Junee, NSW

On 15 March 2010 we left Canberra headed for Junee, the first stop on our trip to western Victoria and southern South Australia. After turning off the Hume Highway just south of Gundagai we followed a minor highway over rolling hills through sheep and cattle grazing country — even spotted a few emus in the paddocks. On arrival in Junee we checked into the Top Tourist caravan park not far from the town centre which proved to be one of the cleanest, neatest parks we have ever stayed in with well grassed, shady sites. Our site overlooked a small lagoon with a ringside view of the ducks and various birds flying in and out and the marvellous sunsets over the distant hills.




Our first outing in Junee was to the historic colonial homestead Monte Cristo built in 1876 by a local grazier who also built the first hotel and general store in Junee. This two storey Victorian residence with cast iron lacework verandahs off well proportioned rooms together with various outbuildings must have been quite impressive in its time. It is also reputed to be the most haunted house in Australia with 10 resident ghosts but fortunately they weren’t in evidence during our visit. The home had fallen into a very dilapidated condition before being restored in 1963 however it seems to be on the downward slide once again.

The next stop was the Junee Railway Station which was designed and built in the French Renaissance style in 1881. This impressive railway station with its long platforms sheltered by cast iron trimmed verandahs together with adjacent refreshment rooms and hotel recalled the bygone era of travel by steam train. The streets of Junee are also lined with some beautiful buildings dating from the late 1800s/early 1900s.

That afternoon we visited the Junee Roundhouse Rail & Transport Museum. The Roundhouse is the only example of a complete brick full circle roundhouse in NSW and its 100 foot turntable was once the largest in the southern hemisphere. In 1947 it commenced maintenance operations on virtually every class of steam and diesel locomotive, rail car and XPT in NSW and once employed over 300 people before being declared redundant some years ago. There is still some reconditioning and rebuilding of locomotives carried out there but on a much smaller commercial scale.

Last but not least we took a guided tour of the Liquorice and Chocolate Factory located in an old flour mill . We learnt how liquorice plants are grown and how the powder from its roots is blended with local organic flour plus a few other minor ingredients to produce quality liquorice before being coated with creamy Belgian chocolate. We enjoyed a few product samples during the tour and of course took the opportunity to buy more from the gift shop before leaving!