NSWFarming
Gunnedah
Teamsters’ crossing, wheat town and later coal centre.
1854Town surveyed · Namoi crossing centre
WHAT STARTED IT
A reliable Namoi River crossing attracted teamsters and services to a district already occupied by large pastoral runs. The settlement was long known simply as ‘The Woolshed’ before a formal town was surveyed.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Gunnedah was surveyed in 1854, received the railway in 1879 and became a municipality in 1885. Wheat, livestock and later coal all expanded its role; major coal development followed new discoveries in the late twentieth century.
TURNING POINTS
1854Town surveyed.
1879Railway reaches Gunnedah.
1900Gunnedah Colliery established.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A regional centre serving broadacre farms, livestock businesses and the Gunnedah Basin’s mines, with the Namoi floodplain still shaping the town.