Mudgee (including Eurunderee)

‘Mudgee’ reputedly derives from the Wiradjuri Aboriginal term ‘Moothi’ meaning ‘nest in the hills’. This is a suitable title as Mudgee is an attractive town of fine old buildings, located in the broad, picturesque and fertile Cudgegong River Valley. Surrounded by hills of green and blue, it is situated 265 km north-west of Sydney, 470 m above sea-level and has a current population of around 8200. The area is noted for its fine wool, beef, fat lambs, cereal crops, lucerne, vegetables, vineyards and honey. There is also a coal mine at Ulan, a large export abattoir, a livestock exchange and numerous horse, sheep and cattle studs.

The first European in the immediate vicinity was James Blackman who headed north to the Mudgee area from what is now Wallerawang in 1821, becoming the first European to cross the Cudgegong River. It is known that he had a slab building on the townsite by 1837.

Once Blackman proved the route passable William Lawson, who had failed in an earlier attempt, travelled north to Mudgee where he found some excellent grazing land. Lawson had been a member of the first European party to cross the Blue Mountains in 1813 and was then commandant of Bathurst. He later took up 6000 acres along the Cudgegong River.

He was immediately followed by George and Henry Cox (sons of William Cox who built the first road over the Blue Mountains) who became the first permanent European settlers on the Cudgegong River when they established the ‘Menah’ run, 3 km north-west of the present townsite. It was here that the first settlement developed. A police station and lock-up were established in 1833.

Prior to that time the district had been occupied by the Wiradjuri people. Relations were amicable when white numbers were negligible but, as settlement escalated in the 1820s, conflict increased. Kangaroos and possums, major food sources, were slaughtered wholesale by whites. Sacred sites were desecrated and prime riverside land was taken. In 1824 martial law was declared and armed settlers roamed the countryside murdering Aborigines on sight, thereby decimating the tribe which was dispossessed and completely broken by the 1840s. William Cox, who made a significant contribution to their extermination, claimed the last local black died in 1876.

The village of Mudgee was gazetted in 1838. By 1841 there were 36 dwellings, mostly of slab construction, including three hotels, a hospital, a post office, two stores and the first Anglican church. The first school (Anglican) was established in a slab hut in the 1840s and the police station was moved from Menah to Mudgee in the mid-1840s. The population had only reached about 200 by 1851.

However, a goldrush began when a huge nugget was found at Hargraves in 1851. Mudgee became a centre for the local goldfields, benefiting considerably from the consequent through-traffic which peaked with the finds at Gulgong and Hill End at the beginning of the 1870s.

It is a sign of Mudgee’s early success that the population increased to 1500 by 1861 and it was declared a municipality in 1860, making it the second-oldest town west of the Great Dividing Range. Methodist and Presbyterian churches, the present Catholic and Anglican churches and the first National school were all built in the 1850s. In addition a police station, courthouse, post office, mechanics institute, the present Uniting Church and a town hall were added from 1860 to 1865. There were four coach factories operating in the 1860s to cater for the overwhelming transport demands.

Fortunately, Mudgee was not just dependent on gold. The immediate area became noted for its quality wool and merino studs, its vineyards (introduced by a German immigrant in the 1850s) and its agricultural production. When the gold began to peter out late in the 19th century it was the strength of these staples which sustained the town. When the railway arrived in 1884, it further boosted agricultural sales.

One of Australia’s most famous poets and short-story writers, Henry Lawson (1867-1922), had very strong ties to Mudgee. His parents were married here in 1866. But for a brief stay at Gulgong, he was raised, from the age of six months to 15 years, in a cottage 8 km north at Eurunderee which was established after a gold find in 1863. Lawson was educated at Eurunderee and Mudgee and many of his stories are inspired by his memories of the area.

Of more infamous repute are the Governor brothers, Aboriginal bushrangers who, in 1900, went on a murderous three-month rampage, killing ten people (see entry on Gilgandra). One victim was 70-year-old Kiernan Fitzpatrick who was shot in front of his hut near Wollar, 48 km north-east of Mudgee. Consequently, the Aborigines of Wollar were forcibly removed to the Brewarrina mission.

The Mudgee Wine Festival runs throughout September, the Mudgee Show in March and the Mudgee Small Farm Field Days in July at the Australian Rural Education Centre, 3 km north of Mudgee, off Henry Lawson Drive, near the airport. Markets are held on the first Saturday of the month at St John’s Anglican Church, and at Lawson Park on the second Saturday.

Mudgee information from smh.com.au