Dungog, New South Wales

Dungog is a small country town in the Upper Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. It is the centre of the Dungog Shire Local Government Area (LGA) and at the 2006 census it had a population of 2,100. The name is said to be a corruption of the Aboriginal word 'Tunkok', meaning "clear hills". The area includes the Fosterton Loop, 22 km of road, used in the annual Pedalfest. Acclaimed actor Hugo Weaving has a holiday property in the area. A small portion of Dungog lies in the Great Lakes Council LGA.

It is in the middle of what was once dairy and timber country and is now more significantly a dormitory outer suburb of Newcastle. Dungog High School has approximately 750 students, 55 teachers, 38 rooms, 100 computers, 2 ovals and school grounds of roughly 8 ha. Children from nearly all of the surrounding towns (e.g: Gresford, Paterson, Vacy, Wallarobba, East Gresford, and Glen Martin) attend.

The town's railway station has been served by the North Coast railway line since 1911. There are approximately six regional rail services and six XPT (eXpress Passenger Train) services a day to Dungog, run by CityRail and CountryLink. The two afternoon CityRail services were formerly run by 620 & 720 railcars but are now run by the new Hunter railcars.

Dungog has a large football (soccer) club which dominates regional competitions and is now a contender for the premiership in each age division, and also a Rugby League club called The Dungog Warriors which has teams in the adults and juniors.

Dungog is the home of the "James Theatre", the oldest cinema still running in NSW. It receives new movie releases soon after cinemas in more populated areas. The Dungog Film Festival, inaugurated on 31 May 2007, is a film festival which serves the dual purposes of encouraging the local tourism industry and showcasing Australian cinema. It takes place over four days and some of the proceeds go towards preserving the James Theatre.