In a fast-changing Australia, where new cultures and identities weave fresh threads into our ever fading national fabric, the quiet streets of Gulgong offer something rare: a living memory of our country’s colonial foundations.
Once roaring with the fever of gold and the voices of bush poets, this small New South Wales town now stands as a fragile monument to a bygone era. As the echoes of horse hooves fade beneath the hum of modern life, Gulgong reminds us of the stories of our past. Gritty, resilient, and deeply Australian, it is a past that must be cherished, lest it slip entirely into folklore. In towns like this, we see not just where we came from, but what we risk forgetting.
We see it throughout the world: towns caught in time in a world where our colonial heritage is becoming a museum piece, gazed upon as an oddity, no more than a fossil frozen in time ............
Once a booming gold rush settlement teeming with hopeful prospectors, rowdy pubs, and legendary characters, Gulgong today stands as one of the most authentic 19th-century towns in the country.
With its heritage streetscape, deep literary connections, and a treasure trove of historic photographs capturing life at its peak, Gulgong offers a rare glimpse into the grit, glory, and gold fever that shaped early Australia.
Gulgong is a historic town in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, about 30 km north of Mudgee and approximately 300 km northwest of Sydney. It is well known for its well-preserved 19th-century buildings, its connection to poet Henry Lawson, and its role in Australia’s gold rush era.
Gulgong was established in the early 1870s after gold was discovered at nearby Red Hill in 1870. This discovery triggered a gold rush, attracting thousands of prospectors and leading to the rapid development of the town. By 1872, Gulgong had a population of around 20,000, and at its peak, it had 67 pubs, numerous shops, and thriving businesses. The town was bustling with miners, traders, and fortune-seekers, all hoping to strike it rich.
Gulgong is famously associated with Australian poet and writer Henry Lawson, who spent part of his childhood there. His mother, Louisa Lawson, was a writer and activist, and their experiences in Gulgong influenced many of his stories and poems about bush life and hardship. The town celebrates this connection with the Henry Lawson Centre, which showcases exhibits on his life and works.
When researching this article I stumbled upon Henry Lawson's "The Captain Of The Push".
He then refashioned it as this 'bawdy' version ( below ) and had it published (underground) a few years later. It seemed a wasted opportunity not to include it. But I warn you now, the language is extreme. Even I found it a bit on the " too crude " side, but I did find it strangely speaking to me in a way that was gratifyingly honest... something we don't have much of these days. Please do not watch if you are offended by very bad language, sexism and racial slurs.
The reason I included it? Because I somehow feel that we know a few " Bastards from the Bush " except now they live in a place called Canberra...... only these days, no one has the courage to say it quite as colourfully as Henry Lawson did back then.
With that warning in place, please ignore or dive in. But don't complain to me if you watch it and say it was offensive. I did warn you.
But back to Gulgong...
One of the town’s most remarkable aspects is its well-preserved 19th-century streetscape, with original buildings that give visitors a sense of what it was like during the gold rush days. Many of the town's structures, including the Prince of Wales Opera House (built in 1871 and still in use), remain in their original form.
Gulgong is famous for being one of the towns documented in the Holtermann Collection, a series of photographs taken in the 1870s that provide one of the most detailed visual records of a gold rush town. Many of these photographs are now housed at the Gulgong Holtermann Museum.
Discovered in a garden shed in 1951 and acquired and restored by the State Library of New South Wales, the Holtermann Collection comprises 3500 wet-plate glass negatives documenting goldfields towns in regional Victoria and New South Wales, including Hill End and Gulgong, as well as the urban centres of Melbourne and Sydney in the 1870s.
When the gold rush ended, Gulgong transitioned into a rural town focused on wool, cattle, and wine production. Today, it attracts visitors due to its historical charm, museums, and annual events like:
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Henry Lawson Festival – Celebrating Australian literature and poetry.
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Gulgong Folk Festival – Showcasing traditional music and culture.
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Gulgong Gold Festival – Commemorating the town’s mining history.
Gulgong has plenty of fascinating anecdotes, many tied to its gold rush past..
During the peak of the gold rush in the 1870s, Gulgong had an astonishing 67 pubs to serve the thousands of miners and fortune-seekers who flooded into town. Drinking and gambling were rampant, and it wasn’t uncommon for fights to break out between miners arguing over gold claims. Local legend has it that a miner once paid for an entire round at a pub with a gold nugget the size of his fist - only to lose it in a drunken brawl moments later.
Henry Lawson’s image was featured on the first paper Australian ten dollar note issued in 1966 when decimal currency was first introduced into Australia. Lawson was pictured against scenes from the town of Gulgong in NSW.
Henry Lawson, one of Australia’s greatest poets, spent part of his childhood in Gulgong. He later wrote about the struggles and hardships of the bush, but locals also recall stories of him as a mischievous boy. It’s said that young Henry and his friends once played a prank on a storekeeper by tying a rope to the counter bell and ringing it from across the street, causing chaos in the shop as the frustrated storekeeper kept rushing out to find no one there.
The Prince of Wales Opera House, built in 1871, is the oldest continuously operating opera house in the Southern Hemisphere. One of the town’s proudest stories is that Dame Nellie Melba, Australia’s most famous opera singer, once performed there early in her career. The opera house remains in use today, hosting plays, performances, and events.
While not found in Gulgong itself, the Holtermann Nugget, the largest gold specimen ever discovered, was unearthed nearby in 1872. It weighed a massive 286 kg (630 lbs) and was part of a quartz reef containing immense amounts of gold. The nugget’s discoverer, Bernhardt Holtermann, was a German immigrant who used his newfound wealth to fund photography documenting life in the goldfields, creating the famous Holtermann Collection that includes many images of Gulgong.
Like many gold rush towns, Gulgong was not free from bushranger activity. It’s said that notorious outlaw Captain Thunderbolt (Frederick Ward) passed through the area in the 1860s before the gold rush boom, using the rugged bushland for hiding. Some local legends claim that buried loot still lies undiscovered in the hills around Gulgong.
So there you have it! A town that is pretty much old Australia in one neat bundle.
Gulgong is one of those places that holds onto the essence of what early colonial Australia was... hardy, resourceful, rough around the edges, yet full of ambition and poetic spirit. Walking its streets must feel like stepping into a different era. Towns like it don’t just preserve old buildings - they preserve a way of life, values, and a shared memory of what Australia was before modern transformation.
As multiculturalism reshapes Australia, there’s a sense of something fading. For some, it’s a feeling of losing continuity with the stories that once defined "Australian-ness", like the gold diggers, the Lawson-style bush battlers, or the mateship forged in the early colonial days. These stories can start to feel more like folklore than living memory, akin to staring at a diorama behind glass.
But maybe the key is storytelling - keeping towns like Gulgong alive not just as tourist spots, but as reminders that modern Australia stands on the shoulders of earlier generations.
