Gundagai

Gundagai is perhaps Australia’s newest wine region but one that is fast making a name for itself, particularly with its award-winning Shiraz and Chardonnay wines. Located to the east of Wagga Wagga, Gundagai is 390 km (or a 5 hour drive) south-west of Sydney.

The Gundagai area is part of the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri speaking people and its location on the Murrumbidgee River made it a frequent meeting place of the Wiradjuri. Officially recognised as a town in 1840, Gundagai soon established its claim to be Australia’s most ‘versified’ town with early streets given names such as Homer, Virgil, Ovid, and Sheridan, Pope, and Byron. The famous story of the Dog on the Tuckerbox began here and 'On the Road to Gundagai' and 'Flash Jack from Gundagai' were once popular ballads.

Perhaps most well known for its Dog On The Tuckerbox statue, this story began as a teamster's song in which ‘the dog shat on the tucker-box/Five miles from Gundagai’. By the 1920s the dog was ‘guarding’ the tuckerbox and it is this version that became the basis of the famous bronze sculpture made in 1932 for the ‘Back to Gundagai’ celebrations by Frank Rusconi.

Frank Rusconi was a local stone mason who also carved a miniature Baroque Italian palace from 20,948 pieces of marble collected from around New South Wales. This effort is 1.2 metres high and took Rusconi 28 years to build, from 1910 to 1938, and can be seen in the Gundagai tourist office. Other local attractions include the Gundagai Bakery, the oldest continuously operating bakery in New South Wales, and of course the famous Dog on the Tuckerbox, which is actually located someway out of town.

Despite its newness as a wine region, the history of wine is actually quite old in Gundagai. The first winemakers were German migrants who imported their vines from the wine-making regions they came from. Though it was the well-known, but non-German, McWilliam family that established the Markview vineyard at nearby Junee in the 1870s. After that, it wasn’t until the mid 1990’s that vines were again planted, with the result that nowadays over 1,000 acres of vines are under cultivation.

Gundagai is primarily a rural district of sheep and cattle, with wheat, lucerne and maize also produced. In 1911 its population was 1,921 and this changed slowly, reaching only 2,308 in 1981 and standing at just under 4,000 at the present. Eighty percent of the shire's population lives in the town of Gundagai itself with the four villages of Coolac, Tumblong, Muttama and Nangus having populations ranging from 40 to 90 people.

Gundagai is an inland New South Wales town and with a relatively low elevation, has a warm temperate climate and is part of the Riverina agricultural region, though the eastern part of the shire is considered part of the South Eastern Highlands. It is in Gundagai region that the mountain streams run down from the western slopes of the Snowy Mountains towards the hot plains of the Riverina. Overall, the Gundagai area is an undulating region varying between 200 and 300 metres in altitude, warm to hot in temperature with an even year-round rainfall, though with quite low humidity.

Gundagai is already becoming known for its Shiraz and Chardonnay wines, which are produced in numerous small and several large vineyards. The largest established is the 190-hectare vineyard at Wirrialla, and a 180-hectare property at Tumblong. There are six cellar doors in the region, including Borambola Wines on the Sturt Highway, 25 kilometres east of Wagga Wagga at “Borambola Homestead”, an imposing home dating back to the 1880s. Borambola is actually set in the Riverina, but its vineyard

is categorised as in the Gundagai growing region. Others in the Riverina region use Gundagai’s grapes, such as Bidgeebong Wines, the Charles Sturt University Winery and the Wagga Wagga Winery. This last is located just 15 minutes from Wagga on the Oura Road, and offers cellar door sales and a fully licensed restaurant, it is set on 17 acres of grape vines and is just a short stroll from the Murrumbidgee River.

Gundagai does not yet have its own wine related events but its wines can be enjoyed at the Southern NSW (Wagga Wagga) Wine Show in October and the Wagga Wagga Food and Wine Festival in March. Events more local to Gundagai itself are the Snake Gully Cup festival in November, which incorporates both the Snake Gully Cup, a two-day Racing Carnival named for the Snake Gully Cup in the Dad and Dave stories, and the Dog on the Tuckerbox Festival. Also, there is the Turning Wave Festival, a music and cultural event held each September to celebrate Irish and Celtic migration to Australia.

Gundagai Shiraz are well-coloured wines of medium to full body, suggestive of the Hilltops wine region to the north-west. These vines are still very young but show every promise of an outstanding future. The region’s Cabernet Sauvignon are also well-coloured and again, there is a likeness to the Cabernets of the Hilltops region.