Bundarra is a small town on the Northern Tablelands

Northern Tablelands, New South Wales

The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England region, stretching from the Moonbi Range in the south to...

 of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The town is located on Thunderbolts Way

Thunderbolts Way

Thunderbolts Way is a New South Wales country road linking Gloucester to Walcha , Uralla, where it very briefly joins the New England Highway and, to Copes Creek, south of the Gwydir Highway intersection at Inverell...

 and on the banks of the Gwydir River

Gwydir River

The Gwydir River is a large inland river in the northern part of the Australian state of New South Wales which is part of the Murray-Darling Basin. The river has two main tributaries—the Horton River and the Rocky River...

, in the Uralla Shire Local Government Area, 563 kilometres (350 mi) kilometres from the state capital, Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. At the 2006 census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, Bundarra had a population of 331 and the surrounding area had 463 persons.

History

Bundarra is named for the Kamilaroi

Kamilaroi

The Kamilaroi or Gamilaraay are an Indigenous Australian people who are from the area between Tamworth and Goondiwindi, and west to Narrabri, Walgett and Lightning Ridge, in northern New South Wales...

 Indigenous Australian word for the Grey Kangaroo. The Kamilaroi and Anaiwan groups were the original inhabitants of the Bundarra area. A local hill nearby Bundarra called "Rumbling Mountain" is the subject of an Aboriginal myth that attempts to explain its periodic rumbling and shaking.

Bundarra Station

Station (Australian agriculture)

Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...

 was founded in 1836 by Edward G. Clerk and a hotel and store were established on the future townsite. A church was constructed on the site in 1857 around the same time as the town survey. The old buildings in Bundarra’s main street were constructed between 1860 and 1880. A school was established in 1869, becoming a central school in 1955. The Roman Catholic convent was built in 1908 and a newspaper, the Bundarra Advocate was founded. At one stage the town included three hotels. three stores, three butchers and a bank. Copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

 and gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 were also found in the area. While property owners were digging for gold, many Aboriginal shepherd

Shepherd

A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...

s and harvest workers were employed and contributed greatly to the development of the town. The bushranger

Bushranger

Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...

, Fred Ward, known as Captain Thunderbolt

Captain Thunderbolt

Frederick Wordsworth Ward was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island, and also for his reputation as the "gentleman bushranger" and his lengthy survival, being the longest roaming bushranger in Australian history.-Early years:Frederick Ward was the son of convict...

, stole two horses belonging to a police inspector from Abington station, near Bundarra in 1868.

The Bundarra bridge, a five-span iron lattice truss bridge

Truss bridge

A truss bridge is a bridge composed of connected elements which may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads. Truss bridges are one of the oldest types of modern bridges...

, was constructed in 1881. The bridge, crossing the Gwydir River, is 204 metres in length and 5.6 metres wide between kerbs. The bridge has been listed on the Register of the National Estate

Register of the National Estate

The Register of the National Estate is a listing of natural and cultural heritage places in Australia. The listing was initially compiled between 1976 and 2003 by the Australian Heritage Commission. The register is now maintained by the Australian Heritage Council...

, being of state significance due to its design, historical value and aesthetic appearance. The bridge was the focus of a large community celebration for its centenary and is still in use today.

The historic townscape of Bundarra lead to the town hosting some on location

Filming location

A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...

 filming for the Fred Schepisi directed film, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a 1972 Booker Prize-nominated novel by Thomas Keneally, and a 1978 Australian film of the same name directed by Fred Schepisi. The novel is based on the life of bushranger Jimmy Governor....

, based on the Booker Prize

Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...

 winning novel by Thomas Keneally

Thomas Keneally

Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...

.

Bundarra Police Station and Courthouse (former) together with The Basin Nature Reserve, Baldersleigh Road have been placed on the Register of the National Estate

Register of the National Estate

The Register of the National Estate is a listing of natural and cultural heritage places in Australia. The listing was initially compiled between 1976 and 2003 by the Australian Heritage Commission. The register is now maintained by the Australian Heritage Council...

.

Fauna

Bundarra is part of the Bundarra-Barraba Important Bird Area

Bundarra-Barraba Important Bird Area

The Bundarra-Barraba Important Bird Area lies in the Northern Tablelands of north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It is important for the conservation of the endangered Regent Honeyeater and is classified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International.-Description:The 3500 km2 IBA...

 which is home to one of only three breeding areas in New South Wales for the endangered Regent Honeyeater

Regent Honeyeater

The Regent Honeyeater, Xanthomyza phrygia, is an endangered bird endemic to Australia. It feeds on nectar and insects within eucalyptus forests. Recent genetic research suggests it is closely related to the wattlebirds.-Distribution:...

. The colony consists of around 30 birds of around 1,500 remaining in total. Platypus

Platypus

The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...

 can be seen in the Gwydir River at Bundarra near the Bundarra bridge.

Facilities

The town today includes a K-12 central school, police station, two churches, the Grace Munro Centre (a state of the art aged care facility), post office and Commonwealth Bank agency, an agricultural supplies store, garage, hotel, sporting club and golf course, rural transaction centre (with Centrelink access), community technology centre, general store/liquor/newsagency/gift shop and a takeaway store that is open seven days a week.
Camping is possible at the camping ground with powered sites and hot shower facilities, and at a free site on the edge of town and on the river.

Annual events in town include the Agricultural show

Agricultural show

An agricultural show is a public event showcasing the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show , a trade fair, competitions, and entertainment...

 in January, the Goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

 Races in April and the rodeo

Rodeo

Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...

in November.

There are good fishing spots along the Gwydir River where it is possible to catch some big Murray cod.