Gundagai As An Iconic Australian Town
Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers, including writers of poems and songs, and has become the representation of the typical Australian country town. Gundagai also has a long and strong oral tradition or folklore related to both Aboriginal and European events, as the lcoation was an important gathering place and river crossing for teamsters (or bullockys), bush travellers, swagmen, shearers and drovers,.
Gundagai, perhaps more than any other Australian locality, is referenced in stories, songs and poems. These include Theta's poem,'Ode to the Dead of Gundagai'. James Riley, 'The Gundagai Calamity', Jack Moses and others in 'Nine Miles From Gundagai', Jack O'Hagan songs 'Where the Dog Sits on the Tuckerbox (five miles from Gundagai)', 'Along The Road To Gundagai', 'Snake Gully Swagger', and 'When a Boy from Alabama Meets a Girl from Gundagai,' Gundagai also features in the song 'The Grand Old Hills of Gundagai,' It is referenced in Scottish band Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie's song 'Dust'. A 2010 publication 'Purple Threads' by Jeanine Leane has won a major literary award, the David Unaipon Award and has been shortlisted for a Commonwealth literary award.
Other references in literature include Banjo Paterson's 'The Road to Gundagai,' and the traditional ballad 'Flash Jack from Gundagai'. Additionally, the town is mentioned in Henry Lawson's 'Scots of the Riverina,' and C. J. Dennis' 'The Traveller.' Miles Franklin's 'Brent of Bin Bin,' saga is set in the area and it includes an account of the flood of 1852.
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