Gundagai is a small historic town on the Murrumbidgee River, about halfway between Sydney and Melbourne on the Hume Highway. It sits at the foot of Mount Parnassus, 387 km south-west of Sydney, and has been a stopping point for travelers since the days of bullock teams hauling wool across the continent.
The town is best known to Australians through folklore — the Dog on the Tuckerbox monument, five miles out of town, is one of those peculiarly Australian icons that every schoolchild knows. Beyond the legend, Gundagai has genuine historic character: the historic courthouse is a handsome Greek Revival sandstone building still in use today. The Great Rescue of 1852 sculpture on Gundagai Common commemorates the Wiradjuri men Yarri and Jacky Jacky, who saved 69 lives when catastrophic floods swallowed the original township. And Rusconi's Marble Masterpiece — a hand-carved miniature cathedral assembled from 20,948 pieces of local marble — is an act of obsessive craftsmanship that rewards anyone who takes the time to look closely.
It's a natural stop if you're driving between Sydney and Melbourne and want somewhere with more soul than a highway service centre.