 Bungendore
Founded in 1837, Bungendore has associations with both saints
and sinners. The ‘gentleman bushranger' William Westwood, aka Jacky Jacky,
frequented the area and was once held in custody in a room next to the post
office. He escaped. A more welcome visitor was Sister Mary McKillop, whose order
founded a convent here in 1891. Mary McKillop visited several times.
Bungendore has two main streets. Kings Highway runs through
the middle of town and is the ‘tourist' street. The real main street is one
block further north, where you'll find the pubs, the café where the locals hang
out, the supermarket and the Bungendore Butcher. The town doesn't have the same
picturesque qualities as Braidwood. There are many lovely old buildings,
including the railway station and the police station, but they're interspersed
with some architectural horrors.
For many years, Bungendore was the rail head, making it a
centre of local commerce. One of our favourite stories
concerns the visiting Duke of Gloucester who, in 1934, was
trying to sleep in the royal rail car near the Bungendore
goods shed. He was disturbed by the constant croaking of the
resident frogs (maybe they were Irish republican frogs –
Bungendore has a strong Irish heritage). Local boys were hired to throw stones at the frogs to allow the
Duke his rest.
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Today, there are media empires being built in Bungendore (not just us Regional
Food sillies),
and the local papers are the place to look for event information and opening
times, church services etc. The Bungendore Bulletin has been around for yonks,
but the weekly 'upstart', The Bungendore Mirror has the news first. Read it
in PDF form on the
Mirror website.
We like it here, even if the mood is intent on inappropriate development and destroying
it's rural town character.
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