John Warner (aka occasional Mudcatter Jack Halyard) wrote Yarri of Wiradjuri a collection of songs & poems about the great flood of Gundagai in 1852.

In 1838 the British settlers settled on the floodplain next to the river even tho the local Wiradjuri people told them it was dangerous as the river regularly flooded. Naturally they ignored them & each time their town was flooded they just climbed into the rafters & later dried stuff out.

The Great Flood of 1852 killed hundreds as it rose well above the rafters - one surviving 2 storey stone building shows damage from tree-trunks & boulders near it's roof.

After this flood the township was moved up the hill & the flood plain not used for buildings.

sandra