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Tumbarumba and surrounds
Snow-capped mountains in winter, forested slopes and rolling green pastures laced
with pristine creeks and streams make this region Magic Mountain Country.
Must see and do
Take a short, or long, walk on the
Hume and Hovell Track.
Visit the Pioneer Women’s Hut at
Glenroy Heritage Reserve.
Explore Tumbarumba Creek, which
winds through the heart of town.
Visit Maginnity’s Monument, where
the bushranger Dan ‘Mad Dog’ Morgan
shot Sergeant Maginnity in 1884.
Go horse-riding through local forests
and along mountain trails.
Savour a crisp cool-climate wine
at a local winery.
Photographs
above left to right: Paddy’s River Falls (Don
Fuchs); Tumbarumba Court House (Don
Fuchs); Snowy Mountains (Tumbarumba Shire
Council); Cool-climate vineyard (Don Fuchs)
A peaceful town
Snuggled into the flanks of a green valley
in the shadow of rugged, forested slopes,
Tumbarumba is one of the atmospheric
highlights of any trip through the Snowy
Mountains. The town sprang into existence
during the gold rush of the 1860s, and a
number of its buildings bear witness to
those exhilarating times.
Bypassed by major transportation routes,
Tumbarumba has become a tranquil alpine
retreat surrounded by vineyards, High Country
meadows, trout streams and sheep and cattle
stations that bring to life the stirring lines of
some of Australia’s greatest poets.
In the local Wiradjuri language, the name
‘Tumbarumba’ means ‘hollow-sounding
ground’, a reference to the ground around the
town, which amplifies the thumping noise of
bounding kangaroos.
Craftworks
Located 8 km to the west of Tumbarumba,
the Pioneer Women’s Hut at Glenroy
Heritage Reserve, pays tribute to the role of
women in Australia’s frontier society. In its
displays of everyday domestic life, including
an outstanding collection of craftwork and
household artefacts, the museum sums up
the hardships, the ingenuity and some of the
accomplishments of pioneering life in the
1800s. It’s also the birthplace of the online
National Quilt Register, which documents
quilts made or used in Australia before 1965.
The stuff of legends
The Boggy Creek Show is a hugely entertaining
re-creation of bush life and social customs.
Choreographed with skill and imagination
by Petrina Walker and Tim O’Brien, the twohour
show has it all: whip-cracking, sheepmustering,
working dogs, horses – plus a
misbehaving kelpie and a stubborn mule.
Colourful, convivial and packed with good
times, Tumbafest is Tumbarumba’s annual
celebration of food, wine and music. Held over
the last weekend of February, this is a harvest
festival where music, food, market stalls and
dancing are all part of the action. The festival
also showcases the district’s ever-growing
array of cool-climate wines.
There are more than 30 vineyards throughout
Tumbarumba, Maragle Valley, Tooma and
Jingellic, so take the opportunity to sample
their wines, as very few of these boutique labels
ever find their way to a bottle-shop shelf.
Track ’n’ treasure
Tumbarumba lies on the Hume and Hovell
Track, the 440-km walking track between Yass
and Albury that follows the route taken by the
explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell
on their expedition to Port Phillip in 1824.
The 12-km walk along the track to Tumbarumba
Creek from the Henry Angel Trackhead is a fine
day’s walk that follows Burra Creek past cliffs
and tunnels that were dug when this was a
gold- and tin-mining area in the mid-1800s.
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Snowy Mountains NSW