G'day Charlie Noble,

Nice to hear from you you! I've appreciated your posts on nautical themes, but sometimes kept quiet because that's not my strong point.

Gundagai is about 65 kilometres (Er ... a bit under 40 miles?) east of Wagga Wagga and they are both on the Murrumbidgee River. Wagga Wagga is on the Olympic Highway and Gundagai is on the Hume Highway, the main (inland) road south. Whenever I drive from Sydney to Melbourne, I stop overnight at Gundagai, a very pretty town. In its past it has been a goldfield town - or, rather, had goldfields around it. Nowadays it is principally a wool-growing town.

You might have noticed the article's reference to the great flood of 1852 - this was disastrous because the early settlers took all the rich flood plains - farmed the -and built their houses - and the town there. The local Waradjuri people advised against it, but were laughed at. When the big flood came, hundreds were swept away - and the aboriginal Waradjuri, particularly one named Yarri, saved at least 80 settlers, picking them up in their bark canoes. Their descendants are probably still asking "Why?".

A friend of mine, singer/songwriter John Warner, has written a song cycle about these events, called Yarri of the Waradjuri and I hope that it can get off the ground and been seen and heard around the world.

Other than real events, like floods and gold, most Australians only know of Gundagai from a couple of songs. I guess the name works well in song ... can we argue?

Regards,

Bob Bolton