41-659: Gulgong is a 19th-century gold rush town in the Central Tablelands and the wider Central West regions of the Australian state of New South Wales . The town is situated within the Mid-Western Regional Council local government area. It is located about 300 km (190 mi) north west of Sydney, and about 30 km north of Mudgee along the Castlereagh Highway . At the 2021 census , Gulgong had
82-575: A "street" on the site. Apart from tourism and hospitality, local industries include wine production, wool, wheat growing and coal mining. Yarrobil National Park is located 21 kilometres (13 mi) north west of Gulgong. The name "Gulgong" is derived from the word used by the traditional inhabitants , the Wiradjuri , for "deep waterhole". Lieutenant William Lawson passed through the area in November 1820 and again in 1821 and reported good grazing land in
123-455: A Story of Australian Life , was published in book form in London in 1878. It was well reviewed but attracted little notice. It was re-issued as The Squatter's Dream in 1890. In 1884 Old Melbourne Memories , a book of reminiscences of the eighteen-forties was published at Melbourne, "by Rolf Boldrewood, author of My Run Home , The Squatter's Dream and Robbery Under Arms ". These had appeared in
164-521: A child in the early 1870s, while his father sought instant wealth as a miner. A montage of goldrush-era Gulgong street scenes was used as a backdrop to the portrait of Lawson on the first Australian ten dollar note (which was in use from 1966 until replaced by a polymer banknote in November 1993). The town and its surrounding district feature in Lawson's fiction, especially in Joe Wilson and His Mates . Gulgong
205-738: A north–south line of cliffs that form the eastern edge of the Hartley, Kanimbla and Megalong Valleys. Two physical components comprise the Central Tablelands region surrounding Bathurst ; the Bathurst Basin and the Tablelands areas. They are drained by the Macquarie, Turon, Fish and Campbells Rivers to the north and Abercrombie and Isabella Rivers to the south. The central basin area of the Bathurst area
246-439: A photographer, and there was a theatre, at which I saw the " Colleen Bawn " acted with a great deal of spirit, and a considerable amount of histrionic talent. After the theatre a munificent banker of the town gave us an oyster supper, at a supper-room. It may be inferred, therefore, that the comforts of life have not been altogether neglected at Gullgong. In the middle of the day there had been a public dinner or lunch, at which there
287-542: A population of 2,680. Today, much of the 19th-century character of the town remains, contributing to its appeal as a tourist destination. Of special interest is the Prince of Wales Opera House, a survivor with a rich history. An attraction of note is the Gulgong Pioneer Museum , which has a huge collection of thematically-displayed exhibits, ranging from kitchen utensils to complete buildings that have been relocated to
328-656: A property, Murrabit run at Lake Boga near Swan Hill , followed by Bundidgaree station on the Murrumbidgee River near Narrandera in the Riverina in 1864. However, bad seasons in 1866 and 1868 compelled Browne to give up squatting , and in 1871 he became a police magistrate and gold commissioner . After living in Sydney a short time, in April 1871 he was appointed a police magistrate at Gulgong and gold commissioner in 1872. Browne
369-590: A recently discovered cache of Miocene era fossils. Gulgong has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: The now closed Gulgong railway station is at the junction of the Sandy Hollow line (which runs west from Muswellbrook ) and the Gwabegar line (which runs north-south from Gwabegar to Wallerawang ). A section of the Gwabegar railway line south of Gulgong to Kandos has been closed since 30 June 2007. Gulgong
410-536: A stone mansion, Enmore, which gave its name to the suburb of Sydney. Thomas Browne was sent to W. T. Cape's school at Sydney, and afterwards to Sydney College , when Cape became its headmaster. One of Browne's closest school friends was a son of Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes , MLC, the Collector of Customs for New South Wales, and according to the Dulhunty Papers , Browne spent carefree holidays staying with
451-557: A unique record of life, in the town and its surroundings, at the time of the gold rushes. These images of Gulgong form part of the Holtermann Collection . A nearby area on the state register is known as the Talbragar fossil site , containing sometimes excellently preserved specimens of plants, fishes, invertebrates and a previously unknown spider. In addition, a site known as McGraths Flat about 25 miles northwest of Gulgong contains
