Gunnedah

Fine and sunny in Gunnedah today with a maximum temperature of 17 degrees.

Gunnedah is a town of about 10,000 people situated within the Liverpool Plains, a fertile agricultural region, with 80% of the surrounding shire area devoted to farming. The Namoi River flows west then north-west through the town providing water beneficial to agricultural operations in the area. The area now occupied by the town was settled by European sheep farmers in 1833 or 1834. With settlement in the area focused on wool production, Gunnedah was initially known as 'The Woolshed' until taking its name from the local Indigenous people who called themselves the Gunn-e-darr. The Gunnedah area is a significant producer of cotton, coal, beef, lamb and pork, and cereal and oilseed grains.

Coal was discovered on Black Jack Hill in 1877. By 1891, 6,000 tons of coal had been raised from the shafts. The Gunnedah Colliery Company was registered in May 1899 and by 22 June a private railway some 5.7 kilometres (3.5 mi) in length had been completed from the railway station to their mine. In September 1957, the Government Railway took over the working of the line. Today very long coal trains from the Gunnedah Basin roll through Gunnedah every couple of hours on their way to Newcastle. We heard 5 go through last night, as the railway line is across the road from the caravan park.

The famous poet, Dorothy Mackellar was a frequent visitor to family properties near Gunnedah, and her statue in Anzac Park gazes out across the Namoi Valley, an area that probably inspired her to write My Country, better known as: I Love a Sunburnt Country. Gunnedah is also home to one of the largest koala populations in the world and many live in the trees of Stock Road, which was once part of the main north south stock route through the town.

A front garden on the way to the Porcupine Lookout - I'm glad they are not in our front garden

The Liverpool Plains fro the Porcupine Lookout

Di at the Porcupine Lookout

Gunnedah from the Porcupine Lookout

Stock Road - the old north south stock route - now a home for Koalas

Di at the Dorothea Mackellar Memorial

Dorothea Mackellar Memorial in Anzac Park

Stone carvings at Pensioner's Hill

Di with another stone carving

Gunnedah from Pensioner's Hill

Aboriginal carved totems at Pensioners Hill