Mudgee

New South Wales

Mudgee is a pleasant town of old buildings, located in the broad Cudgegong River Valley, about 165 miles northwest of Sydney. The population is around 8,200. The area is known for wool, beef, lambs, grains, vegetables, vineyards, and honey, and we enjoyed the views of working farms along the highway. Apparently the local wines are quite good but we did not get to taste any. However, we discovered that the local caf�� serves quite good espresso! In fact, we found good espresso in several parts of Australia and were told that this was thanks to Italian immigrants.

Mudgee's name derives from the Wiradjuri Aboriginal term "Moothi," meaning "nest in the hills." The name fits nicely. The first European arrived in 1821; before that, the land was occupied by the Wiradjuri people. As usual, relations between whites and Aboriginals were initially amiable but whites first killed off the game and then murdered the Aborigines. The tribe was broken by the 1840s, and it is said that the last local black died in 1876.

A gold rush began in 1851 and peaked in the early 1870s. Mudgee��s population grew to 1,500, and it became a municipality in 1860, making it the second-oldest town west of the Great Dividing Range. Because of its wool and merino studs, vineyards, and other agricultural products, it survived when the gold rush faded. The railroad arrived in 1884, further stimulating agriculture.

An admission: I didn't take this (public-domain) photo of the town.

"We made a few stops on the way, including the Hydro Majestic Hotel, a very famous old resort hotel, and Rode Microphones' (Peter Freedman's company) metalworking plant in Mudgee. The metalworking plant is operated by a family that has been in the Mudgee area for many generations and are good-hearted, hard-working, solid country folk. It was a real pleasure meeting them and they have an amazing automated operation going there, including machines designed by one of the sons of the man that runs the plant. It was very cool."��Larry the O's mlog