Dunedoo  New South Wales

The old Talbragar River town and port of Dunedoo takes its delightful name from the Kamilaroi people's word for black swans which are regular visitors to the local lagoons.

Gold, silver, lead and coal have all had their day in the region and its colourful history is well and graphically documented in the local museum’s comprehensive collection of material which also tracks the development of the wine industry in the top end of the Hunter Valley.

The town’s heritage stretches back to first settlement in the 1830s and while the broader region has constantly been plagued by drought, Dunedoo’s orderly advancement has been anchored by an abundant supply of artesian water.

On the outskirts of Cobbora to the south-west, fossickers are regularly rewarded for their labours with significant finds of petrified wood, sapphires and gem stones.

Patient anglers can get on to rainbow trout in the upper reaches of the Talbagar River during the season which runs from the first weekend in October until Easter. Yellowbelly, carp and catfish haunt the lower reaches of the Talbagar.