Discover Gundagai: Bridges, railway stations and museums

Discover Gundagai through its buildings and collections in several different ways: bridges tell stories of railway and engineering history, museums focus on road transport and unusual objects, and two walking trails offer different historical and geographical perspectives. Public art is also part of the town’s character. You can shape your stay around the topics that interest you most.

Bridges, railway station and town history

The Prince Alfred Bridge is significant for aesthetic, historical, engineering and tourism reasons. Gundagai’s historic Railway Bridge also connects visitors with the town’s history of technology: it and its wooden viaduct still stand, bearing witness to the town’s railway history. Together, the two bridges offer clues to the different ways Gundagai’s built heritage can be viewed.

The railway station also has a distinctive architectural feature: it has the only goods shed with a slate roof in New South Wales. Exhibitions at the station recall the history of travel from the time when trains regularly ran on the now-closed Cootamundra–Tumut line. An architectural detail and railway history come together here, while the disused line should not be mistaken for a current train service.

Collections and places of remembrance

At the Old Gundagai Gaol, the focus is on the cells where Captain Moonlite and Peisley were once imprisoned. A self-guided audio tour of the gaol is available daily at the Gundagai Visitor Information Centre. This lets you learn about the site through the people who were once held there; the tour is self-guided, not described as a guided walk.

The Australian Road Transport Heritage Centre preserves, maintains and displays vehicles and equipment from the history of Australian road transport. The exhibits also include vehicles and equipment used on the Hume Highway and in the Gundagai region. The collection ranges from the general history of road transport to items connected with the local area.

The Australian Pen Museum offers a very different collection, with more than 3,000 objects. One of them is 4,000 years old. The collection cannot be understood by its size alone: the remarkable age of one object also offers a long view of the past through the things preserved there.

Walks and trails

The Gundagai Architectural Heritage Walk is 2 km long, passes historic attractions, and starts and ends at the Gundagai Visitor Information Centre. The Main Street Heritage Walk takes a little over an hour. The information highlights different aspects: a distance is given for the first walk, and a duration for the second. This helps you plan according to distance or the time available, without implying that both routes take the same amount of time.

The Gundagai River Walk starts at Yarri Park and follows Morleys Creek through parkland with native vegetation. As a sealed, shared and car-free cycling path, it connects North Gundagai and South Gundagai. It is described differently from the two Heritage Walks: the focus here is on connecting the two parts of town and following the creek, rather than on a historical theme.

Art in town and a destination north of Gundagai

The sculpture The Great Rescue of 1852 honours Wiradjuri heroes. The Three Sisters of Gundagai Mural depicts the story and development of Melba XV of Darbalara. The two works of art explore different themes: one is a memorial, while the other focuses on a local story and its development.

Rusconi’s Marble Masterpiece was assembled from more than 20,000 individual pieces of marble and is on display at the Gundagai Visitor Information Centre. As the display may change, check before your visit to see whether the work is still on view there. The Tuckerbox Pups also invite you to explore Sheridan Street.

Another destination with “Tucker Box” in its name is the Dog on the Tucker Box Pioneer Monument area. It is 8 km north of Gundagai and features well-kept gardens, Australian animal figures and spacious picnic areas. Its location and features make this a different kind of place to visit from the artworks and collections in town.

More destinations

Discover more destinations: Leonay, Newrybar, Segenhoe, Central Coast, Joadja, Stockton, Moorland, Somersby.

For the broader travel overview: New South Wales.