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#1732858143889492-607: Is a regular host to both regional and international festivals and events. [REDACTED] Media related to Gulgong, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons Central Tablelands The Central Tablelands in New South Wales is a geographic area that lies between the Sydney Metropolitan Area and the Central Western Slopes and Plains. The Great Dividing Range passes in a north–south direction through
533-401: Is a spectacular landscape with basalt peaks, sandstone ravines and rainforest gorges. This high land falls to the west into wide basins of agricultural country. The Cudgegong River collects the fertile basalt enriched volcanics from the mountains and deposits them in the broad fertile alluvial flat agricultural lands to the west. . Due to its location and elevation 450–1395 metres ASL
574-752: Is believed to be one of the primary locations in Thomas Alexander Browne 's The Miner's Right which he wrote under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood . Australia's first novelist of note, Browne was police magistrate in the period 1871-81 and many of his characters have been matched to Gulgong goldfields identities. He once hosted English author Anthony Trollope , who later recorded his impressions of Australia and New Zealand (1875). In 1872, Henry Beaufoy Merlin took photographic images on glass-plate negatives of many buildings in Gulgong — with owners, tenants and passers-by — and of gold mines and miners, creating
615-541: Is mainly granite soils while in the north area sandstone , conglomerates , greywacke , siltstones , limestones and minor volcanos predominate. The south is more complex geology with siltstones, sandstones, greywacke, shales and chert , basalt and granite intrusions and embedded volcanic and limestones. Underlying Bathurst is the dominant feature of Bathurst granite (intruded in the Devonian period) and at Mount Panorama and Mount Stewart basalt occurs. Topography of
656-504: Is the coldest season and daytime temperatures struggle to get above 7 °C (44.6 °F). When the southwesterly airmasses pass through the region on winter nights the temperature can go as low as −8 °C (17.6 °F) and feel much colder. Severe frosts occur frequently during winter. In the higher parts over 1000 metres ASL, several snowfalls occur each winter. Spring is when the temperature starts to warm, although frosts and sometimes snow still occur in early spring. Around mid-spring
697-594: Is traversed by the Cudegong River which rises in the mountains of the Great Divide, flowing west into the Murray-Darling river system. At the head of the valley, to the east, high mountains are of volcanic origin, and capped in basalt lava flows deposited some 17 million years ago. Nullo Mountain is the most extensive, and Mount Coricudgy the loftiest at 1,256 metres (4,121 ft). The high mountainous eastern area
738-587: The East India Company , and his wife Elizabeth Angell, née Alexander. His mother was his "earliest admirer and most indulgent critic . . . to whom is chiefly due whatever meed of praise my readers may hereafter vouchsafe" (Dedication Old Melbourne Memories). Thomas added the 'e' to his surname in the 1860s. After his father's barque Proteus had delivered a cargo of convicts in Hobart , the family settled in Sydney in 1831. Sylvester Brown took up whaling and built
779-661: The Mid-Western Highway . The main western railway line from Sydney passes through the Central Tablelands, east to west direction initially on the Blue Mountains railway line , then continuing with the Main Western Railway line . The main towns within the Central Tablelands, listed by population, include Orange , Bathurst , Lithgow , Mudgee , Blayney , Oberon , Gulgong , and Portland . In May 1813 explorers Blaxland , Wentworth , and Lawson setout to discover
820-475: The Sydney Town and Country Journal and The Sydney Mail , but only The Squatter's Dream had been published in book form and then under the title of Ups and Downs . The name Boldrewood came from a line in the poem Marmion by Browne's favourite author, Sir Walter Scott . In 1888 Robbery Under Arms appeared in three volumes and its merits were immediately recognised. Several editions were printed before
861-647: The Central Tablelands and includes the Blue Mountains . The region shares borders with the Hunter , Central West Slopes and Plains , South West Slopes , Southern Tablelands , North Western Slopes and Plains , the Sydney Metropolitan Area and the Illawarra . Several main State highways pass through the Central Tablelands including the Great Western Highway , Mitchell Highway , Golden Highway , Castlereagh Highway and
