There's a Track Winding Back... Quiz

Answer: gundabandoo - bingee

This means "cut with a hand-axe behind the knee", based on gunda meaning "sinews at the back of the knee" and bingee meaning "cut with a tomahawk". It is thought that this refers to the shape of the river bend on the fertile river flat near the town, which resembles a bent leg. Most of the original town was built here. Bad idea!

Answer: Wiradjuri

The Wiradjuri tribal group covered large areas of the South West Slopes in NSW. Large, well attended corroborees demonstrated the numbers of the tribes; the last big celebration was in in 1904. However government assimilation policies meant the tribes gradually disappeared in what was called the "lost generations".

The Worimi tribal nation is a coastal grouping around the Newcastle and Great Lakes area. The Murri tribal nation is further north and also are a coastal nation

Answer: Hume Highway

In November 1828, Hamilton Hume journeyed with Charles Sturt into western New South Wales, where they discovered the Darling River, the Murray River's longest tributary. However, it was Captain Charles Sturt who travelled through the area in 1829 at the start of his journey, in search of an inland sea which was believed to exist in outback Australia. Sturt again passed through Gundagai on the return leg of this journey in 1830. Strangely enough this highway is called the Hume Highway rather than the Sturt Highway, which goes in a different direction.

Answer: Flood

The June 25, 1852 flood swept the town away, killing at least 78 people, possibly more, of the town's population of 250 people. It is one of the largest natural disasters Australia has experienced. The town was moved "up the hill" after this.

Answer: Prince Alfred Bridge

The Prince Alfred Bridge is an iron truss bridge, with a timber viaduct leading to it, across the Murrumbidgee River's flood plain. The bridge has a total length of 921 metres and probably was the first truss bridge built in Australia. It is the oldest metal truss road bridge in New South Wales. It still exists as a tourist attraction.

Answer: Herbert Hoover

Gold was identified around Gundagai in 1842. A gold rush hit the area in 1858 following further discoveries. The Prince of Wales Mine, where Herbert Hoover was a mining engineer in about 1900, was a few miles to the immediate west of Gundagai.

Answer: Rusconi

Frank Rusconi's Marble Masterpiece was made from 20,948 pieces of marble collected from around New South Wales, Australia. The work is 1.2 metres high and took 28 years to complete (1910 - 1938). It can be seen in the Gundagai tourist office.

Answer: Flash Jack from Gundagai

Gundagai, perhaps more than any other place in Australia, is mentioned in stories, songs and poems. Jack O'Hagan wrote "Where the Dog Sits on the Tuckerbox", "Along The Road To Gundagai" and "When a Boy from Alabama Meets a Girl from Gundagai".
The traditional ballad "Flash Jack from Gundagai" was written by Banjo Paterson.

Answer: Five miles

The position of the original Dog on the Tuckerbox has been debated over the years. The original text by Jack O'Hagan put the dog as five miles from Gundagai, however Jack Moses later put the dog nine miles from Gundagai. Presently the famous statue is located at Snake Gully, five miles (8 km) from Gundagai.
The story was inspired by a bullock driver's poem, Bullocky Bill (author unknown), which celebrated the life of a mythical driver's dog that loyally guarded the man's tuckerbox (lunch box) until death. It had no distance stated.

Answer: An old shack

First published in 1922, "Along the Road to Gundagai" sold over 100,000 copies in that first year. It also became a very popular World War II song. The chorus is:

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.