GULGONG - POPULATION: 1,866

WATTLE LANE, GULGONG - THE PEEL RESIDENCE

SUNDAY 5 - MONDAY 6.4.2015: Why Gulgong? In 1954 the Peel family moved here so that Carole's father Don could take up a position as Deputy Principal at Gulgong Central Public School. The family remained until 1957 then moved on to Narrabri. We are staying at the Gulgong Showground ($12.00 per night, $16.00 with power and water, plus amenities). The caretaker came round to collect the fees and from there it was "a blast from the past". His son had been taught by "John" Peel (did not quite have the name right). As the names of previous residents were mentioned a critique on the living in town, moved away or deceased was provided!

On the drive into Gulgong we passed Ulan and a great expanse of open cut coal mines. Gulgong is a 19th-century gold rush town in the Central Tablelands. The name 'Gulgong' is derived from the name used by the traditional inhabitants, the Wiradjuri, for 'deep waterhole'. Like several towns in this  area, it began as a gold mining centre. However, being founded in the 1870s, it was one of the last to be dominated by 'poor man's diggings', that is by individuals without substantial capital investment. Novelist and bush poet Henry Lawson lived briefly in Gulgong as a child in the early 1870s, while his father sought instant wealth as a miner.

THE SAME PEPPERCORN TREE THAT
CAROLE FELL OUT OF AND
ENDED UP WITH CONCUSSION!

Gulgong street scenes were 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.
Carole in talking about Gulgong had always mentioned 'Flirtation Hill'. One assumes what one assumes, but no, at the time the only access was by scaling the hill to reach the top. As a child Carole did this and other than a solitary tree and water tank, there was not much on offer. What a difference time makes! Just had to visit "the hill" and yes even it has been developed - seating, barbecue, access road and more importantly, a car park!

VIEW FROM FLIRTATION HILL