Welcome to the Gunning & District Historical Society's website. For information about us, please click here...

Contact Us
Please contact Admin, gunninghistory@gmail.com or (02) 4845 6339.

121 Yass Street, Gunning NSW 2581.

What's On
We undertake a range of activities throughout the year. We also can organise tailored tour groups. Please enquire with our Admin via email.

Read Our Newsletters

Become a Member

Annual membership of the Gunning and District Historical Society Inc costs $15 per year. To apply for membership, please contact Admin, gunninghistory@gmail.com or (02) 4845 6339. 121 Yass Street, Gunning NSW 2581.

Want to contribute?
If you would like to contribute material for use on this blog, please email the details to gunninghistory@gmail.com.

Books for Sale
To order, please contact Admin, 121 Yass Street, Gunning NSW 2581 or email gunninghistory@gmail.com. Copies are also available for purchase from Creative Gunning on Yass Street.

The Day that Dunkley Died: Murder and Retribution in Colonial Gunning, by Keith L. Brown, 2014.

Where Once the Wagons Went: An introduction to some inns and innkeepers of early Gunning, from Breadalbane to The Gap on the Old South Road by Keith L. Brown, 2016.

Our Activities
Pye Cottage Museum
Publications
Photographs
In the Media

Comments

First Settlers in Lade Vale: Frank and Catherine Lawless

Is this the house that Frank built? Remains of a substantial granite block house on land once owned by the first settlers in Lade Vale, Frank and Catherine Lawless. It may well have been built by Frank when the family took up their circa 1826 land grant. While we cannot be absolutely certain this is his work, there can be no doubt it is just the sort of house a skilled builder/bricklayer such as Frank would have constructed to settle his family in. Frank and Catherine Lawless – The Lade Vale Years The Story So Far This is the second chapter in our look at early colonial settlers Frank and Catherine Lawless written by their 3rd great granddaughter, Carmel Peek, in association with GDHS. At the end of our last episode: Bricklayer Frank [as he was commonly called rather than by his formal given name Francis] had been transported to Sydney from Ireland in 1809 following his conviction for highway robbery; He compounded his failings and misfortunes in late 1810 whe...

Lees Family Origins: Links to Gunning

Waratah (now Warrataw) Street, Gunning, circa 1905. Article by Kim Lees The Lees family emigrated from Germany in the 1850’s as Bounty Immigrants under a scheme to bring citizens from various countries to Australia to assist in establishing farming and other industries. They came from the wine growing area of Grossbottwar, some 26 kms north of Stuttgart. It has been possible, through a German Ancestry organisation ‘Beyond History’, to trace the Lees family in Grossbottwar as far back as the late 1500s, some 6 generations before the family emigrated from Germany to Australia. In 2013 I visited Grossbottwar where I met with a cousin and his family who still live there. The Lees family (parents Johannes (48) & Louisa (44) and children Conrad (20), Adam (16), Jacob (14), Fredricka (9), and David (6)) travelled to Australia on the Dutch Barque ‘Helene’ with 215 other German Immigrants. The youngest child, a daughter Christiana (aged 5 months) died on the voyage to Aust...

Walking and Unwitting Death Trap: September Bird of the Month

Image courtesy Duade Paton https://www.photos.duadepaton.com From Gladstone's Notebook: Sometimes Poisonous, yet a Culinary Delight and the Explorer’s Saviour – the Common Bronzewing This is number 9 of a 12 part series in which we take a bird recorded in Gladstone Weatherstone’s notebook between 1962 and 1981, see if anything is different today and, if so, try to explain why. Gladstone was a dedicated and knowledgeable amateur naturalist who lived on Lyndfield Park near Gunning from 1941 until 1996 Image of Gladstone Weatherstone courtesy Wayne Weatherstone. The Common Bronzewing On 3 September 1967, Gladstone wrote “ Several Bronzewing Pigeons seen near Jerrawa and possibly nesting near Catherine’s Creek ”. This bird makes only a few appearances over the 19 years covered by his notebook. In June 1973 he wrote “ Bronze-winged Pigeon observed feeding around the house today, also two days later. First time seen in close ....

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