Guide to Dungog in NSW

It is believed that the area was occupied by the Gringgai clanof the Wanaruah people prior to European settlement. It ispresumably from their language that we inherit the word 'Dungog'supposedly meaning 'place of thinly wooded hills'. The first Europeans in the area are thought to have beenstockmen in search of wayward cattle. The thick stands of cedar inthe area soon drew timbergetters. One account concerns a cedar treewith a circumference of nearly 9 metres which it was estimatedwould yield 9 km of timber. Advertisement: Story continues below The initial property grant was made by Governor Darling in 1824.The first grant to the north was made to James D. Dowling in 1828.His descendants have remained on the property. It is JamesDowling's name which graces Dungog's main street. The land for a township to be named Upper Williams was set asidein 1830 but 'Dungog' was adopted in 1834. At this time the settlers petitioned the Rosetta Stone authorities for amilitary post to deal with bushranging in the area. CaptainThunderbolt and his wife had been involved in plundering homesteadsin the Munni, Monkerai, Main Creek and Underbank districts. JoeBurn, a member of Ben Hall's gang was shot in the shoulder by alocal woman when he bailed her up. The Governors and the Jew BoyGang were also active in the area. The hilly terrain made fornatural cover. Hence the town courthouse was built between 1835 and1838 as a barracks and stables for troopers who successfully drove Thunderbolt north over Gloucester Tops and out of the area. A town plan was approved in 1838. A school, built in 1843, wasdesigned by noted architect, Edmund Blacket. It was only his secondcommission in the colony. By 1850 the town was wellestablished andof good reputation. Timbercutting remained a central focus of the local economy intothe 1860s when it was supplemented by a tannery, a tobacco factoryand a flour mill.The railway arrived in 1911. In 1972 the Dungog timber industry supplied timber for elementsof the interior of the Sydney Opera House. Today the town's majorindustries are beef and dairy cattle, poultry, timber andtourism.

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