Bungendore is a small town
with a numerous specialty shops and old stone, brick and timber
buildings. It is located in a beautiful valley near Lake George, 265 km
south-west of Sydney, 26 km north-east of Queanbeyan
and 701 m above sea-level.
Once occupied by the Ngarigu people, the first Europeans in the
vicinity were the exploratory party of Charles Throsby. Captain Richard
Brooks set up a stock station at Turallo Creek in 1824. That same year,
botanist Allan Cunningham recorded the existence of this outstation in
the area he called 'Bungadow'.
The village began around 1835 and mail started arriving as part of
the Queanbeyan route in 1836. The townsite was approved and Bungendore
proclaimed in 1837. The following year a lock-up was built and The Harp
Inn was established as the settlement became an important crossroads
which linked, and still links, Goulburn, Braidwood, Queanbeyan, Canberra
and Cooma.
'Gidleigh', just south of the present townsite, was established in
1833 by the son of Governor King. William Westwood, a convict, escaped
from 'Gidleigh' around 1840 and became a bushranger known as 'Jacky
Jacky'. He bailed up a number of people around the district in 1840-41.
In 1841 he escaped custody several times (once being temporarily locked
up in what is now the Lake George Motel) before being captured and
sentenced to Norfolk Island where he was hanged for murder in 1846.
The first post office was built in 1840, an Anglican Church c.1843
and the Bungendore Inn in 1847. The latter became a Cobb & Co
staging post. Annual races were established in 1848. Nonetheless, by
1851, the population was a mere 63.
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The Railway
Station |
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.
The railway arrived in 1885 and the town remained a railhead until
the line reached Queanbeyan in 1887. Partly because of the coming
railway, the 1880s were a boom period for the town and the population
increased from 270 in 1881 to 700 by 1885.
However, because Queanbeyan emerged as the major town in the area,
Bungendore has essentially remained a country village serving the
surrounding graziers. Hence there are several rural suppliers and
related industries in town.
In recent years the social balance in the town has been somewhat
altered and it has acquired a slightly more metropolitan air due to the
presence of commuters from Queanbeyan and Canberra and of professional
people. A number of tourism-oriented businesses have sprung up in town
such as antique and art-and-craft shops, restaurants and tearooms.
Wineries, hobby farms and turf farming have also emerged of late.
