Bungendore, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place
type = town
name = Bungendore


caption= Gibraltar Street
postcode=2621
state=nsw
lga=Palerang Council
county=Murray
parish=Wamboin
stategov=Monaro
fedgov=Eden-Monaro
pop= 2,183 Census 2001 AUS|id=UCL115200|name=Bungendore (Urban Centre/Locality)|accessdate=2007-06-30|quick=on]
elevation= 700
maxtemp = 19.6
mintemp = 6.4
rainfall = 622
dist1 = 38
location1=Canberra
dist2 =70
location2=Goulburn
dist3 = 112
location3=Batemans Bay

Bungendore is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Palerang Council. It is on the Kings Highway near Lake George, the Molonglo River Valley and the Australian Capital Territory border. It has become a major tourist centre in recent years, popular with visitors from Canberra and some of it has heritage protection. It has expanded rapidly in recent years as a dormitory suburb of Canberra. In 2005, the estimated population was 2000 persons.

History

Prior to European settlement, the area was occupied by the Ngarigu people. The first Europeans in the vicinity were members of the exploratory party of Dr Charles Throsby in 1820, who, along with Hamilton Hume, also originally explored the Braidwood area. In 1824, explorer Allan Cunningham passed through Bungendore. A year later, the first European settlers arrived. The mail service to Bungendore was introduced in 1837, enhancing the importance of the village and contributing to the proclamation of Bungendore as a "town" in the same year.

By 1848, 30 people populated the seven buildings in the town of Bungendore, but when the railway arrived on 4 March 1885, the town grew quickly. New buildings appeared rapidly, such as churches, the courthouse/police station, two schools and the post office.

The first post office was built in Bungendore in 1840, an Anglican Church c 1843, and the Bungendore Inn in 1847. The latter became a Cobb and Co staging post. By 1851, the population was 63. The 1850s saw at least two other hotels established. A flour mill was built in 1861, St Mary's Roman Catholic Church and two denominational schools in 1862, the courthouse in 1864 and a public school in 1868. In 1866, local crops grown were recorded as being wheat, oats, barley and potatoes. Tourism is now a major contributor to the economy.

The town remained a railhead from 1885 until the line reached Queanbeyan in 1887. Partly because of the coming railway, the 1880s proved a boom period for the town and the population increased from 270 in 1881, to 700 by 1885. By then, Queanbeyan was emerging as the major town in the area.

In 1894, gold was discovered at Bywong. In 1901, Lake George and Bungendore were proposed as sites for the nation's capital city. This did not eventuate, as the drawcard of Lake George failed to impress the visiting Commissioners of the time.

Railways

Bungendore is located on the Bombala railway line from Goulburn, which now only runs to the Canberra branch railway line, and is served by a twice-daily Countrylink Xplorer train service from Sydney to Canberra.

References