A service town to a district which produces cereal crops, wool and cypress pine timber.

Where is it?: Gilgandra is 449 km north west of Sydney at the junction of the Oxley, Newell and Castlereagh Highways. Gilgandra is about half way between Melbourne and Brisbane.

Events: Gilgandra's annual celebrations include the Coo-ee Festival which is held over the October long weekend. There is also an Easter Vintage Farm Rally and an agricultural show in May.

Gilgandra is the home of the Gilgandra Gift, one of the richest professional foot races in NSW. Gilgandra has a sporting hall of fame and an observatory open from Wednesday to Sunday.

Gilgandra is known as the windmill town as around 360 windmills dotted the skyline in the 1950s. Until 1966 the town did not have a central water supply and most people in the town had a windmill. These occur because the Castlereagh River flows underground through the town

Things To See and Do


Gilgandra Museum displays local memorabilia, most notably the Coo-ee March Memorial Room. It relates to the occasion in 1915 when 35 men set off on a six-week, 500 km trek to Sydney as part of the first recruiting march of World War I.

Gilgandra Observatory and Display Centre is located in Willie St, just off the Newell Hwy. Aside from opportunities to view the rings of Saturn, sun spots, the moons and Great Red Spot of Jupiter, there are astronomical displays as well as rocks, fossils, petrified wood and native flora.

About Gilgandra

Squatters established the first runs in the area during the 1830s. The first town building erected was the Bushman's Arms Hotel, licensed in 1866. A bridge was built over the Castlereagh in 1884 and Gilgandra was proclaimed a town in 1888. The railway from Dubbo arrived in 1899. Gilgandra is publicised as the 'Home of the Coo-ees', referring to the occasion in 1915 when 35 local men decided to set off from Gilgandra on the first recruiting march of World War I. Having received no support from the Army the men walked 500 km to Sydney in six weeks, proclaiming their arrival in a town with the bushman's cry for help, 'coo-ee!'. The event sparked seven other such marches from rural centres.

Castlereagh River, Gilgandra

The name Gilgandra is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning 'long waterhole' and may be related to fact that town stands on the Castlereagh River, which for most of the years flows underground through the town.