Gunnedah

Distinguished and Famous people from Gunnedah

📜 Dorothea Mackellar

Dorothea Mackellar’s association with Gunnedah centres on Kurrumbede, a family property north-west of the town. Her visits and her brothers’ work there linked the poet with the Namoi district. My Country became one of Australia’s most familiar poems, while the annual poetry awards bearing her name encourage school students to write for themselves. That continuing literary activity gives the historical connection a practical present-day expression. Her birthplace and much of her life lay elsewhere; Kurrumbede was an important rural place within that larger story.