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#1732858143889902-518: The Central Tablelands has its four seasons. Summer can be quite hot with temperatures exceeding 40 °C (104 °F) on the hottest days, although afternoons in summer tend to cool down and most summer nights are around 13 °C (55.4 °F). Autumn is when the district starts to cool down. Around April frosts start occurring and temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) may also occur. The district tends to be quite windy in autumn and days sometimes struggle to reach 18 °C (64.4 °F). Winter
943-516: The Gibbes family at their grand waterside residence on Sydney's Point Piper . When his father moved to Melbourne in 1839, Browne remained at Sydney College as a boarder until 1841 and then was taught by Rev. David Boyd in Melbourne. In 1843, though only 17 years old, Browne took up land near Port Fairy which he named Squattlesamere and was there until 1856. He visited England in 1860 and in 1862–1863 had
984-472: The area known as the Blue Mountains to the west of the Sydney basin. The area is drained by many creeks and rivers, including Cox's River , Jenolan River , Kanangra River, and Kowmung River which in turn flow into the Hawkesbury - Nepean river system. The Blue Mountains are an extensive Triassic sandstone plateau rising to 1,100 metres (3,609 ft) near Mount Victoria . The Blue Mountains terminate in
1025-648: The close of the century. At the beginning of this novel the narrator, Dick Marston, is awaiting execution for crimes committed whilst he was a bushranger. He goes on to tell the story of his life and loves and his association with the notorious Captain Starlight . Some of the events in the book are based on actual incidents carried out by contemporary bushrangers like Daniel Morgan , Ben Hall , Frank Gardiner , James Alpin McPherson and John Gilbert . Robbery under Arms has remained popular since its first publication in 1888;
1066-526: The generic pattern of regions: Thomas Alexander Browne Thomas Alexander Browne (born Brown , 6 August 1826 – 11 March 1915) was an Australian author who published many of his works under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood . He is best known for his 1882 bushranging novel Robbery Under Arms . Browne was born in London , the eldest child of Captain Sylvester John Brown, a shipmaster formerly of
1107-743: The heaviest rainfall is around October. The average rainfall for the district ranges between 600 and 1000 mm per year. Rainfall is subject to significant yearly variation. The highest temperature in the Central Tablelands was 44.7 °C (112.5 °F) at Bathurst Gaol, in January 1878. The lowest temperature was −11.1 °C (12.0 °F) at Marrangaroo Defence, in July 2018. New South Wales can be divided into four broad landform components: The four geographic components are then typically divided into north, central and southern areas based upon their location relative to Sydney . This two-way subdivision gives rise to
1148-472: The inland to the west of Sydney, over the Blue Mountains . The group climbed the mountains and on reaching the top of the ridges they continued west to a point later named Mount Blaxland (south of present-day Rydal ). This was the first access by Europeans to the area now known as the Central Tablelands. Governor Macquarie ordered a second expedition, in November 1813, led by government surveyor George Evans , this second expedition travelled further and reached
1189-400: The names and praises of traders as is customary now with all new-fangled marts, but the place looked more like a fair than a town ... Everything needful, however, seemed to be at hand. There were bakers, butchers, grocers, and dealers in soft goods. There were public houses and banks in abundance. There was an auctioneer's establishment, at which I attended the sale of horses and carts. There was
1230-624: The novel was filmed in 1907 (a version by Tait brothers and a version by Charles MacMahon ), 1920 and 1957 . A television series was made in 1985. The novel has also been serialised on radio in both Australia and Britain. Named in his honour, the Rolf Boldrewood Literary Awards were awarded annually from 2006 to 2017 by the Macquarie Regional Library. Browne married Margaret Maria Riley (daughter of W. E. Riley and granddaughter of Alexander Riley ) in 1860. She
1271-532: The region ranges from slightly undulating to rough and very steep country, approximately 30 km to the east of Bathurst is the folded and faulted sedimentary and metamorphosed formations of the Great Dividing Range which runs roughly north–south. Geology of the area surrounding Mudgee and Gulgong forms part of the north eastern margin of the Lachlan Fold Belt tectonic zone. This northern area
