Exploring Gundagai.

Gundagai, is the place that everyone knows about because of the 'Dog on the Tuckerbox,' but do you know about the destruction of Gundagai, in the 1852 flood? No, I didn't either until I spent a day exploring this town.  Until Cyclone Trace, in 1974, it was Australia's worst natural disaster.

Gundagai, in 1852, sat between between the Murrumbidgee River and Morley Creek, on river flats.

On the night of 24 June 1852, the Murrumbidgee River burst its banks and inundated  the the town. 

This plaque give a good description of the devastation, with only one building left standing, the Old Mill.

Newspapers, Empire, 8 July 1852 and The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 July 1852, give vivid descriptions of that night. One such article gives the depth of the flood waters as 14' (4.26m) at the highest part of Gundagai and 30' (9.14m) at the lowest part of the town.

See Trove, https://trove.nla.gov.au/    for more articles.

But it was the human cost that had me researching, this disaster. 76 souls lost their lives. The youngest just 3 weeks, the oldest 67 years. Whole families were wiped out. Mr and Mrs McKenna, both teachers at the National School and their five children perished. Mrs Lindley and her four children, also. Mr Lindley, the local publican, was in Yass, when the disaster happened. Travelers, spending the night in town, also lost their lives.

Today Gundagai is set on the ridge, well above the river but the past is commemorated, throughout the town with plaques, telling its history.

So next time you are nearby, don't just stop at the "Dog on the Tuckerbox," but go into the town and explore.

Bye for now,

Lilian