s). It is open from 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Tours can be arranged through the visitors' centre.
Heritage Buildings
Maitland St was the main street of the town until the 1864 flood prompted a rethink. The three-storey building at the Marquis and Abbott St corner was the first store in town, owned by a Mr Cohen. If you head eastwards then, to the right, in the next block, is a two-storey residence which was Mr Cohen's home. Adjacent is the old Sisters of Mercy convent (1879). Next door to that is the Commercial Bank building, the town's first bank. At Maitland and Abbott is a marker indicating the water levels of past floods.
The symmetrical brick courthouse at the corner of Conadilly and Abbotts St was built in 1879 to a design of James Barnet. The railway station in South St (the Oxley Highway) dates from 1879.
Arts Centre
The Creative Arts Centre in Chandos St is a permanent display of over 70 pieces of art and pottery, including a series of watercolours relating to Dorothea MacKellar's 'My Country'. There is also an extensive range of exhibitions and classes relating to a wide diversity of crafts.
The Old Bank Gallery is located at 284 Conadilly St, tel: (02) 6742 3944.
Red Chief Memorial
The Red Chief Memorial, on the footpath outside the government office block in Abbott St, honours the Aboriginal warrior, Cumbo Gunnerah, an 18th-century leader of the Gunn-e-darr people; a subgroup of the Kamilaroi tribe who inhabited the area before white settlement.
He was buried adjacent this spot in a sitting position backed by a tree (known to whites as 'The Blackfellow's Tree') carved with totemic designs in his honour. His remains were exhumed and passed on to the Australian Museum in Sydney, along with a portion of the tree.
Little was known of Cumbo Gunnerah until King Bungaree, the last Gunn-e-darr full-blood, broke a tribal restriction and told a white friend about the warrior.
The original tree carving has been reproduced in bronze on the memorial. Gunnerah became the subject of a novel by Ion Idriess called The Red Chief (1953).
Rural Museum
The Rural Museum, containing farm machinery, equipment, a gun collection, photography and other artefacts is located on the Oxley Highway, 1 km west of the post office. It is open seven days from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
Bindea Walking Track
The Bindea Walking Track is a 22-km walk which can be subdivided into a series of shorter loops, taking in the commercial and residential sections of town, the Porcupine Reserve, Porcupine Lookout and Avards Lookout. Kangaroos, wallaroos and koalas are often seen at the reserve late in the afternoon. A guiding pamphlet is available from the visitors' centre.
Town Tour
A self-drive signposted town tour takes you through the commercial, residential and historical aspects of the town. It starts at the corner of Conadilly and Abbott Sts and takes in Porcupine Lookout, the Eighth Division Memorial Avenue, lined with 45 flowering gums which honour those from the division who died in World War I. A pamphlet is available from the visitors' centre.
Porcupine Lookout
Porcupine Lookout is 3 km south-east of town on Apex Rd and has picnic facilities and fine views of the town and surrounds.
Woolshed Reserve
The Woolshed Reserve, next to Cohens Bridge on the Namoi River, is an excellent picnic spot.
Lake Keepit
To access Lake Keepit Recreation Area head 29 km east along the Oxley Highway towards Tamworth then turn left on to the Manilla Rd and follow the signposts for a further 5 km. It is ideal for all varieties of water sport - waterskiing, fishing, swimming, sailing, windsurfing and power boating. Children's facilities include a children's pool, a BMX track, a skateboarding area and roller-skating rink. There are barbecues, a kiosk, toilets, half-court tennis and a five-hole golf course. The kiosk sell fishing licences, along with bait and some tackle and it also hires out fishing boats, tel: (02) 6769 7693. You can also contact the kiosk if you are interested in the Lake Keepit Family Fishing Club. For further information on the Park contact the ranger on (02) 6769 7605. The Lake Keepit Soaring Club is also located at the lake, tel: (02) 6769 7514. For reservations at the caravan park, tel: (02) 6769 7620. A sailing regatta is held in June.
Manilla Ski Gardens
Beyond the turnoff to the recreation area there is another signposted turnoff on the left into a dirt road that leads, after 3 km, to Manilla Ski Gardens on the eastern side of the lake. There is an established caravan park, a kiosk, playground equipment, barbecues, boat ramps and fisherman's lodges, tel: (02) 6785 1686.
Waterways Wild Life Park
The wildlife park is 7 km west of Gunnedah on the Mullaley Rd (the Oxley Highway). There are emus, kangaroos, wombats, birds, lizards, possums etc. The entry fee is currently $2 for 5 to 15 years and $4 for over 15s. Ring (02) 6742 1826 or the Gunnedah Visitors' Centre to check the variable opening times.
Meridian Rest Area
There is a rest area, 27.5 km west along the Oxley Highway, located on the 150 Degrees East Time Meridian. This meridian was adopted in 1895 as the basis of the Eastern Australian Standard Time, which is ten hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. There is an information board, a sundial and picnic-barbecue facilities.
Oxley Memorial
38 km west along the Oxley Highway is Mullaley. 3 km south on the Black Stump Way is the Mount Mullaley Oxley Memorial.
Curlewis
Curlewis, 16 km south of Gunnedah, is a small town of about 500 people which has a hotel, a school, a general store and Joanne's Blue Gum Cottage, a ceramics studio open Tuesdays to Fridays from 9.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m (closing at 3.00 p.m. on Fridays) and from 10.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. on Saturdays, tel: (02) 6744 1245.
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