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1312-531: The region. This prompted the brothers George and Henry Cox, sons of William Cox , to take up land to the south of the Gudgegong River, while Lawson applied for land grants to the north. Others soon followed, taking up land with river frontage along the Gudgegong. Among the first to take formal possession was Richard Rouse who was granted land in 1825 by Governor Brisbane . Gulgong came into existence after gold
1353-463: The site now known as the city of Bathurst . The town of Orange was named by the explorer Thomas Mitchell , and his third expedition, south, began in this region, accompanied by a local Wiradjuri guide and interpreter Turandurey . The Central Tablelands region of New South Wales lies largely within the Lachlan Fold Belt tectonic zone. The eastern portion of the Central Tablelands covers
1394-457: The temperature can get as high as 24 °C (75.2 °F), sometimes even higher. Around spring all the crops and flowers start growing in the Central Tablelands. Nights in spring still frequently drop below 0 °C (32 °F). The lower parts tend to be dry when it comes to rainfall, but much wetter on the Oberon Plateau and surrounds. Rain can be expected any day of the year but usually
1435-426: Was a hotel there, at which I got a bedroom to myself, though but a small one, and made only of slabs. But a gorgeously grand edifice was being built over our heads at the time. The inhabited part of the town consisted of two streets at right angles to each other, in each of which every habitation and shop had probably required but a few days for its erection. The fronts of the shops were covered with large advertisements,
1476-562: Was an experienced justice of the peace , having acted as chairman of the bench of justices at Narrandera, but in his first years at Gulgong, then one of the richest and largest goldfields in New South Wales , his ignorance of mining and the complicated regulations drew criticism of his competence as commissioner. He was persistently attacked by the Gulgong Guardian until in 1873 it published an anonymous letter accusing him of bias and corruption. Its editor Thomas Frederic De Courcy Browne
1517-670: Was buried in Brighton Cemetery . Browne spent around twenty-five years as a squatter and about the same time as a government official, but his third career as author extended over forty years. In 1865, while recovering from a riding accident, he wrote two articles on pastoral life in Australia for the Cornhill Magazine , and he also began to contribute articles and serial stories to the Australian weeklies. One of these, Ups and Downs:
1558-564: Was discovered at Red Hill in 1870. The township was surveyed in August 1870. By the end of that year there were 800 people on the diggings, which yielded over 32 tons of gold in the 1870s. The population had increased to 12,000 by the time the British author Anthony Trollope visited in October 1871. Gullgong [sic] was certainly a rough place when I visited it, but not quite as rough as I had expected. There
1599-525: Was much speaking. I cannot say that the Gullgong oratory was as good as the Gullgong acting or the Gullgong oysters. The population of the town reached 20,000 in 1873. The Gulgong gold field was one of the last to be developed as "poor man's diggings", that is by individuals without substantial capital investment. During the height of the gold rush in the 1870s, Gulgong had 67 pubs (it now has four). Novelist and bush poet Henry Lawson lived briefly in Gulgong as
1640-445: Was the author of The Flower Garden in Australia , published in 1893, and survived him with two sons and five daughters, one of whom, "Rose Boldrewood", published a novel The Complications at Collaroi in 1911. Fourth daughter Louisa Browne married mine manager Robert Silvers Black on 11 June 1903. His sister, Emma, had married Molesworth Richard Greene of Woodlands, near Sunbury and thus connecting him to Sir William Stawell, and also
1681-610: Was thereupon convicted in Sydney of criminal libel and sentenced to six months gaol. The charges against Browne were disproved, and he won favour with the miners by magnanimously interceding with the judge for a light punishment of his libeller. In 1881 Browne was transferred as magistrate and mining warden to Dubbo and to Armidale in 1884. He moved to Albury as chairman of the Land Licensing Board in 1885, serving there as magistrate and warden from 1887 to 1895 until retiring to Melbourne. He died on 11 March 1915 in Melbourne and