Day 5 - Gunnedah

We spent the morning exploring Gunnedah, a town in the wheatbelt on the way to Armidale.

Gunnedah is full of interest. It’s the home of poet Dorothea Mackellar - everyone knows ‘I love a sunburnt country’.

Gunnedah is in the Liverpool Plains, beautiful country which, unfortunately, sits on both rich agricultural land and rich coal seams. Plenty of scope for controversy there.The statue commemorates miners who have lost their lives in the Gunnedah coal mines. It might be said to romanticise.that life somewhat.

The second memorial (extra) commemorates Cumbo Gunnerah, a leader of the Kamilaroi people who are the custodians of this land. The memorial was erected in the 1980s and, while it is said that this was done in consultation with indigenous people, you do wonder if the portrayal owes more than a little to a white fella concept of a warrior chief. Cumbo Gunnerah was also known as the Red Kangaroo and as the Red Chief.