Gunning, New South Wales

Gunning is a town on the Old Hume Highway, between Goulburn and Yass in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, about 260 km south-west of Sydney and 75 km north of the national capital, Canberra. (Nearby towns are Cullerin, Gundaroo, Dalton, Yass, and Murrumbateman, Goulburn.)

On Census night 2006, Gunning had a population of 487 people. ; the Shire of Gunning (which was amalgamated into Upper Lachlan Shire in 2004) had a population of 2,280.

Transportation
Gunning was originally a coach stop, and service centre for the surrounding farms mainly growing Merino sheep. It had a police station and court house, post office, and school.

The main railway from Sydney arrived in 1875 and was completed through to Melbourne, Victoria in 1881. The town is served by the daily Countrylink XPT service that operates between Sydney Central station and Melbourne Southern Cross Station. The train stops at 11am (to Melbourne) and at 4:01pm (to Sydney). This station is an optional stop.

Its main streets were built very wide, for the time of horse and bullock-drawn wagons. This served the town well when the main highway between Sydney and Melbourne carried cars and trucks through, until the by-pass was completed several years ago. The town has been able to resume a more rural pace of life, and develop something of an industry in providing bed and breakfast accommodation.

The establishment of the main trunk telegraph line is remembered by the Telegraph Hotel.



History
The Gunning region was originally home to two Australian Aboriginal language groups, the Gundungurra people in the north and the Ngunnawal people in the south.

The region (specifically Gundaroo) was first explored by Europeans in 1820, and settled the next year by Hamilton Hume. In 1824, Hume and William Hovell left here to discover the overland route to Port Phillip Bay where Melbourne is sited. Land sales began in 1838. The nearby town of Dalton, now best known as the earthquake centre, was settled in 1847. In 1865, Bushranger Ben Hall and his gang held up Kimberley's Inn, and a constable was shot dead.